Languages for intercultural communication and education

Interviews as Interaction
The interviews found in ELT coursebooks often share a problem with
simulated conversations: a stiltedness that becomes even more apparent if
learners are asked to read dialogues aloud. Erickson (1996: 292) pinpoints
the source of this recurring inauthenticity in the absence of ‘the on-line
mutual influence that we experience in naturally occurring conversation,
the dynamic ebb and flow of listening and speaking relations’ and ‘the
fluidity of social identification that can occur as real people converse face to
face’. There may be other good reasons for reading dialogues aloud, of
course, but they do not offer learners the opportunity to cope with real-life
interaction, which, as Erickson observes, demands a degree of spontaneity
and the ability to cope with the unexpected. One simple strategy for
leading learners from the controlled ritual of a textbook dialogue to the
relative unpredictability of spontaneous speech is to devise a role-play
based on the dialogue. One such role-play was devised by Sheila Cogill and
Denise Gubbay for ESL learners in industrial contexts (cited in Roberts
et al
.
1992: 267). It begins with the telephone dialogue:
Exploring Culture Through Interviews
127
C:\Documents and Settings\Stephen Cracknell\My Documents\corbett\corbett.vp
13 August 2003 16:39:08
Color profile: Generic CMYK printer profile
Composite Default screen

---

Teacher:
Westwide plumbing.
Student:
I need a plumber. My tap is leaking.
Teacher:
Name please.
Student:
[supplies]
Teacher:
Address?
Student
: [supplies]
Teacher:
OK. I’ll come this afternoon.
Student:
What time?