Does the Preparation Match the Expectation? A Comparative Study of the Evaluation Criteria for English Job Interviews between Academia and the Workplace

Yi-Hsuan Gloria Lo; Yu-Lin Chen; Chia-Yi Chu; Wan-Erh Lin; Chencong Qi

Taiwan International ESP Journal ; 10卷2期 （2019/07/01），P39-67

DOI: 10.6706/TIESPJ.201907_10(2).0003

In recent years, conducting job interviews in English for workplace purposes in non-English speaking countries has become a trend. To meet this demand in the workplace, colleges have been offering to prepare students for English interviews, particularly in EFL contexts (countries where English is used as a foreign language). However, little research has been conducted to understand how candidates in EFL contexts are prepared. In addition, while much research focuses on factors that might influence the results of the interviews from the perspective of native English speakers, few empirical studies have examined the criteria for evaluating English job interviews from the viewpoints of people both in academia and in the workplace. The purposes of this study are to understand how curricula for English interviews are designed by instructors with business-related experience and those without such experience, and to compare interview evaluation criteria between those in academia and in the workplace in the Taiwanese EFL context. The research employed a questionnaire and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 university instructors (5 with and 5 without business-related experience) and 20 managers in the business world (10 in hotels, and 10 in the information technology (IT) industry). Differences in curriculum design, evaluation criteria, and perceived issues and problems are found between instructors with different backgrounds and between the instructors and workplace managers. The results of the study yield important implications for university-workplace partnerships and contribute to our understanding of how to collaborate through partnerships in order to help job applicants prepare better for English job interviews.

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