Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Advance Access originally published online on November 27, 2007
The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 2008 13(3):432-450; doi:10.1093/deafed/enm059
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Toward Extending the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment to Cued Speech
University of South Florida
University of Southern Maine
University of Colorado at Boulder
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The Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) is as an important research tool for examining the quality of interpreters who use American Sign Language or a sign system in classroom settings, but it is not currently applicable to educational interpreters who use Cued Speech (CS). In order to determine the feasibility of extending the EIPA to include CS, a pilot EIPA test was developed and administered to 24 educational CS interpreters. Fifteen of the interpreters performances were evaluated two to three times in order to assess reliability. Results show that the instrument has good construct validity and test–retest reliability. Although more interrater reliability data are needed, intrarater reliability was quite high (0.9), suggesting that the pilot test can be rated as reliably as signing versions of the EIPA. Notably, only 48% of interpreters who formally participated in pilot testing performed at a level that could be considered minimally acceptable. In light of similar performance levels previously reported for interpreters who sign (e.g., Schick, Williams, & Kupermintz, 2006), these results suggest that interpreting services for deaf and hard-of hearing students, regardless of the communication option used, are often inadequate and could seriously hinder access to the classroom environment.
Correspondence should be sent to Jean C. Krause, University of South Florida, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, PCD 1017, Tampa, FL 33620 (e-mail: jkrause{at}cas.usf.edu).
Received June 11, 2007; revised October 1, 2007; accepted October 15, 2007