Talk and social interaction in institutional settings: From data collection to data analysis
Conversation analysis, especially the ethnomethodological approach Conversation Analysis(CA), is an established field of research both in applied linguistics and in social scientific disciplines. The course provides an introduction to the theoretical foundations and methodological assumptions of conversation analysis and their application in studies of recorded social interaction in various institutional contexts such as education, healthcare, services, and working life. The main focus is on the organisation of language in social interaction to build social action, and on methodological principles and approaches that can be used to understand and describe conversation. Students also develop knowledge and skills in the transcription and analysis of recorded interaction data, consider aspects of research ethics in relation to sound and video recordings, and read and discuss both classic and current studies in applied conversation analysis.
Course goals
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:
- give an independent account of and evaluate the theoretical and methodological principles of ethnomethodological conversation analysis,
- critically examine and evaluate empirical studies of interaction in institutional contexts,
- demonstrate basic knowledge of the collection, processing, transcription, and handling of recorded interaction data and give an account of the ethical considerations involved in research based on video and sound recordings, and
- apply knowledge of mechanisms for sequential organisation of social interaction as well as multimodal resources in an independent, collection-based study of a selected interactional practice in institutional talk.
Prerequisites
Enrollment in a PhD program in the Humanities or Social Sciences.
Examination
All learning objectives are assessed in several individual written hand-in assignments and an individual oral presentation.