Conversation analysis studies talk-in-interaction and how speech is used to perform social actions. It assumes spoken interaction is ordered and involves examining different conversation structures to achieve interactive goals. Researchers use natural conversation recordings to analyze patterns and apply it in various fields, including applied linguistics and psychology. Practical applications can be useful for second language learners.
Conversation analysis is a research field that studies talk-in-interaction, or how speech is used to perform social actions. This field was developed during research conducted primarily by sociologists Harvey Sacks and Emanuel A. Schegloff in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 21st century, conversation analysis techniques have been widely used in linguistic and non-linguistic disciplines.
This field is based on the assumption that spoken interaction is ordered, meaning that speakers follow a systematic structure that speakers follow. This structure can be separated from the specific information transmitted. Conversation analysis involves examining different conversation structures and how they are used to achieve interactive goals in various social situations.
In conversation analysis, an utterance is not only seen as a vehicle for communicating an idea, but rather as a tool used by the speaker to achieve a social goal. Examples of social goals include making a complaint, request, or greeting. There are specific slots in conversations where different utterances might be appropriate, but each utterance would perform the same action. For example, when greeting a friend, a person might say, “Hi, how are you?” or “Hi, how are you?” Different words are used, but the same social action was taken, a greeting.
Researchers use natural conversation recordings from real environments to perform conversation analysis. Recordings of conversations between two or more people talking as they normally would are the standard. There should be minimal experimental interference. These conversations are then transcribed in a very detailed manner reflecting pauses, emphasis and intonation changes, all of which are important details.
After the recordings have been transcribed, they are analyzed for patterns using data-driven methods and sequential analyses. The place of an utterance within a conversation is very important; nothing can be seen in isolation. The researchers pay particular attention to examining patterns surrounding turning, adjacency pairs, repair, and preference organization.
Researchers use conversation analysis in sub-disciplines of applied linguistics such as interactional sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and second language acquisition. It can also be useful in psychology, such as when developing approaches to talk therapy, as well as in other fields. Practical applications are particularly useful for second language learners. An example is the Japanese phenomenon of aizuchi: frequent interjections by the listener, with various subtleties that are notoriously difficult for non-native speakers to learn. Conversation analysis can help clarify rules for aizuchi that would otherwise be extremely difficult for students to figure out on their own.
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