Any questions? : identity construction in academic conference discussions / by Carmen Konzett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Konzett, Carmen.

Series:

Trends in applied linguistics ; 14.

Trends in applied linguistics 1868-6362 ; 14

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communication in the humanities.

Congresses and conventions.

Forums (Discussion and debate).

College teachers.

Identity (Psychology).

Interpersonal communication.

Physical Description:

xi, 413 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Boston : De Gruyter Mouton, [2012]

Summary:

Academic go to conferences for two main reasons: first, to discuss their research; second, and just as importantly, to negotiate their own standing in the scientific community. This book shows how academics in the humanities use conference discussions as a forum to co-construct both their own and each other's professional identities. While at first sight the researchers seem to be simply asking and answering questions, the detailed sequential analyses reveal many subtle underlying strategies adopted to display and negotiate claims of expertise, seniority and competence.

The Series: Trends in Applied Linguistics

The series aims to meet the challenges of the rapidly growing field of applied linguistics. Applied linguistics is understood in a very broad sense, by focusing on the application of theoretical linguistics to current problems arising in different contexts of human society. Given the interdisciplinary character of applied linguistics, the series includes cognitive, psycholinguistic, socialinguistic and educational perspectives. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 Researching talk-in-interaction 9

2.1 Looking through the participants' eyes 9

2.2 Doing CA 15

2.3 Investigating institutional talk 17

Chapter 3 The dynamic discursive nature of identity 20

3.1 Identity as a social construct 21

3.1.1 Symbolic interactionism 21

3.1.2 Impression management theory 25

3.2 Identity as a members' category 31

3.2.1 Indexicality and members' construction of reality 31

3.2.2 Membership categorization 33

3.2.3 Doing being X 41

3.3 Identity, self, and, face 45

3.3.1 Goffman's notions of face and facework 45

3.3.2 Face in Watts' social theory of politeness 47

3.3.3 Integrating the concept of face in a CA approach 51

3.4 Identity construction as a means to an end 53

3.4.1 Social positioning 53

3.4.2 Stylization of self and other 57

Chapter 4 Ethnographic background 61

4.1 Structure of conferences 62

4.2 Types of contributions in conference discussions 65

4.3 Discursive roles in discussions 76

4.3.1 What questioners do 77

4.3.2 What answerers do 79

4.3.3 What chairpersons do 82

4.4 Asking questions 84

4.4.1 What is a question? 84

4.4.2 Yes/No interrogatives 87

4.4.3 Constructing questions to achieve agreement 93

4.4.4 Contrasting academic question-answer sessions with interviews 96

4.5 Self-presentation - a key feature of conference participation 97

4.5.1 Members' reasons for organising and participating in conferences 97

4.5.2 Self-presenting in the community 100

Chapter 5 The data 107

5.1 Data collection 107

5.2 Corpus structure 108

5.3 Transcription conventions 109

Chapter 6 The mechanics of discussions at academic conferences 115

6.1 TCU completion and assessment 115

6.2 Speaker selection 119

6.3 Sequential organisation 120

6.3.1 Side-sequences 123

6.3.2 Pre-sequences 126

6.4 Formulations 128

6.5 Preference 133

Chapter 7 Results of the data analyses 135

7.1 Doing being expert 137

7.1.1 Having the overview: doing formulations 139

7.1.1.1 Doing formulations to prepare the ground 140

7.1.1.2 Responding to formulations by referring to data 146

7.1.1.3 An ambivalent face strategy: si j'ai bien compris 155

7.1.1.4 Achieving co-agreement in formulations 158

7.1.1.5 Summary of 7.1.1. (Doing formulations) 167

7.1.2 Displaying alternative access to an idea 167

7.1.2.1 moi je vois... juxtaposing own research and presenter's ideas 169

7.1.2.2 have you done X? 175

7.1.2.3 is it not X? 189

7.1.2.4 Putting an additional interpretation up for inspection 207

7.1.2.5 Summary of 7.1.2. (Displaying alternative access to an idea) 212

7.1.3 Granting the presenter a claim of expertise: requesting information 212

7.1.3.1 I'm thinking of other types of data: requesting confirmation of informed guesses 213

7.1.3.2 c'est juste une toute petite question: pure information questions 221

7.1.3.3 have you seen this in language X? 227

7.1.3.4 parce que c'est important: information questions with an agenda 231

7.1.3.5 Summary of 7.1.3 (Granting expert status to the presenter) 242

7.1.4 Summary of 7.1 (Doing being expert) 242

7.2 Doing being a (good) researcher 243

7.2.1 Collaborative labelling 243

7.2.1.1 Displaying collective membership to the scientific community 244

7.2.1.2 Displaying understanding and competence 251

7.2.2 Explicit (and critical) reflection on research practices 256

7.2.2.1 Lecturing on good research practice 257

7.2.2.2 Displaying research practices as personal experience 262

7.2.3 Intertextuality at conferences: semiotic spanning 274

7.2.3.1 Positioning self in the scientific community 274

7.2.3.2 Referring to a third party as a specific academic practice 284

7.2.4 Summary of 7.2 (Doing being a (good) researcher) 294

7.3 Doing being entertaining 295

7.3.1 Punchlines 296

7.3.1.1 Punchlines as part of one's own turn 296

7.3.1.2 Punchlines triggered by other 301

7.3.2 Inserting formulations 304

7.3.2.1 Provocative statements to entertain 304

7.3.2.2 Formulations as laughables to connect with other(s) 308

7.3.3 Second laughables 316

7.3.4 Entertaining through narratives 320

7.3.4.1 Everyday-type narratives 321

7.3.4.2 Micro-narratives 327

7.3.4.3 Requested narratives 329

7.3.4.4 Summary of 7.3 (Doing being entertaining) 332

7.4 Performing collective multiple professional identities 334

7.4.1 Displaying self's professional identity as multi-layered 335

7.4.1.1 They - you - I: using pronouns to construct different viewpoints 335

7.4.1.2 Relating personal experiences: narratives and recipient design 339

7.4.1.3 Displaying affiliation with a category through prosodic and lexical markedness 344

7.4.1.4 Summary of 7.4.1 (Displaying self's professional identity as multi-layered) 347

7.4.2 Multiple professional identities presented as dilemmas of the self 348

7.4.2.1 Dilemmatic identities as an argumentative strategy 348

7.4.2.2 Stream-of-consciousness self-disclosure: content reflected by linguistic structure 354

7.4.2.3 Summary of 7.4.2 (Multiple professional identities presented as dilemmas of the self) 360

7.4.3 In-groups and out-groups 361

7.4.3.1 Constructing group identity through joking and laughter 361

7.4.3.2 Competent self vs. incompetent other: precise wording and vague references 364

7.4.3.3 Othering through stylization: stereotyping absent others 367

7.4.3.4 A present other categorised as in contrast to in-group norms 374

7.4.3.5 Summary of 7.4.3 (In-groups and out-groups) 383

7.4.3.6 Summary of 7.4 (Performing multiple complex professional identities) 385

Notes 387

Chapter 8 Conclusion 389.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [397]-411) and index.

ISBN:

1614510229

9781614510222

OCLC:

783142383