Stokoe2000a
Stokoe2000a | |
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BibType | ARTICLE |
Key | Stokoe2000a |
Author(s) | Elisabeth H. Stokoe |
Title | Constructing topicality in university students’ small-group discussion: A conversation analytic approach |
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Tag(s) | EMCA, Topical action, Small group |
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Year | 2000 |
Language | English |
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Journal | Language and Education |
Volume | 14 |
Number | 3 |
Pages | 184-203 |
URL | Link |
DOI | 10.1080/09500780008666789 |
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Abstract
This paper adopts a conversation analytic approach to the study of educational talk-in-interaction. Specifically, the focus is upon the production of topical talk in a university seminar context.Small groups of studentswere video-recordedwhilst carry- ing out a discussion task. The data was transcribed and subsequently analysed using conversation analysis.Two relatedthemeswere explored. First, the opening sequences of the discussions were analysed and particular attention was paid to the conversa- tional procedures involved in ‘getting down to educational business’. Secondly, in order to explore the sorts of topics that students treated as legitimate for educational talk, episodes marked as ‘off-topic’ were explored. Patterns were identified in both types of topic production. The implications of conversation analytic methodology for the study of educational talk are considered, with particular emphasis on the impor- tance of explicating participants’ understandings of the activities in which they are engaged.
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