KEY MODELS OF BILATERAL INTERPRETING AND NOTE-TAKING: COGNITIVE, FUNCTIONAL, AND PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The article explores the cognitive and functional mechanisms underlying bilateral interpreting, focusing on the integration of note-taking strategies within a unified theoretical and pedagogical framework. Drawing on D. Gile’s Effort Model and his hypotheses of Tightrope, Linguistic Envelope, and Gravitational Pull, the study conceptualizes interpreting as a process of continuous effort coordination, where listening, memory, and production interact dynamically under cognitive constraints. Complementing this, D. Seleskovitch and M. Lederer’s Theory of Sense elucidates the phases of comprehension, deverbalization, and reformulation, emphasizing that interpreting aims to communicate meaning rather than reproduce linguistic form. J.-F. Rozan’s principles of note-taking are revisited as a system of symbolic externalization that visually represents sense and reduces cognitive load. The model is further enriched by B. Moser-Mercer’s research on automaticity, A. Seeber and Š. Timarová’s findings on executive control, and E.-A. Gutt’s relevance-theoretic approach, which accounts for pragmatic adaptation and communicative inference. Through the synthesis of these models, the research proposes an Integrated Cognitive-Functional Model of Bilateral Interpreting (ICFMBI), in which interpreting is understood as a multimodal process linking cognitive, linguistic, and semiotic operations. The model identifies note-taking as a visual bridge between comprehension and production, enabling interpreters to externalize mental representations, resist source-language interference, and achieve communicative adequacy. By incorporating psycholinguistic, neuropedagogical, and sociocultural perspectives, the study provides an updated conceptual basis for interpreter education, demonstrating how cognitive awareness, emotional regulation, and functional reasoning jointly contribute to expert performance. The findings advance interpreting theory by redefining competence as an integrated system of attention management, symbolic mediation, and pragmatic flexibility. Pedagogically, it offers a framework for designing exercises that strengthen automaticity, note-taking coherence, and sense-based reformulation. The article concludes by outlining directions for empirical validation of the ICFMBI model through experimental and corpus-based research, emphasizing its potential to inform curriculum innovation and enhance professional standards in interpreter training worldwide.