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EXTRAMURAL ENGLISH ACTIVITIES AND INDIVIDUAL LEARNER DIFFERENCES
whatever we would like to measure. A guestionnaire for young learners should
contain more simplified guestions than one for adult learners, and the content
should also be different. Furthermore, as opposed to interviews, guestionnaires
are unsuitable for investigating EE activities in-depth as we need to have cer¬
tain preconceptions to compile the questions. Questionnaires, therefore, do
not allow for an emerging research design, and as such, new activities may only
be explored through the use of open-ended questions.
3.1.2 Interviews
Another possible tool for investigating learners’ interests is to conduct inter¬
views, which are one-to-one “professional conversations” (Kvale 1996: 5).
Dörnyei (2007) states that interviews are quite common in everyday life, i.e.,
interviews appear on television, can be listened to through the radio or on the
Internet and most people are interviewed when applying for a position at a
workplace. He points out that this familiarity with interviews allows for the
frequent use of interviews as a qualitative research technique. In addition, the
interview can do what questionnaire surveys cannot, i.e., it is suitable for an
in-depth investigation of an issue.
Interviews have different types based on the extent they are structured
(Wellington 2015), but for mapping learner interests, semi-structured inter¬
views may prove to be an excellent tool for several reasons. Semi-structured
interviews are a compromise between heavily structured and unstructured
interviews. There is a set of questions that the interviewer uses; however, with
open-ended questions and probes (i.e., detail-oriented or clarification ques¬
tions), the interviewer can guide and stir the flow of the interview session
toward certain directions around which the investigation is centered (Bog¬
dan-—Biklen 2007). Also, as opposed to questionnaires, there is an opportuni¬
ty for follow-up questions and in-depth elaborations from interviewees. An¬
other feature of interviews is that interview guides are used during the
interviewing process so that no important details are left out and to ensure
that all important areas are covered. Interviews are often voice-recorded so
that they can be analyzed more carefully in the future.
Dörnyei (2007) lists some of the advantages and disadvantages of interviews.
The main advantage of using interviews is their aforementioned familiarity
for most people. For instance, the interviewees may feel more comfortable
being interviewed than being video recorded. The interviewer's presence in
the interviewing process can also contribute to better coverage of the subject
of investigation and allows for the use of probes. Emerging patterns may also
shape the interview itself and shape subsequent interviews with further