Abstract
There has been a fervent debate concerning the idea that shadowing is merely a monolingual
repetition of verbal output, rather than being a useful tool for enhancing content-processing
capacity (Pöchhacker, 2004/2016). However, few studies have explicitly examined how a
shadowing task can contribute to consecutive interpreting according to effectiveness
evaluations based on empirical data. The present study aims to identify the most frequent
incidences prompting disruptions in shadowing and to assess its correlation with the accuracy
of source text interpretation. For this purpose, this study utilized data from 56 participants who
took shadowing tests and the subsequently conducted English-Japanese consecutive interpreting
tests in the interpreting courses at a Japanese university. Then the variability of the efficacy of
shadowing was investigated. The results demonstrated a positive effect of shadowing on the
group that administered intensive shadowing treatment while some provocative findings were
also ascertained. Thus, this study elucidates the true nature of a shadowing activity.
