The preallocation of student topic nomination and negotiated compliance in conversation-for-learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v1.i1.17292Keywords:
conversation-for-learning, institutional discourse, discourse analysis, conversation, topic nomination, preallocationAbstract
This paper explores teacher-student interaction in the English conversation lounge of a Japanese university, in which students are advised to pre-select a topic of interaction prior to engaging teachers of EFL in conversation-for-learning, i.e. conversation for the students’ implied acquisitional benefit. Such preallocation of student topic nomination presents an attempt to deinstitutionalize discourse by reversing the teacher-student roles which are assumed to otherwise reflexively sustain an apparent institutional default of asymmetry of speaking rights. This institutionally prescribed norm is examined through illustrative transcripts of audio-data in which the participants in conversation overtly signal their expectations of who is to nominate topic. Such framing of talk at the onset of topic nomination is analysed with reference to the participants’ use of pronominal deixis and ‘talk about’ as explicit metacommunication. It is by these means that participant assumptions underlying the nomination of topic are investigated, allowing for a fuller understanding of the implications on interaction of the preallocation of student topic nomination. This provides further insight into the way in which preallocation as an institutionalized process may, in fact, inhibit conversationalization, counter to the way intended.
References
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Sarangi, S. (1998) Institutional language. In J. Mey (Ed.) Concise Encyclopaedia of Pragmatics, 382–386. Oxford: Elsevier.
Sarangi, S. (2010) Reconfiguring self/identity/status/role: The case of professional role performance in healthcare encounters. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 7 (1): 75–95.
Schegloff, E. A. (1992). In another context. In A. Duranti and C. Goodwin (eds) Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon, 193–227. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schegloff, E. A. (2007) Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis [Volume 1]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ CBO9780511791208
Schegloff, E. A. and Sacks, H. (1974) Opening up closings. In R. Turner (ed.) Ethnomethodology, 233–264. Harmondsworth: Penguin Education.
Seedhouse, P. (2004) The Interactional Architecture of the Language Classroom: A Conversation Analysis Perspective. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Sinclair, J. and Brazil, D. (1982) Teacher Talk. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sinclair, J. and Coulthard, M. (1975) Towards an Analysis of Discourse: The English used by Teachers and Pupils. London: Oxford University Press.
Svennevig, J. (1999) Getting Acquainted in Conversation: A Study of Initial Interactions. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Tannen, D. (1984) Conversational Style: Analyzing Talk among Friends. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Thornborrow, J. (2002) Power Talk: Language and Interaction in Institutional Discourse. Harlow: Longman.
van Lier, L. (2001) Constraints and resources in classroom talk: Issues of equality and symmetry. In C. N. Candlin and N. Mercer (eds) English Language Teaching in its Social Context, 90–107. London: Routledge.
Auer, P. (1995) Context and contextualization. In J. Verschueren, J. Östman, J. Blommaert and C. Bulcaen (eds) Handbook of Pragmatics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Banton, M. (1965) Roles: An Introduction to the Study of Social Relations. London: Tavistock Publications.
Bateson, G. (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind. New York: Ballantine.
Bellack, A., Kliebard, H., Hyman, R. and Smith, F. (1966) The Language of the Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Berger, P. L. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. London: Penguin Books.
Bergmann, J. R. (1990) On the local sensitivity of conversation. In I. Marková and K. Foppa (eds) The Dynamics of Dialogue, 201–226. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Bernstein, B. (1971) Class, Codes and Control, Vol. 1: Theoretical Studies towards a Sociology of Language. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203011430
Bernstein, B. (1975) Class, Codes and Control, Vol. 3: Towards a Theory of Educational Transmission. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Drew, P. and Sorjonen, M.-L. (1997) Institutional dialogue. In T.A. van Dijk (ed.) Discourse as Social Interaction, 92–118. London: Sage.
Edwards, D. and Mercer, N. (1987) Common Knowledge: The Development of Understanding in the Classroom. London: Methuen.
Edwards, A. D. and Westgate, D. P. G. (1994) Investigating Classroom Talk. London: The Falmer Press.
Goffman, E. (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday
Hanks, W. (1992). The indexical ground of deictic reference. In A. Duranti and C. Goodwin (eds) Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon, 46–76. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hauser, E. (2005) Footing and identity in interaction at a conversation club. In B. Preisler, A. Fabricius, H. Haberland, S. Kjaerbeck and K. Risager (eds) The Consequences of Mobility: Linguistic and Sociocultural Contact Zones, 28–44. Roskilde: Roskilde University Department of Language and Culture.
Heyman, R. D. (1986) Formulating topic in the classroom. Discourse Processes 9: 37–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01638538609544631
Ishida, H. (2006) Learners’ perception and interpretation of contextualization cues in spontaneous Japanese conversation: Back-channel cue Uun. Journal of Pragmatics 38: 1943–1981. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.08.004
Iwasaki, S. (1997) The Northridge earthquake conversations: The floor structure and the ‘loop’ sequence in Japanese conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 28: 661–693. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/S0378-2166(97)00070-2
Kasper, G. (2004) Participant orientations in German conversation-for-learning. The Modern Language Journal 88: 551–567. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0026-7902.2004.t01-18-.x
Kasper, G. (2009) Categories, context, and comparison in conversation analysis. In H. Nguyen and G. Kasper, Talk-in-interaction: Multilingual Perspectives, 1–28. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i, National Foreign Language Resource Center.
Levinson, S. C. (1979) Activity types and language. Linguistics 17: 365–399. http://dx.doi. org/10.1515/ling.1979.17.5-6.365
Levinson, S. C. (1983) Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Levinson, S. C. (1998) Deixis. In J. Mey (ed.) Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics, 200–205. Oxford: Elsevier.
Markee, N. (2005) The organization of off-task talk in second language classrooms. In K. Richards and P. Seedhouse (eds) Applying Conversation Analysis, 197–213. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Marková, I. and Foppa, K. (1991) Conclusions. In I. Marková and K. Foppa (eds) Asymmetries in Dialogue, 259–273. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Maynard, D. W. (1980) Placement of topic changes in conversation. Semiotica 30: 263–290. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/semi.1980.30.3-4.263
Maynard, D. W. and Zimmerman, D. H. (1984) Topical talk, ritual and the socialorganization of relationships. Social Psychology Quarterly 47: 301–316. http://dx.doi. org/10.2307/3033633
McHoul, A. (1978) The organization of turns at formal talk in the classroom. Language in Society 7: 183–213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500005522
Mehan, H. (1985) The structure of classroom discourse. In T.A. van Dijk (ed.) Handbook of Discourse Analysis [Vol.3], 120–131. London: Academic Press.
Mori, J. (2006) The workings of the Japanese token hee in informing sequences: An analysis of sequential context, turn shape, and prosody. Journal of Pragmatics 38: 1175–1205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.05.004
Orletti, F. (1989) Topic organization in conversation. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 76: 75–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1989.76.75
Pennycook, A. (2001) Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Richards, K. (2006) ‘Being the teacher’: Identity and classroom conversation. Applied Linguistics 27: 51–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/ami041
Sacks, H. (1975) Everyone has to lie. In M. Sanches and B. G. Blount (eds) Sociocultural Dimensions of Language Use, 57–79. New York: Academic Press.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A. and Jefferson, G. (1978) A simplest systematics for the organization of turn taking for conversation. In J. Schenkein (ed.) Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction, 7–55. New York: Academic Press.
Sarangi, S. (1998) Institutional language. In J. Mey (Ed.) Concise Encyclopaedia of Pragmatics, 382–386. Oxford: Elsevier.
Sarangi, S. (2010) Reconfiguring self/identity/status/role: The case of professional role performance in healthcare encounters. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice 7 (1): 75–95.
Schegloff, E. A. (1992). In another context. In A. Duranti and C. Goodwin (eds) Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon, 193–227. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schegloff, E. A. (2007) Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis [Volume 1]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ CBO9780511791208
Schegloff, E. A. and Sacks, H. (1974) Opening up closings. In R. Turner (ed.) Ethnomethodology, 233–264. Harmondsworth: Penguin Education.
Seedhouse, P. (2004) The Interactional Architecture of the Language Classroom: A Conversation Analysis Perspective. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Sinclair, J. and Brazil, D. (1982) Teacher Talk. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sinclair, J. and Coulthard, M. (1975) Towards an Analysis of Discourse: The English used by Teachers and Pupils. London: Oxford University Press.
Svennevig, J. (1999) Getting Acquainted in Conversation: A Study of Initial Interactions. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Tannen, D. (1984) Conversational Style: Analyzing Talk among Friends. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Thornborrow, J. (2002) Power Talk: Language and Interaction in Institutional Discourse. Harlow: Longman.
van Lier, L. (2001) Constraints and resources in classroom talk: Issues of equality and symmetry. In C. N. Candlin and N. Mercer (eds) English Language Teaching in its Social Context, 90–107. London: Routledge.
Published
2013-09-27
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Equinox Publishing Ltd.
How to Cite
Nao, M. (2013). The preallocation of student topic nomination and negotiated compliance in conversation-for-learning. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v1.i1.17292
