INTERVIEW GUIDE
Background
- Where did you grow up and go to school?
- What’s your job title and what aspect(s) of language are most central to your work?
- Why did you want to become an applied linguist/language teacher/language pathologist/etc.?
- What does your family think of your job and what you do for work?
- What kinds of formal preparation have you had? What do you know about the clients you work with or plan to work with?
- What kinds of language-related problems do you help solve?
- Does your work involve working with applied linguists or language professionals whose background and training are different from yours?
- How do you think your work helps people?
The impact of new technologies
- How has your work been influenced or affected by new technologies?
- What are the forms of technology you use in your job?
- How did you learn to use them? What technological developments do you think are still needed in your field?
- Is access to these tools and training open to all?
Crossing political borders
- Has your work been influenced or affected by immigration or other aspects of globalization?
- As an applied linguist, how do globalization and economic integration affect your work?
‘Disinventing’ languages
- Does your practice involve identifying or registering clients’ languages?
- Why do you need this information?
- How do clients describe themselves linguistically?
- Are there some language identities that don’t seem to fit pre-established categories?
- What categories would make sense in your context of practice?
Incorporating cognitive and sociocultural aspects of applied linguistics
- Has your training as an applied linguist been markedly more oriented toward either cognitive aspects or sociocognitive aspects of language?
- What about in your practice?
- Do you ever have to work with colleagues whose understanding of language and professional tools are very different from your own?
- How do you handle these differences?
Professional standards
- Are there professional standards or codes of practice in your area of applied linguistics?
- Who are the authors of these standards or codes of practice?
- How do these expectations influence your work?
- Are there issues you would like to see added to or removed from these professional standards?
Language, freedom and social responsibility
- How do you share the results of your findings with clients?
- What kinds of questions have they asked you about your work?
- What kinds of social justice or equity issues are important in your practice?
Gaining new knowledge in applied linguistics
- Have you experienced any situations when you are not sure how to solve a problem in your work? If so, what were they and what did you do about them?
- How do you obtain the information you need to solve new kinds of problems?
- Who do you consult with in order to gain the new knowledge you need (for example colleagues, professors or teachers, your employers, professional groups, the internet, specific websites)?
- Do you use social networking sites or other digital literacies to communicate with other applied linguists or language professionals in your field? If so, what kinds of questions have you been able to resolve in that way?
- Are your contacts for finding new information mostly local or mostly located far away from where you live?
Final thoughts
- How do you feel about your future as an applied linguist?
- How is the field going to change, in your opinion?
- Is there anything else about your applied linguistics practice that you would like to share with readers of Mapping Applied Linguistics?
We followed these guidelines ourselves, in our interview with 5 practitioners featured in Mapping Applied Linguistics. Take a look at their interviews on our youtube channel, or on the featured practicioners section of the book's companion website.
If you have your own interview to share, we encourage you to send it to us. Login to mappling.com, and a form will appear for you to send your files. We will send you an email to let you know when they are published on this site.