Language in Use 263-264
This unit is concerned -with the way in which large organisations have to depend
upon written reports of face-to-face interviews for making decisions. Its
aim is to show that deriving evidence from an interview is a highly skilled
activity. Work is based upon section D of the Language in Use tape in which
an insurance assessor interviews a person who is making a claim under the terms
of an insurance policy.
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[1] In this session, the class should listen to the tape-recording of
the interview. The aim is to consider the evidence presented for the claim and
to judge whether they think it should be allowed. Discussion should focus upon
(a) the nature of the evidence offered
(b) the kind of questions the interviewer asks
(c) what kinds of reply lead him to ask a sequence of further questions
(d) what information is conveyed by the tone of the questions and how this affects
the replies.
[2] In this session, the class should be asked to write a report which presents the evidence gleaned from the interview in written form, together with a recommendation that the claim be accepted or rejected. Before beginning, the class should hear the tape again. Circulate the results and in discussion consider the different accounts of the interview and the different assessments of what pieces of evidence are most crucial for deciding the claim. It may be useful to build up on the board a profile of the events as seen by those who would grant the claim and those who would reject it.
[3] Having looked at the kind of evidence involved, the aim of this session is to examine the wording of an insurance proposal form to see how this is influenced by the kind of procedure necessary for assessing claims. Divide the class into groups and ask each one to prepare and present the kind of interview that they have examined in session [1]. Each group should choose one of the proposal forms as the basis for their work.
[4] Ask each group to present its interview, and in discussion afterwards the class should consider how effectively the interviewers manage their questioning, and how satisfactory is the evidence they elicit as a basis for assessing the claim. The class should decide for themselves whether or not the claim should be accepted. Then each group should be asked to say what decision they intended their interview to reveal and what they put into it to further this end.