An overview of assessment in interpreting: A conversation with our colleagues in language testing

This article suggests that the interpreter education community would benefit from cross-fertilization with the language testing community, which has been around much longer. The main principles used in testing speaking (or communicative competence) developed along the last decades by language testing experts and institutions can – and should – be applied to the testing of interpreter performance, mainly in high stakes examinations, such as those used for certification, employment at an international institution, or graduation from an educational program. The concept and some relevant studies concerning the notion of quality in professional interpretation are also discussed and suggested as ancillary help to build the constructs used in said examinations.