‘I’m sure at some point we’ll be switching’: planning and enacting an interview language policy with multilingual participants

Figures & data

Excerpt 1. Opening the language discussion

I: [Let's] start by talking about language for the interview since we both speak French and English. Erm, so: (.) whatever you’re (.) comfortable in, do you have any preference? P: Not really. Er, I’m, I’m fine with both languages. I’m sure at some point we’ll be, you know, switching from French to English because you (understand it) as well so [we’ll see …  I:                  [Yeah, ok, yeah. P: … It will be interesting to see if it shows up in the conversation or not! I: Exactly, erm, so: let's just see how it goes, then.

Excerpt 2. French-language competence

I: Erm, one, er, sort of health warning, I’ve not done an academic interview $in French before, so it’ll be interesting (.) to see (.) how that goes$. Erm, but if, so if it is feeling a bit, you know, ‘off’ for you, erm, then [just let me know. P: [If you want to conduct it in French, we can do it in French. It's fine!

Excerpt 3. Selecting an initial language

I: E:rm, I think it would be interesting to, yeah, go in and out. I don't know whether I have a preference for starting. Maybe, erm. Yeah, maybe because the first question is really about, erm, your thoughts […], so, erm, I guess it's up to you what language you would say those thoughts in, I can ask you in English or French, erm, really, well, maybe I’ll ask it in French, e:rm …