CASLI was tasked with both administering the examinations for the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf’s NIC and CDI certification programs, and with developing the next iteration of the examinations used for RID Certification.
The first step in the test development process is the completion of a Job/Task Analysis (JTA) of the ASL-English Interpreting field, verified by a survey conducted for our colleagues in the ASL-English Interpreting profession to define the job that ASL-English Interpreters do, and determine what knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to effectively interpret between ASL and English, or ASL and other visual and signed language.
The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf conducted a JTA for the National Interpreter Certification in 2015. This was completed and published on CASLI’s website in July of 2017. CASLI’s Testing Committee was to use this JTA as the foundation for building the next iteration of exams used for RID’s Certification programs: the new CASLI Knowledge and Performance Exams. Prior to beginning the task of test development, the CASLI Testing Committee suggested in that the new Knowledge exams for hearing interpreters and Deaf interpreters be combined, however, first a JTA for our Deaf interpreting colleagues must be completed before moving forward.
In March of 2018, the Deaf Interpreter Job/Task Analysis was conducted by CASLI, our test development consultant, the Caviart Group, LLC, and the Deaf Interpreter Subject Matter Experts SMEs) to “identify tasks performed by Deaf Interpreters and the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) that are required to perform those tasks.” This DI JTA was considered a “mini-JTA”, as it was not as lengthy nor did it include as many SMEs as the NIC JTA. Reasons were that first, the Deaf Interpreters make up roughly 2% of the interpreting field, and second, many of the tasks that Deaf interpreters do on the job were already defined by the NIC JTA, but there are some differences. This DI JTA was to provide a more in-depth analysis of what those differences are.
The SMEs who participated in the DI JTA of March 2018 were:
- Jimmy Beldon, CDI
- Betti Bonni, CDI
- Ritchie Bryant, CDI, CLIP-R
- Janis Cole, CDI
- Monique Holt, CDI
- Kirsi Grigg-Langdon, CDI
- Jonathan Lamberton, CDI, SC:L
- Trenton Marsh, CDI
- Cynthia Napier, CDI
- Steven Stubbs, CDI, CLIP-R
- Amy Peterson, CDI
- Raymond Kenney, CDI, CLIP-R
- Keven Poore, CDI
These SMEs met for two days to define the characteristics of a newly certified interpreter, develop a comprehensive list of the tasks a Deaf interpreter does on the job, and list the knowledge, skills, and abilities that Deaf interpreters must have to work effectively.
