Professional Development Activity 2

Georgia State University

Applied Linguistics
Fall 2010
Jonathan Shive
For my second professional development activities this semester I attended the
Conference of Interpreter Trainers national conference. Another workshop I attended was
entitled Students ASL Academic Papers: The F-U-N, How To, and Benefits. This was
a very cutting edge workshop discussing the creation, submission and use of video
papers in the academic setting. In the past, most academic research about ASL has been
in the form of written English papers. However, with the advent of video technology, the
internet and multi-media a new form of academic paper is being produced. These papers
are being presenting in ASL and questions of standardization have arisen. During the
workshop, it was noted that many professors at Gallaudet Univeristy in Washington, DC,
the only liberal arts university for the Deaf in the world, are requiring research and
academic papers be produced in ASL.
The issues brought up were related to styles and formats for production and
citations for these videos. Initially, the video aspect was addressed. The presenters made a
requirement list of video quality, productions requirements (color of clothing, styles, and
backgrounds), and the use of editing text features. These relate to citations and how to
academically cite references, with in the text. Standardization has not been established
yet. However, the presenters are gathering information and are planning on making a

proposal to The American Psychological Association and the Modern Language

Association to include these citations rules into the next editions or APA and MLA styles.
Interestingly, was the discussion of in text citation. The professor in the first year
of requiring these papers had a loose set of criterion for in text citation. With technology
today, and the ability to record a piece, then go back and edit it, even inserting text, a
standard needs to be set. The presenters brought in several examples of the citation
editing and polled the audience about which we prefer. It was amusing, the attendees
generally seemed to agree on the more appropriate styles for these. The next issue was for
time coding. With a paper or electronic copy, you can easily flip back and find a citation
and refer to the reference list. With video it tends to be more difficult. So a time code
table of contents or a printed list of citations and time codes could be used, as well as a
printed reference list. The general idea was that in text citations would follow APA or
MLA styles. The text would appear on the screen, similar to print and a time code would
be added in the citation.
All this may seem boring with style formatting, but the presenters were also
taking our feedback and will use it for the recommendations to the APA governing board.
The field of interpreting and especially interpreter education is in its infancy and its very
exciting to be in on it, during the initial stages of actually establishing a framework for
the field. Pretty neat stuff.