La mediazione linguistica nei colloqui tra insegnanti e genitori stranieri

Abstract
Research shows that in order to accomplish interactional sense-making, interpreters need
to interpret the participants’ contributions as contextually situated. Rendering thus involves
explicating unclear contextual elements, reformulating contributions to convey their pragmatic meaning, and seeking clarification from participants. Our study is based on 16 interpreter-mediated parent-teacher conferences, which were collected in two Italian cities with
high migration flows. These end-of-term meetings involve teachers highlighting “what went
wrong.” In their renditions to the parents, the mediators work to mitigate the impact of the
teachers’ negative comments. Our findings suggest that while the mediators’ comments help
to make the negative feedback more acceptable and solution-oriented, a closer collaboration
between the teachers and the mediators could lead to more productive and inclusive talk.