Doctoral Dissertation Research: Textual Appropriation and Co-membership in Immigration Gatekeeping Interviews

Georgetown University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of Dr. Ron Scollon, Ms. Alexandra Johnston will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will conduct linguistic research on the face-to-face interviews between U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officers and prospective immigrants who are applying for permanent residency visas (green cards). INS officers use information from these interviews to approve or deny green cards - decisions with great consequence for individual applicants as well as for the U.S. labor force and society. Ms. Johnston will investigate how various communicative behaviors during these interviews influences these decisions. For example, she will study how people ask and answer questions and how they construct explanatory narratives. She will also study nonverbal cues such as eye gaze and hand gestures. Because such behaviors differ across cultures, they may not be interpreted as they are intended. Data for the project include video- and audio-tapes of permanent residency interviews conducted in an INS District Office, ethnographic research on site, exit interviews with applicants, and playback interviews in which officers and applicants view and comment on their videotapes in separate, interviews off site. This research is significant for both the INS and its immigrant clients. For the INS, the results may affect officer training materials or become a seminar series on strategies for inter-cultural communication. For immigrant clients of the INS, the results may make the interview process more transparent - perhaps through informational pamphlets or workshops for prospective immigrants about how to navigate these interviews. Finally, the research will illuminate the nature of interaction between individuals and institutional representatives as well as aspects of face-to-face communication across cultural borders.