Interviewer’s Discourse Skills Used in Interviews by Japanese Native Undergraduate Students: An Analysis Based on Impression Assessments, Conversational Data Analysis and Follow-up-Interviews

NAKAI Yoko

In this study, the author analyzes two interviews conducted by Japanese undergraduate students in order to illustrate what skills possessed by the interviewer better facilitate the task of interviewing. In both Interview A and B, Interviewer A and Interviewer B asked Interviewee K and Interviewee S, respectively, about their club activities. Impression assessments were conducted regarding each conversation. As a result, Interviewer A’s assessment grade was higher than Interviewer B on all assessment items, including Attitude towards participating in the interview/politeness, Contents of questions, Interviewer’s reactions, Topic connections/development, Nonverbal expressions, Preparation, and Interaction/cooperation. Analysis of verbal/nonverbal expressions used in each interview, and of follow-up interviews conducted with interview participants, revealed that the important skills for interviewer to possess are the use of polite, sincere verbal/facial expressions and tone, summarizing of previous topics, the facilitation of the transition to new conversation topics by talking about his/her own experiences and using connective expressions, the use of questions to deepen topics, and the use of questions that are easy for the interviewer to understand. It was also found that a good atmosphere for conducting interviews created through advance preparations, compliments which make the interviewee happy, interviewers’ reactions, and nonverbal expressions are also important. Moreover, the degree to which the interviewer and the interviewee know each other, the amount of background knowledge the interviewer has, and cooperation and solidarity between the interviewer and the interviewee were important for interviews, too. Finally, the author suggests the importance of using these findings in academic activities geared towards undergraduate/graduate students.