Dr Helen Tebble
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow
Qualifications
BA (Hons) Linguistics (Monash)
M.Litt. Applied Linguistics (Edinburgh)
PhD Linguistics (Monash)
TPTC Burwood Teachers’ College
Contact Details
Room: W529 Menzies Building (Building 11), Clayton Campus Phone: (03) 9905 5145 (international: + 61 3 9905 5145) Email: Helen.Tebble@monash.edu Mailing Address: Dr Helen Tebble
School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics
Building 11
Monash University
VIC 3800
Australia
Biography
As an applied linguist Dr Tebble has lectured and examined in the professional education and development of interpreters for eleven years. For seventeen years she also taught and examined other professionals during their undergraduate, graduate and professional development programs how to work effectively with interpreters and translators. She has twenty years' experience as a researcher in interpreting studies and was Head of the Research Section of the Centre for Research and Development in Interpreting and Translating, National Language and Literacy Institute of Australia. Dr Tebble was Convenor of the Linguistics Program at Deakin University. She has supervised and examined Honours, MA and PhD theses in interpreting, translation studies and linguistics; and is an invited speaker at national and international conferences.
Research Interests
Dr Tebble's two main areas of research are in medical interpreting and the language of depression. Her research in medical interpreting at Southern Health included videorecording actual interpreted medical consultations, then linguistically describing the generic structure of these consultations as well as the interpersonal aspects of the communication between physician and patient via the services of NAATI accredited interpreters. This has resulted in linguistic descriptions of the discourse of medical interpreting; a course with teaching materials for physicians in how to work effectively with interpreters; and a new pedagogy for interpreters to understand and practise medical interpreting.
She is a member of a group investigating medical interpreting for the elderly and her particular interest is in the language of empathy in medical communication. Dr Tebble is interested in a variety of research approaches and methodologies and as a discourse analyst she uses a variety of approaches including genre theory and appraisal analysis from systemic functional linguistics.
Interpreting for mental health is an in important aspect of medical interpreting and requires an
understanding of how the patient's language reveals the nature of the illness. The Language of Depression project, in association with Professor David Clarke in Psychological Medicine, has focussed on mildly and moderately depressed acute care patients whose mental health tends to be overlooked. In the work done thus far, using both a generic and discourse semantic approach, especially appraisal analysis, the research team has identified a variety of linguistic features that characterise aspects of resilience in non-depressed acute care patients,and also features of language that characterise clinical aspects of depression. On completion of the investigation the team hopes to adapt the linguistic findings into training materials for acute care staff to use so that depressed acute care patients can be identified and referred early to consultant liaison psychologists or psychiatrists..
As an applied linguist Dr Tebble's research interests extend to include:
- Other healthcare communication topics
- Spoken discourse of the professions and the workplace
- Applications of appraisal analysis in interpreter education
- Acquistion of casual conversation in a second language (current PhD supervision)
- Sociolinguistic profiles
- Assessment of needs for business interpreters
- Organisational language policy and planning for multicultural/multilingual contexts
Selected Publications
Tebble, H. 2009. What can interpreters learn from discourse studies? In Hale, Sandra, Ozolins, Uldis and Stern, Ludmila. (Eds). The Critical Link 5 Quality in interpreting - a shared responsibility. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp.201-219.
Tebble, H. 2008. Using Systemic Functional Linguistics to Understand and Practise Dialogue Interpreting. In Wu, C., Matthiessen, C. and Merke, M. (eds). Voices Around the World. Proceedings of the 35th International Systemic Functional Conference. Sydney: 35th ISFC Organizing Committee. (Book and CD)
Caldwell, David, Tebble, Helen and Clarke, D.M. 2006. The Language of Subjective Wellbeing. In Blore, J., Gluskie, A. and MacKay, Y. (eds). Proceedings, 7th Australian Annual Conference on the Quality of Life. Melbourne: Deakin University, http://acqol.deakin.edu.au/Conferences/
Tebble, H. 2004. Research into Tenor in Medical Interpreting. In Collected Papers from Interpreting Research. Editorial Committee of the Japan Association for Interpretation Studies. Tokyo: Japan Association for Interpretation Studies, pp.37-49.
Tebble, H. 2003. Training Doctors to Work Effectively with Interpreters. In Brunette, L., Bastin, G., Hemlin, I. and Clarke. H. (eds). The Critical Link 3 Interpreters in the Community. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp.81-95.
Tebble, H. 1999. The Tenor of Consultant Physicians: Implications for Medical Interpreting. The Translator Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.179-200.
Tebble, H. and D. Hirsh. 1999. Sociolinguistic Profiles of Interpreting & Translating Students. In Ozolins, U. (ed.). Interpreting/Translating Education in the Age of Economic Rationalism. Proceedings of the XVII Conference of the Interpreter Translator Educators' Association of Australia (CITEAA). Melbourne: Deakin University, pp.90-102.
Tebble, H. 1998. Medical Interpreting: Improving communication with your patients. Geelong: Deakin University and Language Australia. (Book & Video)
Tebble, H. 1997. Discourse Analysis and Dialogue Interpreting. In Gambier, Y., Gile, D. and Taylor, C. (eds). Conference Interpreting: Current Trends in Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp.171-175. (C. Taylor-Torsello ed.)
Kondo, M. and Tebble, H. 1997. Intercultural Communication, Negotiation and Interpreting. In Gambier, Y., Gile, D. and Taylor, C. (eds). Conference Interpreting: Current Trends in Research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp.149-166.
Recent Invited National and International Papers
Tebble, H. 2011. Healthcare Communication - Really How Much Care? International Symposium on Healthcare Communication: Research and Training in an International Perspective. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Tebble, H. 2010. Using Systemic Functional Linguistics to Understand Medical Interpreting, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Tebble, H. 2009. Some Applications of Systemic Functional Linguistics to Interpreting. International Conference Systemic Functional Linguistics and its Contribution to Translation Studies, Solo, Indonesia, Oct.
Tebble, H. 2008. Applying Discourse Theories to the Education of Interpreters. National Interpreting & Translation Research Symposium, UWS.
Tebble, H. 2008. Using SFL to Understand and Practise Dialogue Interpreting. International Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference, ISFC 35 Macquarie University.
Tebble, H. 2008. Using SFL to Understand and Practise Dialogue Interpreting. Workshop. International Systemic Functional Linguistics Conference, ISFC 35 Macquarie University.
Tebble, H. 2007. What can Interpreters Learn from Discourse Studies? Critical Link 5 International Conference on Community Interpreting, Sydney.
Tebble, H. 2005. Interpreting the Generic and the Interpersonal. International Conference on Translation, Solo, Java, Indonesia.
Subjects Taught
Co-ordinator, TRN4200 Theory and Practice of Interpreting, 2007, 2008
Co-ordinator, TRN4300 Intermediate Interpreting, 2007
Guest Lecturer and English Language Stream Tutor, TRN4300, Intermediate Interpreting, 2008
Guest Lecturer, TRN4040, Translation 1: Discourse Analysis, 2007
Guest Lecturer, TRN4200 Theory and Practice of Interpreting 2009, 2010
Guest Lecturer. APG4816 Theory and Practice of Interpreting, 2011
Guest Lecturer, APG5895 Health Interpreting, 2011