Clarification details
Updated December 2019. This document has been updated in its entirety for version 3 of this standard and addresses issues that have arisen from moderation.
Formality of interview (Outcome 1)
The interview must be formal. The interviewer must establish and maintain a formal tone throughout the interview, so that learners are encouraged to adopt appropriate formal behaviour and register. Formality may be enhanced by role play, e.g. a course or job interview, and/or by using an interviewer who is unknown to learners. The interviewer should state the context at the beginning of the interview.
Behaviour and register appropriate to the formal context includes politeness conventions, such as greeting and closure, formal word choices and a demeanour indicative of attentiveness and respect for the interviewer.
Spontaneity (Guidance Information 10)
Learners must be given opportunities to demonstrate evidence of spontaneity, defined as natural and unrehearsed responses. This requires a sufficient range of questions to be asked.
Verbal strategies (Guidance Information 10)
Verbal strategies may include clarifying, confirming, asking for repetition, giving or responding to feedback. Not all of these strategies have to be demonstrated in the interview. It is therefore not necessary for the interviewer to create opportunities for students to clarify misunderstanding by making deliberate mistakes.
Duration (Outcome 1 Range statement)
The interviewer needs to factor wait time into the interview, and the interview must be a minimum of four minutes in duration. This is important in order to provide sufficient opportunities for learners (who are thinking and communicating in their second language) to give developed extended responses to questions. This means that prompting, interrupting or additional questioning should be minimised. Interviewee responses, rather than interviewer talk, must predominate.