Mediated Communication with Minors in Asylum-seeking Hearings

This study evaluated caseworkers’ information-seekingprompts in interviews with asylum-seeking minors and assessesthe accuracy of the translations provided by interpreters. Twentysix Russian-speaking minors were individually interviewed byone of 10 caseworkers assisted by one of 17 interpreters. Aquantitative analysis examined the type of questions asked andthe accuracy of the corresponding renditions. The actual andtranslated content of the messages were examined using a qualitativeanalysis. The study showed that interviewers relied heavilyon focused questions, which are more likely to elicit inaccurateinformation. When open questions were asked, the interviewerstended to ask narrow ‘directive’ questions ratherthan broader ‘invitations’. The interpreters’renditions of utterances were often inaccurate. Almost halfof the misrepresentations altered the content and one thirdinvolved changes in the type of question asked. This indicatesthat both interviewers and translators clearly need specialtraining to ensure that they serve asylum-seeking minors adequately.