Working with Sign Language Interpreters in Higher Education

Issued by the Student Enabling Centre (SEC)

Under the Equality Act 2010, there are legal obligations for universities to meet in relation to equality of opportunity and eliminating unlawful discrimination. We have an anticipatory duty to provide reasonable adjustments to ensure that students with disabilities and specific learning difficulties are not treated less favourably than their peers (QAA Code of Practice Chapter B3 and B4).

The Role of the Sign Language Interpreter
The role of Sign Language Interpreters is to facilitate communication between deaf students and university staff so that both parties receive equal access. The interpreter will not participate in any way other than to put into sign language what has been spoken and voice into English what is signed. The interpreter cannot give his/her opinion or become involved in the lecture. The interpreter is not responsible for your student and is not accountable for their whereabouts.
Preparation /

Lecturers should ensure that any handouts not posted on WOLF are made available to the interpreter at least 48 hours beforehand. Interpreters work in a wide range of subject areas and may not specialise in any particular field. Obtaining preparation materials in advance enables the interpreters to familiarise themselves with the content of the lecture.

During the Teaching Session

Deaf students cannot view PowerPoint slides and watch the interpreter simultaneously, and so pauses are needed at regular intervals to allow deaf students to view the slides and follow the interpretation. New terms and any names given should be written on the white board.

Interpreting is physically demanding and mentally exhausting. Ideally, if there is one interpreter they should work for no more than 50 minutes without a break. The duration of this break should be 10-15 minutes. This is a Health and Safety stipulation and should be observed by lecturers. (The interpreter will consequently negotiate appropriate breaks. Please note that if you address the students during this break, the interpreter will have to continue to sign what is being said and therefore will not receive a break.) If a second interpreter arrives after your lecture has started, they are not late; they have been redirected to your lecture by the SEC. Sometimes two interpreters will work together in a lecture and then they will negotiate when breaks are appropriate. Please note that if the Deaf student does not arrive at the lecture on time, the interpreter/s will wait for 20 minutes after which they will leave.

Room Management

Generally interpreters will sit at the front of the class. This enables the deaf students to face the same direction as everyone else and see clearly any visual information which is displayed. If your lecture includes any role-play, group work, etc. the positioning of the interpreter should be negotiated in advance. The interpreter needs to hear everything that is said; therefore it is important that hearing students are directed to speak one at a time in question and answer sessions or group discussions. For student presentations, ask ALL students to provide a copy of their presentation slides for the interpreter, preferably in advance.

The Interpreting Process

Please speak at a steady pace – speaking too slowly is actually more difficult to interpret than speaking too quickly. If there is a problem with clarity the interpreter will inform you. When asking questions, be aware that there may be a delay in a deaf student’s response due to the process time in interpretation. British Sign Language (BSL) is a language in its own right and differs from English in its grammatical structure and semantics; it is not a ‘sign-for-word’ version of English. In addition, BSL has no written form so its users are unfamiliar with the expression of their communication in writing.

Deaf Students and the showing of Videos and Multi-Media recordings

The SEC would like to remind programme and module leaders to ensure that all teaching staff including visiting lecturers are aware of the need for subtitled videos to be used, or at least transcripts provided, in teaching sessions where deaf students are present. This is because videos cannot be interpreted / translated effectively via simultaneous methods. Deaf students will miss out on the visual information in the video because they will have to watch the interpreter or view the notes being taken instead of watching the video. This will obviously create a substantial disadvantage for the deaf student(s) present.

When purchasing new materials, staff may wish to consider purchasing DVDs as they generally include subtitles. Where it is not possible to purchase subtitled videos, a transcript of the video or the part of the video to be used can be provided instead. The SEC will transcribe videos on behalf of your school. Transcription work is a lengthy process and the SEC require at least 2 weeks’ notice to transcribe videos.

Please note all of the above also applies to any Multi-Media material.

For more information, please contactTelephone: 01902 322325Email:

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