Gatekeeping and international mobility: Institutional features of interaction in panel selection interviews

This contribution focuses on the structure of interaction in panel selection intervews related to student participation in higher education international mobility schemes. 24 panel interviews of Italian students interested in participating in Erasmus exchanges in the U.K. were recorded and transcribed; they were then analyzed using conversational analysis techniques. Both the type of assessment required for participation and the collective nature of the assessment procedure were found to influence the structure of interaction. In particular, the presence of more than one examiner was found to contribute to the institutional character of these encounters while at the same time creating opportunities for candidates to display linguistic and/or pragmatic (in)competence in English. Specific sequential patterns allowing the panel to construct itself as an 'institutional collectivity' are also detailed and implications for the study of multiparty interaction in institutional contexts are discussed.