Focuses on people "having arguments" and "making arguments" in conversation. Considers (1) examples of ordinary arguments, (2) argument as the disagreement-relevant expansion of speech acts, and (3) felicity conditions and the interpretation of arguments. (PD)

Examines some characteristics of "Mm," in particular its variants, as a weak acknowledging token, a continuer, and a weak assessment within the Australian context. Findings indicate that the most common "Mm" is best characterized as an acknowledging object used to mark unproblematic receipt of the immediately prior talk and no…

A model that depicts communication as a dynamic ongoing phenomenon is presented in this paper. The key elements of the described model are: environmental factors, actor/auditor, image, perception, messages, channels, intrapersonal feedback, and consensus of meaning. An axiomatic basis is provided for each variable to serve as rules of…

Discusses the effect of the interactive accomplishment of conversational normalization. To illuminate this process, this article investigates how the parties to a news interview collaborate to normalize the interviewee's practices in operating a house of prostitution. The methodological impetus for this study involves a variant of conversation…

The theory of the coordinated management of meaning (CMM) describes the structural relationship between a conversation as it appears in a verbatim transcript and as it appears in the meaning-system of the participants. The five essential features of CMM theory are: a set of four propositions about the nature of communication and human behavior, a…

Focuses on two primary meanings of the term interaction in the second-language (L2) context: face-to-face interaction in which two or more people create meaning, and the creative interaction between the reader and the text. Argues that many claims related to the value of L2 spoken interaction can apply equally well to L2 reading. (94 references)…

This article describes the current training and certification procedures in place for linguistic interpreters, the continuum of interpreter roles, and how interpreters' perspectives may influence the interpretive interaction. The specific skills needed for interpreting in either health care or educational settings are identified. A table compares…

Scrutinizes an academic lecture in the subsequent question and answer period in order to decompose the speech roles associated with this speech event and to increase understanding of the factors influencing the participants and the event in order to design a useful framework for language teaching. (14 references) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for…

A conversational skills training program for persons who admitted discomfort in most interpersonal situations and who found it difficult to initiate and maintain conversation was designed to teach these conversational behaviors: asking questions, expressing disagreement and agreement, paraphrasing, initiating conversations, giving compliments, and…

Presents an analysis of the speech practices of preschool children engaged in daily play and interactions, by adopting a perspective that recognizes young children organizing social membership through talk and activity. A reading based on traditional early childhood practices is contrasted with an alternative reading showing children constructing…

Examines the value of conversation partner programs that pair up second language students and native speakers for out-of-class conversation. Findings reveal the activities conversation partners engage in, the perceived advantages of the experience for nonnative and native participants, and the problems encountered. Results can be used to guide…

Discusses reaction to miscommunication of a nonnative speaker from Italy residing in France who experiences a lapse in his ability to communicate in French with a native speaker. Notes that this occurrence encourages the pursuit of communicative competence by the nonnative speaker in the target language as well as an effort by both…

Examines the transferability of five Japanese indirect request strategies to corresponding English request contexts. Findings indicate that the Japanese strategies were differentially transferable and the transferability of each first-language request strategy was determined by interaction between the politeness and conventionality encoded in each…

This report describes a "culturally contexted" conversation analysis approach to the study of naturally occurring speech in supervisory conferences. The supervisors and teachers were participants in a graduate program for beginning teachers, and the conference's purpose was supervisory evaluation of teachers' classroom performances. Ethnographic…

The family communication course at Arapahoe Community College attempts to acquaint students with the central role of communication in the maintenance and enhancement of family relationships and to equip them with knowledge that can produce a greater flexibility in their communication within their own family units. The course is built around two…