From algorithm followers to cognitive commanders: reclaiming the thinking premium in AI-mediated interpreting coaching

The rapid advancement of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has shifted interpreting pedagogy towards a human-AI synergy, yet it has introduced unprecedented cognitive challenges, such as cognitive anchoring and correction overhead. Traditional instructional feedback often fails to address interpreting as a complex ill-structured problem. In response to this gap, we propose the Dynamic Synergy Model of Interpreting Coaching (DSMIC) as a cognitive stabiliser. The framework operationalises coaching through two synergistic sub-models: Interpreting Problem-Solving Coaching (IPSC) for tactical cognitive intervention and Student-Centered Interpreting Learning Process Coaching (SCILPC) for affective regulation. Through a six-week microgenetic case study of two novice interpreters, the research suggests that this heuristic approach effectively decouples learners from technological dependency. Findings, triangulated via the Interpreting Strategy and Resilience Grid (ISRG) and qualitative protocols, reveal a significant shift from passive algorithm followers to proactive cognitive commanders, evidenced by enhanced key information retention, strategic flexibility, and rapid cognitive recovery. Ultimately, the study reconceptualises interpreting competence as metacognitive orchestration, arguing that the interpreters’ thinking premium – the capacity for adaptive expertise under uncertainty – is the core value that must be actively reconstructed through expert coaching in the AI era.