CHAPTER 11

INTERVIEWING STUDENTS

WHAT IS AN INTERVIEW

Closely related to giving questionnaires is conducting interviews. An interview is a personal interaction between the interviewer ( the teacher ) and one or more interviewees ( students ) in which verbal questions are asked and verbal or a small group of students. The personal interaction between interviewer and interviewees and the verbal or linguistic nature of the data are what constitute the major strengths and weaknesses of the interview

procedure.

Interviews may take place before, during, or after a lesson or instructional unit.

Interviews can focus on a book read, a project completed, a research paper written, afilm or video made, a field trip taken, a guest speaker heard, a composition written, a work of art seen, a piece of music heard, a foreign language learned, a problem solved, ascientific experiment conducted, a portfolio completed, or even the procedure used to fix a car.

The key difference between a questionnaire and an interview is that in an interview the interviewer and  the respondent are both present as the questions are asked and answered. Questions and answers can trus be clearly communicated, and misunderstandings can be identified and immediately clarified. The interviewer has the opportunity to observe both the student and the total situation to which the student is responding. The key problem with interviewing is the subjective nature of asking questions and recording student responses.

Interviews are often structured according to what type of questions they contain.  There are two types of questions : Fixed-alternative ( closed-ended ) and open-ended questions. Fixed-anternative or closed-ended questions are used when possible alternatives are known, limited, and clear cut ( e..g., english class is lots of fun.____yes____no ). They are well suited to obtaining factual information and knowledge. The advantages of closed-ended questions are that they (a) are easy to understand, (b) are easy to administer, (c) require the respondent, not the interviewer, to make judgment, (d) are quick and inexpensive to analyze, and (e) eliminate the possibility of irrelevant answers. Their disadvantages include (a) forcing respondents to give answers that do not reflect their true knowledge or opinion, (b) ommitting important alternative responses and (c) allowing alternatives to be interpreted differently by various respondent.

Open-ended questions are used when issues are complex, when relevant dimensions are not know, or when the purpose of the interview is exploration of students knowledge and reasoning processor. Perhaps the best way to determine whether a student understands a subject or problem is simply  to ask the student to explain what he or she knows. The adventages of open-ended questions are that they (a) provide information on students reasoning, (b) do not bias responses by suggesting alternatives, and (c) provide the opportunity to clarify and probe a response. Disadventages include that  they (a) are difficult to administer, (b) require extensive training of the interviewer as well as competence, and (c) elicit responses that are complex and difficult to analyze.

WHY INTERVIEW STUDENTS ?

Interviewing is an important asessment and teaching procedure. For asessment, interviewing students provides information concerning students learning, level of understanding, reasoning processes, metacognitive thought processes, and relention. Any student of any age or ability level can be interviewed. The learning of preschool and primary students who cannot read or write can be assessed in an interview. The  learning of unmoitvated student who do not express what they know on tests can be assessed in an interview. Oral examinations, in which students are interviewed about what they have learned, are especially useful for students who have certain learning disabilities ( such as dyslexia ) that impair their ability to read or write. Paper-and-pencil tests may seriously understate such students actual understanding of the material being studied. Through oral interviews, the student true level of achievement may be identified.

                For teaching, interviewing helps students (a) clarify their thinking, (b) reflect on their learning, (c) achieve new levels of understanding, (d) believe their ideas are values, (e) appreciate their progress, and (f) set future goals. Socratic interviewing, for example, is a historical prosedure of using an interview to lead students to deeper and deeper insights about what they know.

                Imagine yourself standing on a street corner in Athens about 390 BC. You are thinking about how you are  going to get a date for tomorrow’s feast when along comes socrates. Socrates asks you a question. To get rid of him so you  can go back to  the more important matter of who your date for tomorrow’s feast is going to be, you give  a short answer. He listens, then asks you another question. You tell him to leave. He repeats him question. You answer, but he immediately counters with another question. You find yourself intrigued. It is an interesting question he is asking.  He waits for your response. After debating two or three possible answers, you finally give your best answer. “ Aha!”he says. “ that is a very interesting answer, but if it  is  true, it implies that the world is round ! how do you reconcile that with the fact that when you look across a field, the world looks flat?”

                Now he really has you hooked. You think. He waits. You think some more. He waits some more. Finally, you reply, “ the world is so large that when you look across a field you see too small a segment of the world to perceive a noticeable curve. “ that is a brilliant hypothesis,” socrates tells you, “ why don’t you skip the feast tomorrow and develop it so it can be tasted?” you find yourself agreeing to do just that. Figuring out this problem is far more interesting that going to a feast. As socrates ‘walks away, you yell,”why didn’t you just tell me the world was large and round?”” I don’t believe in putting ready-made ideas into students’ mind,”says socrates. “the only true way students can learn is to be led by questioning to their own discoveries!”

                While this example fictionalizes what socrates actually did, it does reflect that socrates ( 470-339 BC) believed that questioning students face to face was the means of inducing thinking and thereby leading the student to discover his or her own wisdom. Through direct questioning he would induce cognitive conflict within the student, which in turn would motivate the student toward further inquiry. In essence, the socratic method of teaching is an oral interview in which the inconsistencies and conflicts in a student’s reasoning are highlighted to motivate the student to engage in a deeper level of thinking. Activity 11.1 provides an exercise in the socratic method.

                This combination of assesing what students know and understand while teaching students “their own wisdom “ by leading them into deeper insights and better conceptualized frameworks makes interviewing one of the most important assessment tools. The direct interaction in an interview provides more opportunity to motivate students to do their best, motivate students to supply accurate and complete information immediately, probe for  attitudes and beliefs, reveal the complexity of students reasoning, clarify communication, and guide students in their interpretations of the questions. Interviewing may provide the most flexibility in assessing and teaching students while at the same time diving teachers the most control over the assessment situation.

                Perhaps the greatest strength of the interview is the oppurtunity it provides to build positive relationships between you (the teacher) nad your students. Though the direct, face-to-face interaction, you can create a more personal, positive, supportive, and trusting relationship with the student. Supportive relationships improve the learning climate of the class and school. You can establish norms about the relationship, build rapport and closeness, and generally get acquainted with the student.

HOW TO INTERVIEW STUDENTS

The simplest way to interview students is to develop a questionnaire with closed-ended questions and read the questionnaire to the student while marking down their responses. Whereas this guarantees that students answer each question, this procedure does not capitalize on the flexibility and strengths of interviewing (Box 11.1 descibes guidelines for interviewing.)

                The focused interview arranges questions like a funnel so that the initial questions are broad and general and subsequent questions require the student to be more and more precise and specific in his or her answers. The interviewer has the freedom to explore and probe in directions that are unanticipated. Only the initial quetions are planned, as the subsequent questions are built on the statements made by the student being interviewed. Each student receives a different interview as each follow-up question is idiosyncratic to the student’s previous response. You ( the teacher ), for example, may ask for the student’s analysis of shakespeare’s king lear and, according to what the student says in response, ask a series of questions that require the student top revealo more and more of this or her impressions of and reasoning about the play.

 

BOX 11.1

GUIDELINES FOR INTERVIEWING

1.       Word and organize the questions so that the relationship between you and the student becomes more positive and trusting. A positive, trusting relationship encoureges both you and the student to feel at case, be spontaneous, respond honestly, and communicate effectively.

2.       Phrase questions so that (a) students do not become defensive, (b) students thoughts are clarified, (c) students have the oppotunity to expand or modify, (d) you do not put ideas into students’ minds, and (e) you do not suggest that students should have attitudes when they have none.

3.       Begin the interview with simple, nonthreatening questions and save the more complex  and threatening  questions for the end of the interview.

4.       Move from general to specific questions.

5.       Move nonverbal cues that are helpfull to eliciting full and complete responses from the student. Avoid smiling too much and excessive, affirmative nodding of the head.

6.       Be quiet. What the student needs is a skillful, empathetic listener.

7.       Allow sufficient wait time for students to formulate their thoughts and answer. Do not rush students’ responses.

The primary purpose of a small group interview is to assess whether all group members have mastered and understood the assigned material. Conducting a small groups  should be heterogeneus. Give  a set of questions to the group on Monday, instruct the students to prepare all groups to practice their responses to the questions. On Thursday and Friday conduct an oral examination with the student, using the following procedure.

                You meet with a group and randomly select one member to explain the answer to a randomly selected question. When that member finishes responding to the  question, other group members can add to the answer. Judge the answer to be adequate or inad-equate. Then  ask another member a different question. Repeat this procedure until all quetions have been answered or until you ( the teacher ) judge  the group to be inadequately prepared. Give some guidance by identifying particular weaknesses and strengths in the members’ answers. All group members  are given equalcredit  for  successfully passing the test. Among the many advantages of small group interviews are that you can quickly sample students’ level of teaching while making personal contact with each student. The disadvantages of the group interview are that (a) a chaining effect may bias responses and (b) the group may inhibit some individuals.

TYPES OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO ASK STUDENT

Different kinds of questions will elicit different kinds of information. The following list describes what kinds of information you may obtain through interview questions. Interview questions can

1.       Prompt students to give information previously learned or to present information collected

2.       Prompt student to add to their answers

3.       Aim at prompting students to put together a sequence of at least two ideas

4.       Encourage student to describe the sequence of their procedures

5.       Aim at prompting students to use evidence as a basis for stating relationships among variables

6.       Encourage students to interpret new experiences using concepts they already have or to apply concepts they have just learned in a new situation.

ANALYZING STUDENT’S RESPONSES

Responces to interview questions are scored similiarly to essay questions. A content analysis is often conducted on the responses from which scoring rubrics are derived and applied. An example of a standardized scoring procedure is give in Box 11.2

SUMMARY

An interview is a personal interaction between a teacher  and either one student or a small group of students in which verbal questions are asked and verbal responses are given. Students may be interviewed before, during, or after a lesson a instructional unit. Interviews can contain fixed-alternative or open-ended questions. It is a highly flexible procedure that can be used for both assessment and teaching purposes. Student can be interviewed to assess their learning, cognitive reasoning, metacognitive thought, and retention. Student can also be interviewed to clarify their thinking, achieve new levels of understanding, reflect on their learning, believe their ideas are valued, appreciate their progress, and set future goals. Socrates is an example of a teacher who used oral interviews as the major instructional strategy. Interviews can also be used to build a more positive, supporative, and trusting relationship with each student.

                Individual interviews may range from highly structured reading of a questinaire with closed-ended questions to a focused interview in which the teacher unfolds the students’ knowledge by progressively asking students to be more precise and spesific in their answers. Small groups can be interviewed to assess their success in ensuring that  all members have mastered the assigned material. The guidelines for interviewing include creating a supportive, nonthreating climate, moving from simple to compex questions, moving from general to spesific questions, and allowing sufficient wait time for students to formulate their throughts and answers. The collected, add to their answers, put a sequence of ideas together, provide evidence for their conclusions, and apply know concept to new situations.

BOX 11.2

NAEP SCORING SCALES : MATHEMATICS

Level 200 : BEGINNING SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING

Learners at tihis level have considerable understanding of two-digit numbers. They can two-digit numbers but are still developing an ability to regroup in substaction. They know some basic multiplication and division facts, recognize relations among coins, use simple measurement instructions..

Level 250 : BASIC OPERATIONS AND BEGINNING PROBLEM SOLVING

Learneds have  an initial understanding of the four basic operatins. They able to apply whole number eddition and substraction skills to one-step work problems and money situations; in multiplication they can find the product of a two-digit and one-digit number. They can compare information from graphs and charts, and are developing an ability to analyze ligical relations.

Level 300 : MODERATELY PROCEDURES AND REASONIG

Learned are developing an understanding of number systems. They can compute with decimals, simple fractions, and commonly encountered percentages. They can identify geometric figures, measure lengths and angles, and calculate formulas, and solve simple linear equations. They can everages... and are developing the skills to operate with signed numbers, exponents, and square roots.

Level 350  MULTISPTEP PROBLEM SOLVING AND ALGEBRA

Learners can solve reutine problems involving fractions and percentages, recognize properties of geometric figures, and work with exponens and square roots. They cansolve a variety of two-step problems using variables, identify equivalent algebraic expressions, and solve linear equations and inequalities..