Cover not available

Article published In: Spoken Interaction Studies in Australia
Edited by Rod Gardner
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. Series S 11] 1994
► pp. 97–118

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Conversation analysis

Some thoughts on its applicability to applied linguistics

 | University of Melbourne
Published online: 1 January 1994
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aralss.11.05gar
Abstract
The first part of this paper presents the view that ordinary conversation is the most basic form of talk, and that Conversation Analysis (CA) in the ethnomethodological tradition, whilst widely known in Australian applied linguistics, has been very little used here as a set of research tools. The distinctiveness of the CA approach is presented, and it is argued that CA has the potential to make a more substantial contribution to applied linguistic research than it has hitherto. Second, the paper considers how some basic CA research – into receipt tokens such as mm, yeah, oh and others in Australian English – might be applied to a language teaching, and specifically into the development of teaching materials in an adult ESL context. It is argued that CA has the potential for wider application in Australian applied linguistics alongside some of the more widespread and better known qualitative research methods.
References (31)
References
Adelsward, V., Aronsson, K., Jonsson, L. and Linell, P. (1987) The unequal distribution of interactional space: dominance and control in courtroom interaction. Text 71:313–346. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Atkinson, J. M. and Drew, P. (1979). Order in court: The organisation of verbal interaction in judicial settings. London: Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Atkinson, J.M. and J. Heritage (eds.) Structures of social action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Beach, W. (1993) Transitional regularities for ‘casual’ #x0022;Okay#x0022; usages. Journal of Pragmatics, 191:325–352. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bilmes, J. (1988) The concept of preference in conversation analysis. Language in Society, 171:161–181. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boden, D and D. Zimmerman (eds.) Talk and social structure. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Button, G. & J. Lee. (eds.) (1987) Talk and social organization. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Drew, P. (1990) Conversation analysis: who needs it? Text, 10, 1–2, 27–35.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Drummond, K. & R. Hopper. 1993. Back channels revisited: acknowledgement tokens and speakership incipiency. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 26, 2:157–177. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Emmison, M. (1988) Victors and vanquished: the social organization of ceremonial congratulations and commiserations.Language and Communication 71:95–110.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gardner, R. (in prep). Notes on the effect of intonation contour on the function of mm and some other receipt tokens.
Heritage, J. (1984a) Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1984b) A change-of-state token and aspects of its sequential placement. In J. Atkinson, & J. Heritage (eds.), 299–345. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1989) Current developments in conversation analysis. In Roger & Bull (eds).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moerman, M. (1988) Talking culture: ethnography and conversation analysis. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Psathas, G. (1990) The organization of talk, gaze and activity in a medical interview. In G. Psathas (ed.) Interaction competence. Lanham, Md: University Press of America.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jefferson, G. (1973) A case of precision timing in ordinary conversation: overlapped tag-positioned address terms in closing sequences. Semiotica, 91:47–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1983) Two explorations of the organization of overlapping talk in conversation: notes on some orderliness in overlap onset. Tilburg Papers in Language and Literature.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1984a). On the organization of laughter in talk about troubles. In J. M. Atkinson and J. Heritage (eds.), 346–369. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1984b) Notes on a systematic deployment of the acknowledgement tokens ‘yeah’ and ‘mm hm’. Papers in Linguistics, 17, 2:197–216. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1986) Notes on ‘latency’ in overlap onset. Human Studies, 91:153–183. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993) Caveat speaker: preliminary notes on recipient topic-shift implicature. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 26, 1:1–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jefferson, G., H. Sacks & E. Schegloff. (1987) Notes on laughter in the pursuit of intimacy. In Button & Lee (eds), 152–205.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liberman, K. (1985) Understanding interaction in Central Australia: an ethnomethodological study of Australian Aboriginal people. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moerman, R. (1988) Talking culture: Ethnography and conversation analysis. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roger, D. and P. Bull. (eds.) (1989) Conversation: an interdisciplinary perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sacks, H., E. Schegloff & G. Jefferson. (1974) A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 501:696–735. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schegloff, E. (1982) Discourse as an interactional achievement: some uses of ‘uh huh’ and other things that come between sentences. In D. Tannen (ed). Analyzing discourse: text and talk. Washington: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1987) Analyzing single episodes of interaction: an exercise in conversation analysis. Social Psychology Quarterly, 50, 2:101–114. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
ten Have, P. (1991). Talk and institution: a reconsideration of the ‘asymmetry’ of doctor-patient interaction. In D. Boden and D. Zimmerman (eds.), 138–163.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
West, C. (1983). “Ask me no questions...”: an analysis of queries and replies in physician-patient dialogues. In S. Fisher and A.D. Todd (eds.) The social organization of doctor-patient communication. Washington DC: Center for Applied Linguistics, 75–106.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Pihler Ciglič, Barbara & Vita Veselko
2025. 127Las estrategias pragmáticas en la interacción oral de los estudiantes universitarios eslovenos de español. In La enseñanza-aprendizaje de ELE en Europa Oriental y los países bálticos, ► pp. 127 ff. DOI logo
Tartory, Raeda, Sami Al-khawaldeh, Samia Azieb & Bassam Al Saideen
2024. Backchannel forms and functions in context and culture: The use of backchannels in Arab media discourse. Discourse Studies 26:5 ► pp. 669 ff. DOI logo
Wan, Jenny Yau-ni
2018. Functions of Frequently Used Back Channels in a Corpus of Intercultural Conversations between Hong Kong Chinese (HKC) and native English Speakers (NES). Journal of Intercultural Communication 18:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Mullan, Kerry
2015. Taking French interactional style into the classroom. System 48 ► pp. 35 ff. DOI logo
Burns, Anne
1998. Teaching Speaking. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 18 ► pp. 102 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue