The Semi - structured Interview in Foreign Language Education Research

Veronika Szombatová, Slovakia, ID CLEaR2016-374;              The interview belongs to one of the most used research methods, especially when it comes to the methods of data collections used in qualitative research. Usually, it takes place face – to- face by direct contact between the informant who is under examination and the researcher, however, in present more and more interviews are preferred to be mediated in indirect form, by telephone or in form of an online interview. The paper examines the nature and the purpose of the research tool called the semi - structured interview, which provides reliable qualitative data in foreign language education research. The main reasons why researchers prefer to use semi - structured interviews is because it can be prepared ahead of time, although the majority of questions naturally appear during the interview. In the presented paper, we aim to analyze five research studies (all of them from the field of foreign language education), where the semi - structured interview was implemented as the main method of gathering data, either as the sole method or in combination with other research methods. The conclusion offers a summary and findings from the reviewed articles as well as recommendation for an effective use of the semi - structured interview in pedagogical practice.
Key words: the semi - structured interview, foreign language education research, review, analysis