A corpus-assisted investigation of conjunctive-based explicitation in student trainees’ consecutive interpreting performance between English and Chinese in interpreting competition

Explicitation has been discussed by many as a frequently employed strategy in interpreting to tackle potential issues in the process or to improve interpreting performance. In particular, conjunctive-based explicitation is used to clarify inter-sentential relations and thus enhance the logical message of the original . Based on Halliday’s model of conjunctive, the study examines the patterns of conjunctive-based explicitation in the English and Chinese consecutive interpreting performance of 40 student trainees in the finals of the All China Interpreting Contest (ACIC) between 2018 and 2021. Through corpus-assisted analysis, the patterns of conjunctive-based explicitation by the student contestants are revealed. Results show that while there are increased tokens of conjunctive in both directions (English to Chinese, and vice versa), there is salient augmentation of all types of conjunctive adjuncts (except continuatives), and statistically significant difference of increment of conjunctives between both directions. Possible motivations accounting for the explicitation patterns are discussed, including meaning clarification, stalling/time management, and the influence of directionality on interpreting performance. The study may provide empirical support for further research on conjunctive-based explicitation in interpreter training and interpreting directionality, and offer pedagogical implications to improve interpreting training at the discursive level.