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Email:quynhhuong138@gmail.com,pthien@uneti.edu.vn
Received:05/08/2024
Revised:17/02/2025
Accepted:26/02/2025
DOI:10.59266/houjs.2025.536
EVWDFW Translation can be considered the fth special skill - an advanced skill
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teaching translation and interpretation majors. Up to now, not many studies have been
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Thisarticle,asaresultofresearchconductedduring8weeksinthe2
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term(2023-2024),
showslearners’improvementinvocabularyandexpression,togetherwithequivalenceand
using body language in interpretation practice. The method mainly relies on qualitative
methods,includingtheteacher’sclassroomobservation,note-taking,andlearners’surveys.
Thendingsareexpectedtoenrichteachingmethodologyforthosewhoareinchargeof
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enhance,eectiveness,practice,interpretation,grouppresentation.
HoChiMinhNationalAcademyofPolitics
UniversityofEconomics-TechnologyforIndustries
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While atranslationcourserequires
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writing skills, an interpretation course
demands to concentrate heavily on
listening and speaking skills. Regarding
interpretation, time pressure to express
KVSDNUVVSFKLQDRULJQODQJDJ
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requirement. In fact, there are many in-
class activities, such as role-playing
(speaker, interpreter, assessor, audience),
individual working, pair working, and
group working, enabling students to
improve their interpretation skills. This
articlerevealsthendingsofresearchon
improvinginterpretationpracticeinclass
through group presentations for nal-
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LQ UDQVODLRQ DQ LQUSUDLRQ D K
UniversityofEconomicsandTechnology
for Industries (UNETI). The research
heavily relies on qualitative methods, in
which teacher observation, note-taking,
andsurveyonlearners’opinions,aswell
as test results, are conducted during the
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Q
semester (2023-2024).
The eectiveness of group presentations

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linguisticandinterpretingcriteria.
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2.1. Denition and characteristics
ofinterpretation
The Cambridge Dictionary denes
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LV VDLQ LQWR DQRWKH ODQDH
(dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/
English/interpreting). Pochhacker
(2007)identiesLQWHSHWLQ LV RP R
translatinginwhichrstandnalrendition
LQDQRWKHDQDHRDQWWHDQHLQD
VRH DQDH”. Similarly, Christoels
and Groot (2005) state, LQWHSHWLQ LV
a complex task where the interpreter is
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bringing,andproducingstyleatthesame
WLPH In the denition, the scholars
indicatespecialfeaturesofinterpretation,
suchasspeakingmode(saying,utterance)
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VDPLPRUQDUODKVDPLPDVK
speaker). They also mention the process
and procedure, including understanding,
processing, and producing the style
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speech. Based on these characteristics,
a very close relationship exists between
speakingandinterpretation.Accordingto
Ur(2000),speakingisthemostessential
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thefourskills.Surely,interpretationmust
cover many factors, and speaking plays
themostimportantpart.
2.2. Denition and characteristics
ofpresentation
AccordingtotheOxfordDictionary,
presentation is dened as‘KH LLQ R
VRPHWKLQWRVRPHRQHHVSHLDDVSDW
RDRPDHHPRQDQLQKNLQR
DQRQVSHHKRWDLQKLKDQH
SRGW LGHD RSLHH R R LVVKRQ
and explained to an audience’. Thus,
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abilitytodeliverinformationcondently
and persuasively to engage and
inuencetheaudience.Inapresentation,
informationisconveyedfromspeakersto
audience and it is typicallyintroduction,
demonstrations, a speech or a lecture
withtheaimtoinform,inspire,persuade,
buildgoodwill,motivate,orpresentanew
ideaoraproduct/service.Atuniversities,
presentationiswidelyapplied,especially
in language classes. Barbara Gross
(1993), in RRV R HDKLQ VUVVV
KD SUVQDLRQ QDEOV ODUQUV R
VPRUDQPPRULORQJUKDQRKU
teaching tools. Moreover, applying in-
classpresentation,asconcludedbyApple
& Kikuchi (2007), creates opportunities
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themostnaturalway.
2.3.Criteriatoassessinterpretation
As discussed above, speaking
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to another. So, referring to the criteria
to evaluate interpretation cannot help
mentioningcriteriatoassessspeaking.In
Hieke’sopinion(1985),thefourcriteriaof
speakingevaluationincludetheabilityto
usevocabulary,theabilitytopronounce,
grammar accuracy, uency, and
RKHHQH.Indetail,hesuggeststhatthe
abilitytousevocabularyisresortedtothe
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to the speaker’s intention. At the same
time, pronunciation covers pronouncing
vowelsandconsonantscorrectly,aswell
as sentence stress and intonation. The
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via sentence structures and exibility of
usingbothsimpleandcomplexsentences.

Incontrast,uencyistheabilitytospeak
English easily at the average speed of
native speakers. Together, uency and
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DFRUV LQ PRQVUDLQJ D VQV
speaking level. A good speaker needs
to have clear ideas and know how to
link those ideas together. To ensure
that, students need to clearlyunderstand
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them uently in the communication
process.Whenlearnersareabletoexpress
themselves coherently, their speaking
levelwillincreasesignicantly.
In the study on developing a scale
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consecutive interpreting conducted
on Korean students, Lee, S. B. (2015)
reviewed42criteriatoevaluateinterpreter
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shortlisted into 22 criteria, in which
seven criteria for content, seven for
form,andeightfordelivery.Inaddition,
a questionnaire survey was conducted
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DSSURSULDQVV R LJKLQJ RU DFK
category. He concludes that the RQWHQW
category shouldbe assignedan eective
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need not be weighted (i.e., weighting
value: 1). At UNETI, the criteria of
evaluating consecutive interpretation are
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(pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar,
and sentence structure) and LQWHSHWLQ
LWHLD weighted 7 points (equivalence,
naturalness, speed and response, non-
verbalcommunication,andcompleteness).
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mixed method, in which qualitative
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observation, note taking, feedback, and
the survey on learners’ opinion. The
quantitativetechniquescomefromgiving
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survey. Before conducting the study,
the teacher evaluates via a pre-test in
consecutive interpretation and the post-
test at the end of the course. The same
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testandpost-test,whichwasthevideoof
CNN news on 07 Feb 2024, ‘&DLRQLD
agreeson$2Bsettlementforstudentshurt
byCovidshutdown’onyoutube.comCNN
10. The video includes talks and short
interviews, while the news onVTV1 on
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astheVietnamese-Englishone.7KLP
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waseightweeks.
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is given at the beginning of the course
‘AdvancedTranslationandInterpretation
inUse’sothattheycanpreparewell.Each
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theirownchoice.Thetopicsforpresentation
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thecoursebookcurrentlyused,including
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equality,Healthcare,Festival,Economy,
Environment, Hi-technology, Transport,
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RQO D N RU SUSDUDLRQ ERU K
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time is equal among groups. After the
presentation, each group had to collect
words/phrases related to the topic into a
glossaryandsharethemwithothergroups.
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PowerPoint slides and delivered for
approximately 30 minutes. The aim
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and Vietnamese - English consecutive
interpretation. The requirements include

choosing a speech (video preferentially)
ofthegiventopic(5-7-7-minutelength)
on the B2-C1 level and performing
interpretation. The speeches with video
VOFRUKSUVQDLRQDUJDUDQ
the naturalness of the originallanguage.
7KD PDQV K (QJOLVK9LQDPV
LQUSUDLRQPVEVSRNQE(QJOLVK
nativespeakersandtheotherVietnamese
-EnglishperformedbyVietnamesenative
ones.Eachgroupmembermustspeakoutin
thepresentation.Studentshavetointerpret
everysmallparagraphof3-4sentences/a
pause. At the end of the presentation, a
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bedoneasanadvantageandaplusforthe
group.Theresearchlasted8weeks,from
earlyFebruarytolateMarch2024,infour
classesDHNNA14A1-A4HN,withatotal
of179studentsontheB2-C1level.
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observationsoneachgroupandmember.
Attheendofeachgroup,theteachergives
feedback, and the classmate’s comments
andmarksaregiven.Theteacher’snotes
follow the two criteria of evaluation at
UNETI: linguistic criteria(3 points) and
interpretationcriteria(7points),shownin
detailinTable1.
Table1.CriteriaforassessinganinterpretingtestatUNETI
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Pronunciation,voice,andtone
Vocabulary,grammar,expressions
Interpreting
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Equivalence
PurelyVietnameseorEnglishstyle(naturalness)
Paceofdelivery 0.5
Interpretationstrategiesandbodylanguage
Completeness 0.5
7RDO
(Source:FacultyofForeignLanguages,UNETI)
Inthisstudy,‘interpretationstrategies’
and ‘completeness’ are excluded because
allofthestudentshavefullledtheirtask,
and‘interpretationstrategies’areembedded
in ‘equivalence’. Also, a survey of nine
multiple-choice questions about uency,
speed,coherence,response,abilitytouselong
sentences, and non-verbal communication
wasconducted.Thequestionsaredesigned
onGoogleFormsanddeliveredattheendof
thecourse,afterthegrouppresentations,and
afterthepost-test.
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4.1. Group observation, note-
taking,feedbackfromtheteacher
/DQDHLWHLD
The students showedtheir creativity
andintelligenceintheirpresentations,which
surprised the teacher. The speeches with
videomainlycomefromveryupdatedand
reliablesourceslikeCNNorBBCinEnglish
and VTV1 in Vietnamese. Especially,
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agriculture, environment, health-care, or
gender equality,… students prepare very
well,notonlypresentingtheirinterpretation
skill, but also providing knowledge for
audience. For example, on the topic of
agriculture, students wisely choose the
top tenoutstandingeventsof 2023shown
on VTV1 end-of-year news, in which
9LQDPV DJULFOU LV VR EULJK LK
manyachievementsintheglobaleconomic
recessionaftertheCOVID-19pandemic.
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intonationgenerallyprovequitegoodwith

correct word stress and sentence stress.
However, some members make errors
whenpronouncingdicultwords/phrases,
VFK DV patient, capacity, distribution,
equality, patriotism, tax incentive,
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categorization,racialdiscrimination,etc.,
orsomestudentsuseaatintonationand
monotonousvoice.Raisingupandfalling
downintonationwassometimesmisplaced.
Thevocabularyismainlyacademic,witha
neutraltoneandformalstyle.Therewere
stillsomeerrorsinverbusewhichisoften
confusing,suchasRDQGRPHHQG
and ‘borrow’, ‘make’ and ‘do’, ‘bring’
DQGWDH,orsomecommoncollocations
VSRNQ E9LQDPV SROLLFLDQV VFK DV
‘ansinhxãhivphúclixãhi’,(social
security and social welfare) ‘lm đ ăn’,
(income and expense balance), ‘cung đ
cầu’ ( suppliesmeetdemands),...In terms
ofverbtenses,learnerstendedtousepast
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the word ‘đã PE LQ 9LQDPV
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to the present. Sometimes, they made
mistakeswiththeprepositions‘VLQHDQ
‘RPandusedboth‘DWKRKand‘but’,
both‘because’and‘VRLQDVQQFR
negativetransference.Themistakesinthe
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avoidthem.Oneremarkablethingwasthat
thelatergroupslearnedfromtheprevious
ones’errorsandadjustedpromptly.
Interpretationcriteria:
In general, students usually
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interpretation more uently than
Vietnamese - English one. The learners
felt more condent and easier to utter
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English.However,somespecializedterms
also generated challenges for students,
like ‘market segmentation,’ ‘global
recession,’ economic crisis,’ ‘sexual
harassment behavior,’ embarrassment,
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population,’ ‘being redundant,’ over-
RRDGIt took them timeto nd out
the equivalence in Vietnamese (phn
đoạn/phnkhúcthtrường,suythoiton
cầu, khng hoảng kinh tế, hnh vi quấy
rối tnh dục, khí thải nh kính, gi ha
dnsố nhanh, b mất vic, qu tải vic
lm...).Somestudentssawdicultyand
KVLDLRQ LQ LQUSULQJ (QJOLVK QRQV
formed from verbs into Vietnamese by
choosing the wrong word of category,
e.g.economicHRHsphụchồikinh
tế), the VWQH RU RPQV TDOL
cuc đấu tranh giành quyền bình đẳng
của phụ nữ), conservatively traditional
WKLQLQ lối suy nghĩ truyền thống bảo
thủ), the authorities’ problem-VRLQ
cchgiảiquyếtvấnđềcủacácnhàcầm
quyền)... Sometimes, the phenomenon
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complexsentenceswithrelativepronouns
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KR WDH RQWR RHWKH RG WDGH
balance...)ortransferredpassivevoicein
EnglishintoactivevoiceinVietnamese(It
was believed that...). These expressions,
more or less, aected the naturalness of
theirinterpretation.
Mostofthestudentshadquitegood
preparation and good memory, so they
delivered the presentation at amoderate
pace;justafewofthemspokequitefast.
Usually, when interpreting gures and
propernames,thestudentstendedtoslow
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expression. In terms of interpretation
strategies, there was not much specialty
apartfromliteralandsemanticstrategies.
However, body language used by the
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earlygroupsfacedtheirsmartphones,not
lookingat the audience.Anotherremark
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