English Studies-major Students’ Perspective toward Voice-over Activities in Interpreting Practices

Abstract

This present mixed-methods study was carried out to investigate the perspectives of English Studies-majored (ESM) students at three universities in the Mekong Delta (MD) of Vietnam on the effects of voice-over activities (VOA) on their interpreting practices and on the benefits of VOA brought to them. To this goal, 106 ESM students were invited to complete a questionnaire survey, which was subsequently analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20). Then, ten among these participants were purposefully chosen to engage in individual semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire survey findings were clearly revealed. The English VOA was extremely beneficial for the ESM students to practice interpreting. The results of 30 survey statements and the semi-interviews about their perspectives on the benefits of this activity were quite positive. They reported that this activity helped them cultivate more new knowledge about the culture of different countries, how native speakers used the language in reality, how they used slangs. Furthermore, it enhanced the abilities necessary for an interpreter such as listening skills, speaking skills, short-term memory abilities, long-term memory, and teamwork. They could speak English more fluently and confidently as a result of this activity; and their vocabulary, intonation, and pronunciation were also improved. This demonstrates that the VOA is a worthwhile activity for ESM students at the participating universities.