| Previous research from communication studies and linguistics has highlighted the importance of verbal skills for success during employment interviews, and it has been found that due to differences in communicative style, speakers of non-standard or nonnative varieties are often negatively evaluated (e.g., Akinnaso & Ajirotutu, 1982; Mino, 1996; Peterson, 1997). Although cross-cultural employment interview research has examined interactions involving participants from a variety of language backgrounds, the present study is the first to compare the discourse management strategies of American and Latino applicants.;This study draws on the notion of interactional competence as outlined by He & Young (1998) and Hall (1999) to compare the discourse strategies in cross-cultural employment interviews between a native speaker interviewer of American English and American and Latino applicants. Data come from thirty videotaped simulated employment interviews involving native speakers of English (n=15) and Latinos who are advanced learners of English as a second language (n=15) as well as post-interview playback sessions with participants. The quantitative and qualitative analyses focus on script knowledge, turn-taking, interviewer and applicant questions, topic organization and transitions, and co-membership talk.;The results of this study confirm previous research on applicant evaluations with the Latino applicants receiving lower overall ratings than the American applicants. In addition, the analyses found that the NNS participants' discourse was marked quantitatively by fewer words, shorter turns at talk, and a greater number of requests for repetition and clarification. The NNS responses were also characterized by under-developed narratives and lack of detail when compared to their NS counterparts. Notable differences were also identified in the interviewer's linguistic behavior as he supported the NNS interviews with additional questions and backchannels that later serve to be one basis for his lower evaluations. Also, the interviewer was more likely to engage the NS participants in moments of genuine co-membership talk.;Whereas previous cross-cultural interview research has attributed differences to a negative transfer of L1 discourse strategies, this study has identified other factors that are believed to have been contributing factors to the differences between the interviews, specifically, a deficient interview script, the applicants' L2 proficiency, and interlocutor influence. |
