Ilkka Arminen, Dr'

1
Ethnomethodology (EM) Conversation Analysis
(CA) Development Challenges

• Ilkka Arminen, Dr.
• Department of Sociology and
• Social Psychology,
• University of Tampere

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Ethnomethodological program (Arminen 2005)

• The meaning of a social phenomenon is equivalent
  to methodic procedures through which participants
  sustain the sense of a given phenomenon
• Language use and social actions are indexical,
  i.e., their understanding is bound to the context
  of their achievement
• The social order is the participants methodic
  achievement
• Rules and regularities are resources for
  interpretations and guide the participants as
  sources of understanding

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METHODIC IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH

• Naturalism Studies concentrate on real events,
  i.e., naturally occurring data
• Non-ironical stancethe participants own actions
  and orientations are the source of meaning a
  researcher does not possess superior knowledge a
  priori. (The referential truthfulness of
  participants understandings is bracketed they
  are analysed as situated actions.)
• Observational science Studies focus on what can
  be observed (though hidden rationalities or
  meanings may be inferred from the observational
  entities).

4
Principles of CA (see Hutchby Wooffitt 1998
ten Have 1999, Arminen 2005)

• Talk and other actions in interaction are
  sequentially organized and ordered
• The relationships between turns and other moves
  in interaction are the key resource both for
  participants and analysts in deciphering the
  sense of ongoing action
• Participants orient to this sequential order and
  through this orientation realize the normative
  orderliness of social actions
• Analysis focuses on real-life instances of
  interactions (since memorized or invented
  examples tend to lose or transpose significant
  details of actions)
• An infinite number of features in an interaction
  may become significant (therefore the relevance
  of features should not be judged in theory nor a
  priori)

5
Milestones of Conversation Analysis

• 1964-1972 - Harvey Sacks lectures at UCLA,
  California
• - idea of conversation analysis develops in
  conjunction with teaching and in collaboration
  between Harvey Sacks, Emanuel Schegloff, and Gail
  Jefferson
• 1970s - study of ordinary conversation as a
  research field is established
• 1973-77 A series of classical articles are
  published "Opening Up Closings" by Schegloff
  E.A. and Harvey Sacks (1973) A Simplest
  Systematics for the Organization of Turn-taking
  for Conversation by H. Sacks, E. Schegloff G.
  Jefferson (1974) "The Preference for
  Self-Correction in the Organization of Repair in
  Conversation" by Schegloff E.A., Gail Jefferson
  and Harvey Sacks. (1977)
• talk as a systematically organized, autonomous
  system

6
Strengthening of CA

• 1979 Order in Court by J.M. Atkinson P. Drew
• systematic analysis of institutional interaction
  drawing on a comparison between ordinary and
  institutional interaction
• 1980s study of institutional interaction becomes
  an established research field
• 1984 Structures of Social Action Studies in
  Conversation Analysis (eds.) J.M. Atkinson J.
  Heritage
• research practice based on collections of cases
  becomes established via a collection of key
  essays
• 1987 Plans and Situated Action The Problem of
  Human-Machine Communication by L. Suchman
• the idea of design-oriented conversational
  studies emerges

7
Diversification of CA

• 1990s conversation analysis becomes diversified
• establishment of interactional linguistics
  studying grammar in interaction
• establishment of work place studies that carry
  out design-oriented studies in technological
  environments
• 1992 Lectures on Conversation by H. Sacks
• Sacks lectures from 1964-1972 published
• 1992 Talk at Work (eds.) P. Drew J. Heritage
• a key collection of institutional interaction
  studies
• 1996 Interaction and Grammar (eds.) E.Ochs, E.
  Schegloff S. Thompson
• a key collection in interactional linguistics
• 2000 Technology in Action by C. Heath P.Luff
• a systematic presentation of the idea of
  workplace studies

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Studies on Institutional Interaction

• Turn-taking organization
• Overall structural organization of the
  interaction
• Sequential organization
• Turn design
• Lexical choice
• Interactional asymmetries

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Figure 1 ABC for the Study of Institutional
Interaction
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