Locates and analyzes the following verbal alignment devices in job interview talks: accounts, formulations, meta-talks, and qualifiers. Results reveal--among other important implications for the job interview process--that interviewees, by assuming a timid, powerless role, may be yielding in a way that jeopardizes their being hired or future job…

Attempts to show how the surface structure of conversation can be described by means of a few principles and simple categories, regardless of its level of complexity. Accordingly, proposes a model that emphasizes the pragmatic functions of certain connectors and markers in the context of conversation exchanges. Societe Nouvelle Didier Erudition,…

Analyzes the strategies employed in terminating conversational exchanges, with particular attention to argumentative sequences. Examines the features that distinguish these sequences from those that have a transactional character, and discusses the patterns of verbal interaction attendant to negative responses. Societe Nouvelle Didier Erudition,…

Examines morphemic markers that signal the opening and closing of discourse units, emphasizing their complexity and their central role for a descriptive model of conversation. Then proceeds to analyze their functions within the overall structure of conversation, classifying them according to their properties and uses. Societe Nouvelle Didier…

Discusses how the interviewee first became interested in the application of sociocultural theory to second language acquisition, and what he sees as the appeal of such theory to studies of second language discourse. Discusses current research efforts regarding second language acquisition and describes an experimental language learning classroom.…

This article is addressed to those for whom information is the key focus for the study of language and its deployment in discourse. The message is that action figures centrally and generically, and that the absence of actions can be as decisive as their occurrence for the deployment of language and the interactional construction of discourse. (47…

Employs interaction analysis to examine communicative behaviors displayed by management versus labor negotiators at various phases of the collective bargaining process. Finds that administration and teacher negotiators were surprisingly similar in communicative bargaining behaviors exhibited but that communication strategies were different at the…

Examines how students use gendered discourse practices in small peer group settings to accomplish their school tasks. The analysis contributes to the separate worlds hypothesis by showing how Latino children interactionally orient to their peer group as a gendered context. (Author/VWL)

Drawing upon the philosophical and technical frameworks of discourse analysis, this paper suggests the rules governing linguistic choices in constructing negotiation. First, it clarifies the philosophical assumptions underlying different approaches to analysis, specifying a conceptual focus, particularly with regard to the situation and the…

The process by which preschoolers generate cohesive oral text was investigated in two fields of discourse: social dramatic and constructive play. Four preschoolers, 2 boys and 2 girls, ranging in age from 51 to 60 months were observed and videotaped in their regular preschool classroom on 2 successive days during free play periods. Each child was…

Investigates the effects of disclosure as perceived by the recipient with specific attention given to the recipient's level of self-esteem. (MH)

Indicates a periodic structure in the distribution of between-turn silences in two-party conversation, a finding that is inconsistent with current stochastic or signaling models, which view social interaction as an exchange of stimuli and responses. Finds that social interaction is fundamentally a collaborative activity. (JD)

Shows that among the qualities of interaction present in peer learning are the negotiation of teaching and collaborative roles, attention-focusing, showing and pointing, and informative messages. (FL)

Analyzes a type of conversational exchange where the participants focus on a given subject or theme contributing personal views to the discussion. Characterizes the relationship among the participants as a "cooperative conflict," examining the internal structure of speech acts and their illocutory functions, particularly the initiatory…