When the eyewitness to a crime is an English language learner: Identifying and resolving troubles in understanding in interviews

Investigative interviewing can be a difficult task. Challenges may be exacerbated when interviewing English language learners. The field of eyewitness testimony lacks research on what troubles of understanding are generated by non-native speakers and how these troubles are resolved. Thus, we undertook an exploratory study in which we aimed to provide definitions for identifying and characterising both troubles of understanding and resolutions. Data were simulated interviews between 17 dyads of native English-speaking student-interviewers and English language learner witnesses of a mock crime. We identified misunderstandings in each interaction and tracked who misunderstood, when the misunderstanding occurred (free/cued recall), whether it was resolved, and resolution strategies. We validated video analysis by checking for information consistency in the subsequent interviewer notes. Across dyads, 40 misunderstandings were found, with at least one in each interview. Witnesses misunderstood significantly more in the cued recall portion of the interview, while interviewers misunderstood more during free recall. Notably, participants resolved misunderstandings more often than not, used a variety of resolution strategies, and employed more strategies in unresolved instances. Interviewer notes confirmed our resolution analysis in 39/40 instances. The results suggest that the interviewers used creativity, flexibility, and a repertoire of different strategies when misunderstandings occurred.