“Establishing the contract”: Tribunal members’ practices when introducing interpreters and their role in migration review hearings

Abstract

In community interpreting, interpreters facilitate communication between service providers and lay people. As not all parties are familiar with how to work effectively with interpreters, scholars have recommended introducing the interpreter’s role at the commencement of interpreted encounters. This practice, referred to as “establishing the contract” (Tebble, 1999), is particularly relevant in high-stakes settings such as medical and legal interpreting. The way in which the contract is established could influence the interpreters’ expected and, arguably, actual performance. This article reports the results of a section of a larger study: observations of 20 interpreted migration review hearings in Australia and semi-structured interviews with 12 tribunal members. It investigates whether, how, and why tribunal members introduce the interpreters in these hearings. The analysis reveals that members generally demonstrate commendable, consistent, and standards-aligned practices when introducing interpreters and their role. Members in this study also display a sound understanding of an interpreter’s function and express professional respect for their contribution. Participants attributed this awareness to interpreting-related training sessions. These findings contribute to the knowledge of establishing the contract in interpreted interactions and reinforce the value of training other professionals to work with interpreters.