Research interviewing rocks!

It really does. In so many ways. I've done four of eight interviews so far (in the first round of four over the year), and we're all - I and the people I'm working with - having such fascinating conversations, making so many connections. Because, of course, they ARE conversations, and we are co-constructing, co-theorising. So far my questions, structured chiefly in a 'Can you tell me about..?' format, have generated a lot of thoughtful, insightful, and candid responses; and after I've asked all the questions on my list, each person of their own accord has spent roughly the same amount of time again reflecting on what's been said, making connections between experiences, beliefs and perceptions that they hadn't made before. And we're engaging in these reflections and making these connections together. It's so endlessly interesting...

It's got me thinking in particular about my belief, which I didn't even consciously know I held until today, that linguistic interest or ability 'comes from' somewhere beyond the individual. Almost everyone I've worked with in my past motivation studies had someone or something external they could identify as a stimulus for their interest in language learning - usually their parents' or family members' enthusiasm for them to learn, often due to an awareness of the 'usefulness' of English or a wish for their child to make use of opportunities they never had; or a family ability tantamount to a genetic trait. This stems in part from my own family background: my paternal grandfather was an interpreter during the second world war, fluent in four languages with a good working knowledge of several more, and my own aptitude for languages was always rationalised as 'you get that from your Grandpa'. I had cause to reflect on this during an interview today, and was a little shocked to realise I'd never considered that an interest in and aptitude for languages might just spring from within, without having to be traced back to some external source. I'm sure this must sound very basic - it seemed so basic to me that I was a little thrown by the recognition. Which might be reflected in the comparative incoherence of my explanation. If I manage to express it better, I'll let you know.

I also began to recognise that the people who want to take part in my study are extremely self-directed and highly motivated people, as evidenced by most of their reasons for working with me. This is something I'll have to account for, and would make an interesting topic in itself - how to reach those people whose language learning experiences might have been at best uninspiring, at worst painful? How can their experience be accessed? Perhaps I'm over-generalising here - it may be that after more meetings, with a little more trust and safety in our relationships and more time for exploration, some of the problematic aspects of their experience will become apparent. Time will tell...