1. Integrated Skills III 2012/1

2.  Do you usually listen to/read/watch interviews? What kind?  How many times have you been interviewed in your life? → when/where/why  Have you ever conducted an interview? How was it?

3. March 8 th – April 10 th Purpose:  to learn to elaborate and conduct interviews, and post them on a blog;  to learn about how college can provide opportunities for you to study abroad and to get to know international students.

4.  Take turns interviewing a peer who you do not know. Record it, and transcribe your interview as homework assignment.  Topic: Educational and work experience  Number of questions: 6 – 10  Suggestion of words to use: work, what, major, choose, academic subject, why, graduate, when, choose, in 5 years.

5.  Examples of questions:  Do you work? / What do you do?  What’s your major?  Why did you choose this particular major?  What’s your favorite academic subject? Why?  When are you going to graduate?  Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

6. Listening Activities

7. Read three excerpts taken from the interview and answer the questions that follow. Excerpt 1:  “Time is the number one noun in terms of usage according to the Oxford [English] Dictionary.” Question:  Name idioms and collocations with the word time (Examples: free time, make time).

8. Excerpt 2:  “We describe time using words that originally refer to space”. Question:  Can you think of any examples? Excerpt 3:  “(..) Speaking a particular language with a particular linguistic structure can affect the way you understand the world around you.” Question:  Do you think this is a plausible hypothesis? Why?

9. Listen to the interview and answer the questions below: 1. Where does the interview take place? 2. According to linguist Alice: “speaking a particular language with a particular linguistic structure can indeed affect the way you understand the world around you”. What is the first example she gives to illustrate that?

10.  3. Linguist Alice mentions that there's much more to language than just abstract linguistic rules. What does she mean?  4. “We talk about time metaphorically.” What examples does she give?  5. What is the last area of research that Alice mentions? What example does she give?

11.  Read the excerpts from the interview transcript and check your answers to the listening exercise. Then analyze the interview and answer the questions below. 1. What did Steve have to consider when preparing for this interview? 2. This interview can be divided into three parts. What are they? 3. Interviewing requires three general conversational skills. What are they?

13. Why? What is the main reason for holding the interview? What other secondary objectives are there, if any? When? / Where? What time constraints, deadlines or schedules are there? Is there a suitable location, room, or environment that will minimize distractions and interruptions from people, telephones, and noise? How? Establish structure, content, and approach for type of interview.

14.  Introduction ◦ Establish the climate ◦ Give an overview of what is to be discussed, ◦ Clarifying the structure and objectives of the interview and how these will be approached.

15.  Exchange ◦ Body of the interview. ◦ Exploration of the objectives and any points related to them, checking and summarizing that all issues raised are understood by both parties.

16.  Conclusion ◦ This should restate the objectives as established in the introduction, ◦ summarize what has been agreed and accomplished, and ◦ clarify and agree to any action plans and next steps.

17.  Questioning - The good interviewer will balance and alternate different types of questions to explore facts, feelings, and attitudes.  Listening - Active, attentive listening is an important skill for the interviewer.

18.  Analyzing - The analysis of what is being said and the information that comes out of the interview should be noted on a checklist or form devised in the planning stage.  This will enable the interviewer to check whether there are still points to cover and to note conclusions and action steps to be taken after the interview. The notes will serve to review the interview and confirm the important points.

20. The good interviewer will balance and alternate different types of questions. a) Open questions encourage the flow of information. b) Closed questions are direct and focused, calling for a straight and simple answer. c) Probing questions are used to follow up and obtain more detail.

21.  Match the types of questions and the examples below taken from the interview: ( ) Can you give us some concrete examples? ( ) Is it indeed the case that the language that we speak affects our perception of things?

22. ( ) So you are basically studying the relationship between language and our perceptions of reality and the world and how those interact with each other? ( ) What kind of research are you conducting right now?

23.  Open questions ◦ Generally begin with the words what, why, when, where, or how, and encourage expansive response. 1.“What are the reasons for your poor punctuality?” 2.“Tell me more about what you did in your work at Alpha Corporation.”

24.  Closed questions ◦ Concluding and summarizing. Often require no more than a “yes” or “no” response. They are effective in altering the pace of an interview or in pinning down a verbose interviewee. 1.“Did you refuse to wear a hard hat on site?” 2.“So that’s two of your areas of research, right?”

25.  Probing questions o Draw out more information about specific points, aiming for depth rather than breadth of information. 1. “Can you be more specific about the responsibilities you had in your last position?” 2. “So, is it indeed the case that the language that we speak affects our perception of things?”

26.  Leading questions o Directive, indicating the preferred answer or even revealing the interviewer’s opinion. 1. “Surely you agree that early retirement could be an alternative, don’t you?” 2. “And that can undoubtedly happen—I mean, within a single language you can have two different speakers who are actually saying different things using the same words, right and they're experiencing things differently because of that?”

27.  Hypothetical questions  Open questions that pose a “What if…” scenario. They can be useful in analyzing knowledge, attitudes, reactions, creativity, and speculative thinking. 1. “How would you react to…?” 2. “What would you do if…?” 3. “Have you considered this approach…?”

28.  Multiple questions o Several questions joined in a series that tend to confuse the interviewee, resulting in limited information. Avoids having to interrupt regularly with the same questions and gives the interviewee responsibility for covering all the points. 1.“Did you prefer economics or natural sciences? Why did you choose engineering over business studies?

29.  Linking questions o Both provide summaries to confirm correct understanding and make a transition to new subjects. 1. “So, your education prepared you well for your professional goals. Now can you tell me how it helped you in your first job?”

30. Read and indicate the question type: 1) Would you vote for John Smith, a man who has been known to break campaign promises? 2) You mentioned your experience with proof reading documents just now, can you tell me what type of literature you worked with?

31. 3) Did you pick up new skills in your last post and what did you think of the facilities? 4) What, specifically, will you do next week? 5) What would you do if you had to deal with an angry customer?

32. 6) What are the reasons for your poor punctuality? 7) Did you refuse to wear a hard hat on site? 8) Can you be more specific about the responsibilities you had in your last position? 9) Surely you agree that early retirement could be an alternative, don’t you?

33. 10) How would you react to…? 11) Did you prefer economics or natural sciences? Why did you choose engineering over business studies? 12) So, your education prepared you well for your professional goals. Now can you tell me how it helped you in your first job?

34. a) Transcribe your diagnostic interview. b) Send the diagnostic interview (audio and transcript) to ufmgintegratedskills3@gmail.com ufmgintegratedskills3@gmail.com c) Read Campos and Cristovão (O gênero entrevista) available at the Copy Center.