Narrative Approach as an Efficient Analysis Method in Reception Studies of Oral Interpretation Services

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the narrative approach is useful in the reception studies of oral interpretation to clarify the roles and functions of interpreters. For this purpose, the author’s two articles were reviewed, both of which analyzed the narratives of users of the interpretation services but utilizing different research methods: categorization by coding and a narrative approach. In this paper, the categorical analysis in the first article was re-analyzed with a narrative approach to find out whether different insights can be brought to light. Results revealed that the focus on the sequence of the interviewees’ narratives and on their way of talking, which is part of the narrative approach, provided clues to specific meanings of the words in their narratives. This suggests that different meanings attributed to the words in the narratives could become more evident by focusing on how the narratives are composed, presented and developed.