Job Interview Questioning As A Dynamic Process Of Linguistic Adaptation To Context

The current study is a qualitative study on job interview questioning based on Verschueren's Adaptation Theory.It aims at testifying the power of Adaptation Theory to explain job interview questioning as a linguistic phenomenon, i.e. to testify if job interview questioning is a dynamic process of linguistic adaptation to context in order to realize the interviewer's communicative goals.It is discovered that job interview questioning is a dynamic process in which the interviewers make choices adapting to job interview procedures (physical world), social power (social world), and psychological motivations (mental world). The present study gives description and interpretation to the complexity and function of job interview questioning as an interactive linguistic phenomenon through the analysis of the effect and function of these three aspects of job interview context.Theoretically, the present investigation proves that Adaptation Theory can well explain questioning, as a linguistic phenomenon, in job interviews and give it a qualitative interpretation.Practically, the major findings of this study may serve as reference for the interviewers in designing interview questions and aid the interviewers, especially those who lack personnel selection experience, when holding job interviews.