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Article published In: Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 45:1 (2022) ► pp.4–24

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“Actually, in my culture…” Identity, positioning, and intersubjectivity in cross-cultural interviews

ORCiD logo with link | University of Wollongong
ORCiD logo with link | University of Wollongong
ORCiD logo with link | University of Wollongong
Published online: 20 August 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.19040.gro
Abstract
The increasing internationalization of education has brought diversification to university student populations. The demographic changes pose great challenges to interview practice as interviews are increasingly occurring in cross-cultural contexts and often involve participants from diverse cultural backgrounds. Recent research has demonstrated that the cultural identity of the interviewer, in particular, the insider or outsider positioning relative to the participants, can impinge upon the quantity and quality of the collected interview data and research outcomes. In this paper, we go beyond this conception of interviewer as either a cultural insider or outsider to examine how multiple identities and positionings are enacted by interviewer and interviewees in order to achieve intersubjectivity, or common ground, in cross-cultural research interviews. The paper contributes to understanding the complexity of cross-cultural interviews, in particular, the impact of positioning processes on the establishment of intersubjectivity and data construction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Intersubjectivity and cross-cultural interviews
    • 1.2Cultural identity in interviews
    • 1.3Positioning
  • 2.Theoretical and analytical frameworks
  • 3.The study
  • 4.Findings and discussion
    • 4.1Positioned as culturally different
    • 4.2Positioned as English language expert
    • 4.3Foregrounding similarities
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
References (56)
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