Communicative Competence as a Key Competence for Future Interpreters of the Russian Sign Language

In the article, the problem of training interpreters of the Russian sign language (RSL) is considered. The problem is important for the social support service. The need for RSL interpreters became greater than ever before, as Federal Law 296-FZ (adopted in 2012) treats RSL as an official language for people with hearing disabilities in Russia and requires to provide interpreting services for deaf citizens in all governmental institutions and administration offices. To meet this need, Novosibirsk State Technical University (NSTU) started a new bachelor's degree program - Interpreter of the English Language and the Russian Sign Language - in 2013. It was the second program in the country after Moscow State Linguistic University. That became possible due to the fact that NSTU incorporates the Institute of Social Technologies and Rehabilitation with the Laboratory of RSL Interpreting. As far as communicative competence (CC) is considered to be one of the key interpreter's competences, the aim of this research was to explore how students evaluated their own level of CC development and if their opinion coincided with the teachers' opinion. The participants were 50 students majoring in Linguistics, the Interpreter of the English Language and the Russian Sign Language program, and five RSL teachers. The participants were supposed to answer a questionnaire containing five sections of questions specifying the six components of communicative competence: linguistic, sociolinguistic, discursive, sociocultural, social, and strategic. The findings indicate the positive dynamics of the competence development starting from level A1 at the beginning of studying RSL to demonstrating the level of an independent user (B1-B2) when graduating from the program. That became possible due to the close cooperation of NSTU with the Deaf Community of Novosibirsk. Students are actively involved into different Community's events as volunteers and as a part of the interpreter's field practice. The deaf members of the Community take part in educating students both as RSL teachers and as experts assessing the success and failures of students' interactions with people with hearing disabilities. In spite of the fact that the majority of the students highly evaluated their CC level, the survey revealed some psychological and pedagogical problems. The students reported about occasional communicative failures such as psychological barriers or fears of interacting with the disabled. Sometimes they do not have enough linguistic means to express themselves. That is why the RSL teachers see the prospects of the program development in the formation of interpreters' readiness to effectively fulfill professional duties, in the development of a specific methodology of teaching RSL interpreters, in the designing of materials and writing of textbooks and teaching manuals as well as in their own professional development.

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