Stress and Interpreting Performance in Emergency Tasks: A Within-Subject Study of MTI Student Interpreters

Emergency interpreting is typically conducted under conditions of minimal preparation and heightened uncertainty. This study investigates the association between perceived stress and interpreting performance among 60 Master of Translation and Interpretation (MTI) student interpreters, using a within-subject design comparing prepared and emergency interpreting tasks in both English–Chinese (E–C) and Chinese–English (C–E) directions. Perceived stress was measured using the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS), and interpreting performance was independently assessed across six dimensions—accuracy, completeness, fluency, appropriateness, coherence and communicative effectiveness—based on China’s Standard of English Interpreting Scale. Correlation analyses and group comparisons indicate that perceived stress was not associated with overall interpreting scores. Instead, stress exhibited a selective effect on information-related performance. Specifically, higher perceived stress was marginally associated with lower completeness in emergency C–E interpreting. Moreover, students with higher stress showed a significantly larger decline in completeness when transitioning from prepared to emergency C–E tasks, which suggests reduced performance stability under emergency conditions. These findings appear to indicate that stress in interpreting does not uniformly impair performance but may selectively undermine information completeness and robustness, particularly in retour interpreting under emergency task demands.