English-as-an-additional-language job interviews: pragmatics training for candidates and analyzing performance on both sides of the table
Date
2017-09-01
Authors
Travers, Nicholas
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Abstract
Previous job interview studies have found that evaluations of English-as-an-additional language (L+) candidates related less to demonstrated qualifications and more to matches or mismatches in communicative expectations. Candidates’ pragmatic skillfulness can affect interviewers’ perceptions of their competence, and by extension, their hireability.
Despite the importance of pragmatics to interview success, few studies have looked at the efficacy of pragmatics training. To address this gap, a mixed-methods study was ncarried out with L+ English university students and professional interviewers. Two training types – pragmatics-focused feedback (n = 9) and feedback plus a pragmatics lesson (n = 9) – were compared to a control (n = 9). A second focus was to understand the factors that influenced the nine interviewers’ evaluations. To this end, the interviewers engaged in a video-stimulated recall session. The resulting data were coded thematically. Finally, the interviewers’ communication was analyzed using an Interviewer Actions instrument and qualitative analysis.
Results showed that both experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group, which provides an endorsement of pragmatics training for L+ candidates. A second finding was that language ability themes were most prevalent in interviewer comments. This reveals a self-referential emphasis on the candidates’ talk as the primary source of competency judgments, which disadvantages L+ speakers. The Interviewer Action scores, supported by candidate evaluations and comments, indicated that engaged and supportive interviewer communication was most favourably received by the candidates. However, the qualitative analysis highlighted the challenge for interviewers in engaging with candidates while maintaining neutrality vis-à-vis responses. With increasingly diverse candidate pools, interviewers must upgrade their communication skills to make confident judgments about all interviewees.
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Keywords
Job Interviews, Training, English as an Additional Language, Pragmatics, Analysis