Communication Management

MODULE NAME: Communication Management

 

How is communication situated, developed and managed in a short speech event

Introduction

During short speech events, the speech is developed, situated and managed to enhance communication. Oral communication skills are ranked the highest since they are regarded to be more vital than even mathematics and writing skills. As far as communication during short speech events is concerned, a number of genres exists that should be put into consideration including negotiations, debates, discussions, interviews and conversation. Understanding how situate, develop and manage communication is essential to the parties involved in any conversation as it enhances understanding of the message.  This paper analyses the discursive practices that are evident in the speech event and relates the evidence to the theories and other empirical studies. In the recorded speech, aspects to be analyzed include identity resources, register, and modes of meaning, speech acts, turn taking, repair and boundaries.

Discursive practices

The setting

In any conversation there must be a context in which it takes place. This conversation took place at the students’ common room besides the major classroom at a university in the UK. The conversation was among four postgraduate students including a researcher. The participants by name are Raymond (A), Elaine (E), Raina (R) and Jacquie (C). They are discussing a joint assignment in an International Business course.  In the discussion set up, the participants are using a computer. One participant is a British boy while the other three including the researcher are first year Chinese girls pursuing their studies in Britain. This is the final discussion on the topic. The discussion takes more than an hour but few minutes are transcribed for this analysis.  The  boy appear to be the dominating figure in the conversation  demonstrating he is more informed and trying hard to maintain his position. The analysis on various aspects of speech as captured in the conversation.

 

The Analysis

Identity resources: Participation framework

Finding a place in a conversation is usually difficult (Gumperz & Cook-Gumperz, 2007, p. 13). Therefore, this indicates that there is not always consent between the listener and the speaker in a participation framework by all the participants. However, these roles can be negotiated, resisted or asserted. Speakers usually struggle to move or maintain a particular position in a participation framework. The line-by-line analysis as utilized in the CA (Conversation Analysis) and the analysis of interaction line-by-line will be used in this essay to assess the discursive aspects of a speech.  In line 7, C self-selects herself to be the speaker by posing a question, “Change what to what?”. Regardless of this, speaker A constantly maintains his senior and eloquent position throughout the entire conversation. The vital role of participant A as a more informed individual is evident in lines 52 and 54 as he says, “It’s hard to explain you know to use it when you use it.”  It is worth noting that in the conversation, in line 57 and 58, R self-selects to start another conversation with C slightly and close to whisper.  The use of indicative language such as pointing at something or using sign language is important in that it makes it easy to clarify things and make them easy to comprehend. Indicative language forms a cardinal component of the conversation in lines 60, 63 and 86.

 

Linguistic resources

Register

In a speech or conversation, the variety or style of languages is based on factors such as the audience, purpose, and social occasion language style or register as an indication of the degree of formality a speech has. A formal conversation is characterized by   structured conversations as opposed to informal ones and has the choice depends on politeness (Gumperz& Cook-Gumperz, 2007). The conversation has an informative or discursive aim and is probably among students. It is classified as informal since there is the use of words such as ‘Yep’ in line 9, ‘Mm-hmm’ in line 10 and 35.  The speech is also characterized by instances of laughter that makes this   an informal conversation. This is evident in the various lines such as line 39, ‘hmhmhmhmhmhm’, line 31- 33, 38, 105, 110 and 111. The word “blah blah blah’ in line 54 is also an informal word. In line 92, R opens her bottle to drink ginger raising conversation on periods completely off the topic of discussion. This  proves that it is an informal communication due to the high level of freedom between R, E, and C. Line 104, use of ‘Mm-Hmm:::’ by C express her mood during checking the document and didn’t notice what R and E are talking about. Line 84, C uses ‘oh’ which is an informal word to show that she understands what C and R were talking after E in line 83 points to the computer screen and underlines the change made.

 

Modes of meaning

In the conversation among the four participants, the choice of the words is done concisely to ensure that the right meaning is accorded. The atmosphere in which the discussion is taking place enhances the conversation and the understanding of the various aspects such “inverted”.  First, the participants appear to be in jovial mood, which is an indication that they are most likely familiar with each other. This is evident in the ease of the conversation they are having and the fact that they are free to ask clarifications and make elaborations so that all of them understand. Words used in a conversation can derive their meanings from the context of the conversation.

 

Interaction resources

Speech acts

            Speech acts analysis considers what an utterance does as opposed to the form it takes. Depending on the culture and the context of a conversation, utterances may mean different things. In this speech, E says, “Are you in period?”. This statement triggers   the other four participants to   begin thinking about periods and issues of chastity. It therefore changes the   topic of conversation to chastity among Chinese. The participants provide various views and opinions about chastity.  Furthermore, the mention of ‘ginger’ in line 98 also triggers the discussion on the topic of periods.

 

Turn-taking

Usually, conversation is acknowledged as an enterprise where one person speaks and the other one listens. Discourse analysts dealing with conversation stress that there are systems through which speakers can determine when a person’s turn has ended and the other person has a turn for speaking. This floor’s or turn’s exchange is indicated through linguistic means including phrasing, pausing, and intonation (Gumperz & Cook-Gumperz, 1982, p. 14). While some people await a vivid pause for them to start speaking, others take ‘winding down’ as an invitation to take over, which mostly results in interruption. Other speakers also may take the floor regardless of the fact that they have not been invited to do so. Listenership can be indicated through a number of ways including frequent nodding or responses such as ‘yeah’, ‘uhuh’, and ‘mhm’. A speaker may be forced to repeat, over explain, or slow down on realizing that the listener is uncomprehending or uninterested.

It is evident in the conversation that there is active listenership considering that the conversation is some form of a discussion. Participant E in line 12 states, “Do we need quotation for Fresh and Easy?”. This is a question that E asks and expects to be answered. The participant does not know the answer and by asking the question, the expectation is to allow another member to respond. Likewise, in line 17 Participant C asks, “Inverted (.) What does it mean?. This question shows or gives directive for another participant to responds.

 

Repair

According to Gumperz and Cook-Gumperz (1982), discourse analysts are aware that misunderstandings are inevitable during conversations. Hence, participants do not normally expect that they have been understood and they have understood others. On the contrary, they actively listen to identify trouble and confirm if things are okay. The response used indicates how the second participant got from the first. When a participant notices a misunderstanding between what he meant and what the other participants interpreted, there can be a choice to repair or let it go. As a result, an utterance meaning ends up being negotiated.

Line 40 is a repair as participant R is trying to clarify that what was interpreted is not what the participant meant by saying, “I didn’t say that”.  This is a self-initiated repair as it comes from the participant that feels misunderstood. Line 41 would also be considered to be a repair since participant A is clarifying that he just played a joke. He says, “Well I know [you didn’t]”.  This is other-initiated repair because it is coming from another participant that had been kidding.  Line 116 is also a clarification by A regarding what chastity means, hence explaining the confusion C has in line 115 what the chastity is. Participant A states, “chastity is like um (.) No sex before marriage just keeping clean that is all things. Do they believe in sex (1.0) only when being married in most cases”. This is also other-initiated repair, which sorts to clarify the meaning of the word to avoid confusion.

 

Boundaries

In any conversation, boundaries need to be respected to ensure that the information or the topic under discussion does not go beyond its limits or scope (Shahin & Pitt, 2012, p. 3740). Boundaries are like signpost and informs the speaker on the extend or the scope of the issues to be discussed (Duranti, Ochs &Schieffelin, 2011, p. 26). Going beyond the scope of the topic of discussion is going beyond the boundaries and this in some way may affect an individual in a conversation negatively.  In this conversation the discussion on the periods among the members and the aspect of chastity are beyond the scope of the discussion. The conversation needed not to go beyond this as it was personal issues especially that one on periods.

 

Discussion

Performing a conversation analysis assists in that the social action’s order and organization in the interaction become evident (Ochs, Schegloff& Thompson, 1996, p. 23). The inter-subjectivity’s development can be traced in an action sequence and made it possible to rate the participant’s psychological and cognitive states. More important, the analysis of the conversation made it possible to trace the manner in which the participants interpret as well as analyze the other’s actions. On the same note, it makes it easy to understand how the participants come up with a shared comprehension of the interaction’s progress. In essence, discovering how participants respond to and understand each other during turn taking is key to understanding the generation of sequences of action.

Conversation Analysis makes it evident that agents design their utterances as well as behaviors with the knowledge that they are responsible for it (Ochs &Schieffelin, 2011, p. 45). It is as a result of this that the participants in the conversation were particularly keen on how they responded. This also helps in maintaining a healthy conversation. Moreover, participants are familiar with the fact that their utterances also imply their comprehension of conversation rules and the situation before the utterance. Therefore, aware of the norm that is related to the present situation, participants may choose to adhere to or decline the rule. This greatly depends on how they view their choice’s repercussions. Language is what defines a society. When individuals participate or share in terms of the language they speak, it creates an identity and a community.   Therefore, linguistic constructions are able to make sense if the members of the society communicate. Furthermore, it is important to understand the social situations depicted by discursive, phonological, grammatical, and lexical structures before assigning meanings to them. Engaging in conversations makes social relationships, social institutions, and social interactions possible. Language, social competence and cultural acquisition   develop concurrently among individuals. For instance, children as they grow up, understand the language signs  from the immediate social environments/experiences (Ochs &Schieffelin, 1983, p. 34).

An analysis of the foregoing discussion makes it evident at culture and the upbringing of a child plays a key role in the position each person takes in conversations during his adulthood. According to Ochs, the foundation of dissociation of subjectivity lies in the linguistic childbearing routines (Ochs &Schieffelin, 1983, p. 39).  A majority of the societies treat their infants as the principal subjects whenever there are child/ parent exchanges. This is mainly achieved through imputing meaning verbally to the utterances the children make as well as guessing what their individual responses are likely to be. Ochs emphasizes greatly that children are normally oriented within a socio-centric direction.

From the conversation that was being analyzed, it is evident that the four participants have different roles throughout the entire conversation. In this regard, the male participant is more outspoken and informed. This may be attributed to the fact that he was socialized in this manner.  The environment in which he comes from may also have shaped him to be an outspoken individual when compared to the Chinese girls that come from a different background. On the other hand, some participants barely have information of what is being spoken and they seem to be learning a lot and making clarifications (Duranti, Ochs &Schieffelin, 2011, p. 50).

From the conversation, it is evident that the use of linguistic practices including clarification leaves a psychological as well as a social implication. It is rare for people in the higher status to make clarifications for people in the lower status. On the contrary, the lowly individuals make clarifications to the superiors (Ochs & Schieffelin, 1979). If servers need more information regarding the elders’ dictates, they can only learn this from the peers. As far as clarification is concerned, people are discouraged from questioning or making clarifications from the authority (Ochs, 2012, p. 65). However, from the conversation, the male participant appears to be more authoritative, which may also be because of his gender. He is the only male participant in the group.

The participants in the essay are all-active though and collaborate well. There is an evident supporter/ doer relationship since all the participants is discussing the assignment in the International Business course almost equally. The tasks being mentioned are undertaken collectively. Participant A may actually be assumed to be taking the lead role in the conversation. However, the other three participants are supporting it and are, thereby, accountable for its accomplishment. If the aim of the entire conversation is not reached at the end, every participant will be held responsible for failing to play his or her roles as expected. Similarly, in the field of linguistics, several ethnographers consent that the members in a family are accountable for the misdeeds of the others (Ochs, 2012, p. 68).

It is agreeable that attentiveness is a key ingredient in every conversation. This can be equated to service where attending upon other is regarded greatly. Children who are taught to imitate and attend upon others’ speech during their early years have the ability to hear simultaneous conversations and those that are a bit far. I totally agree with Ochs that carrying out commands such as responding to the clarifications made during the conversation involves listening as well as obeying. This therefore, implies that listening requires some level of obedience and attentiveness and is an impetus that influences the speech of an individual (Ochs, 2010).

The upbringing of children determines the roles they will take in conversations during their later years (Pichora-Fuller & Levitt, 2012, p. 351). For instance, people who are in authority use lots of energy while trying to transform their children so that they become attendants. It is also easy for parents to remark that their children are disobedient, which implies that they are not keen to listen to what they are being told. Parents may term these children as chatterboxes and they are likely to be scolded for talking too much that is not allowed for their age. In this discussion, the dominance of the boy participant   compared to the girls may be attributed to the way parents bring up their children. The Chinese girls may have been nurtured to communicate less as opposed to the boy hence leading to these variations in their level of dominance.

During the early years of children’s forming, they learn that there are particular contexts during a conversation where expressiveness or attendance is called for. The main argument from Ochs that is worth noting is that the socio-culturally structured global concepts that children possess are developed from their language activities’ participation. It is important for parents to be aware that children do not primarily acquire language habits from being instructed what they should say. On the contrary, they learn a lot when they are communicating when the fellow children particularly during playtime. According to Ochs, children develop as sense of sociality and self from the early linguistic relations’ structure. Status is considered a vitally determinative factor as opposed to gender in shaping the adult personality (Duranti, Ochs &Schieffelin, 2011).  From the conversation that was under analysis, most of the empathy that is expressed in the conversation basically originates from the women. However, when expressing sympathy, status trumps sex in that the people who are lower in status express empathy constantly to the superiors. As a result of the persona, personality is created and principally, the persona constitutes of the social roles an individual plays (Duranti, Ochs &Schieffelin, 2011).

An individual’s communal organization and extended family have immense linguistic implications. One of the ways through which a participant can clarify what has been answered is reframing the answer. This ensures that the intended meaning is grasped rather than the guessed meaning. In essence, the gender, socialization, social values, and social relations play a cardinal role in the person an individual becomes during conversations in the adulthood.

Conclusion

During every conversation, the speech is situated, developed and managed uniquely. This usually depends on the context and intention of the conversation. In essence, gender, socialization, social values, and social relations play a vital role in determining the position an individual takes in conversations during their adulthood (Duranti, Ochs &Schieffelin, 2011, p. 32). The community and families have a great role in ensuring that children are shaped appropriately. The manner in which an individual conducts or maintains a conversation has social and psychological implications on him. Ochs emphasizes that children do not only learn   language from instruction but interaction as well.
References

Duranti, A., Ochs, E. &Schieffelin, B. (2011).The handbook of language socialization. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Gumperz, J. J., & Cook-Gumperz, J. (1982). Introduction: Language and the communication of social identity. Language and social identity, 1-21.

Gumperz, J. J., & Cook-Gumperz, J. (2007). Discourse, cultural diversity and communication: A linguistic anthropological perspective. Handbook of intercultural communication, 7, 13-29.

Ochs, E.  (2010). Language: Language and Social Life.  The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion, R. Shweder, Bidell, T., Dailey, A., Dixon, S., Miller, P., & Modell, J. (eds.) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, pp. 545-549.

Ochs, E. &Schieffelin, B. (1979). Developmental pragmatics. New York: Academic Press.

Ochs, E. &Schieffelin, B. (1983 ). Acquisition of conversational competence. London: Routledge, Kegan, & Paul.

Ochs, E. &Schieffelin, B. (2011). The Theory of Language Socialization. In The Handbook of Language Socialization. Duranti, A., Ochs, E. and Schieffelin, B. (eds.) Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 1-21.

Ochs, E. (2012). Experiencing Language. Anthropological Theory, 12(2): 142-160.

Ochs, E., Schegloff, E., & Thompson, S. (1996).  Interaction and grammar.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pichora-Fuller, M., & Levitt, H. (2012). Speech Comprehension Training and Auditory and

Cognitive Processing in Older Adults, American Journal of Audiology, 21(2): 351-357.

Shahin, A., & Pitt, A. (2012). Alpha activity marking word boundaries mediates speech

Segmentation, European Journal of Neuroscience, 36(12): 3740-3748.

 

Appendix

Key

A=Raymond

C=Jacquie,

E=Elaine,

R=Raina,

• C: 还要改什么吗除了US UK?

(Any thing else needs to be changed except US UK?)

• R: (.)Fre[sh n Easy ]
• E: [Fresh n Easy]
• C: [Fresh n Easy]
• (2.0)
• R: °Fresh n Easy°
• C: Change what to what?
• R: (.) I think just use the mark.
• E: (.) Yep
• C: Mm-hmm, (1.0) um with (1.0) this↑or without this↓((pointing to

the computer screen))

• R: (1.0) Without (1.0) quotation mark
• E: Do we need quotation for Fresh and Easy?
• C: [[Quotation marks [no ][yeah
• A: [[No, there’s being [inverted] comm[as (.) the single one
• E: OK
• A: I don’t think it matters, you can (2.0) you can get away with not

using it at all, but I would use (1.0) inverted commas >the< small

things

• C: Inverted (.) what does it mean?
• A: (1.0) wh-what sorry? Inverted comma is the the (.) the

[one (1.0) the one mark

• C: [Oh::: the single comma]
• A: the single one, yeah]
• C: [OK]
• A: the single comma in the corner (1.0) one you are talking about
• R: Inver:ted
• A: It’s called in-inverted [comma ]
• C:                 [Inverted comma]
• R: [Inverted comma]
• E: Inverte[d ]
• A: [Yeah] so it’s like when you do this ((indicating withboth curved index

fingers beside his cheeks)) [(1.5)  f]resh and (.)easy↑

• E:               [Just one]
• A: fresh (.) and easy ((change to put both curved index fingers and

middle fingers beside his cheeks))

• C: [hmhmhmhmhmhm]
• E: [hmhmhm
• R: [hmhmhmhmhmhm] cu[te
• A: [that’s like if you quoting someone
• C: Mm-hmm
• A: [Just like RainaRaina ] said that (.) I was too: fa:t
• E: [Where’s just ××××]
• E: hmhmhmhmhm
• C: Hahahahahahahaha
• R: I didn’t say that↑
• A: Well I know [you didn’t]
• C: [hh:::     ]
• A: U:m (1.0) all >I know< you think you can say, you can use inverted

commas of that (.) It’s if you quoting someone directly.

• C: Mm-hem
• R: °OK°
• A: So Raina said that (2.0) you want to go to the SU the (.) the ball or

something like that, but inverted comma is like, I don’t know star

Carson↑ (.) or it’s not a direct quote.

• R: OK.
• A: She said I was too:::ea:sy or something like that
• C: Huh hh:::
• E: Hmhm
• (1.0)
• A: Like (.) >it’s hard to explain you know to use it when you use it<
• C: So we are not going to use (.) any: mark? Just (.) I think just (.)

just fine (.)°fresh and  [easy oh we wrote it]°

• A: [I don’t think        ] I don’t think it’s

necessarily use it, >because like <if you go if you use sentence you

say (1.5) and then (.) fresh and easy (.)  blahblahblah

it’s just [(.) w]hy we [doing here

• C: [OK  ]
• E: [But

if we mentioned the (.) Tesco entered the (.) American market

[(1.0) under the name of fresh and (.) [easy do we need the mark?

• R: °[I think there’s no°
• C: °[What do you mean by°
• (2.0)
• R: No, I think there should be space between: ((pointing to the

computer screen))

• C: Fresh
• E: Yeah
• R: fresh mark (.) easy ((pointing to the screen))
• A: I think it’s actually spell fresh (.)↓N↑ easy↑
• C: Yeah
• A: So with (.) the inverted commas (.) around an N, so it’s N↓ easy,

freshN↓ easy, not and easy, but when you go to website, this is

and easy↑, but it’s actually (.) fresh N↓ [easy (.) but just put

and easy

• C:                       [Mmm:::
• C: Just put (.) the mark, is that ok?
• [In this way
• R: [I mean I saw this version on the: yeah
• A: Yeah, [yeah] >yeah yeah<
• C: [Yeah]
• C: so there’s a space?
• A: [Yeah
• R: [imagine that space in between
• C: OK, ah::: where the [last one ]I changed
• E: [I change]
• C: Ah, I’m so different (2.0) [hh::: ]
• E: [What?]
• (1.5)
• R: I just changed yet (1.0) and (.) we can: research what the::: the one

you changed just now later

(1.5)

• C: He highlighted [this whole part
• R: [It’s me
• C: Oh it’s you [so ] it’s ok (1.0) just go for
• R: [Yeah]
• E: Did ((pointing to the computer screen)) Why there underlines it did?
• C: Oh
• R: Um, because this is a (.) um delete the question mark
• ((C deletes the question mark))
• R: Yeah
• C: 然后

(Then)

(3.0) ((looks through the document))

yeah so complicated (1.5) 我刚才我刚才变了一个然后我就没有加空格我

给忘了在哪儿了怎么办？

(I just, I just changed one word but I forget where the word is now,

what should I do?)

• R: (.) You can search for it later

(6.0) ((R opens her bottle and drinks from it))

[Ginger

• E: [What’s that?
• (1.0)
• R: [Ginger]
• C: [Ginger]
• (1.5)
• E: Are you in period?
• R: (1.0) I should be (.) should be two [months]
• E: [Delay?]
• R: (.)Yeah
• E: (1.0)Two months
• R: Yeah, I haven’t got ××××
• C: Mm-Hmm:::: ((looks through the document and change the

incorrect words))

• E: hehehehe
• R: Just on the day: I arrived here (1.5) that’s the only one (1.0) it’s

been more than two months

• E: In the plane (1.0) I’m in the period and (.) after I came here, twice,

should be twice

• R: Yeah (1.0) it’[s should be that (.) maybe I’m pregnant,
• E: [It’s weird time now
• R: Heh[hahahaha]
• E: [Hahahaha] Whose? Hmhm
• R: I don’t know. Hehe

(1.5)

• C: °Fresh and Easy° ((looks through the documents to change target

word))

• A: So Chinese peo- um umum Chinese (1.0) people more (.) u:m (1.5)

sort of um focused or believing of (1.0) like chastity, keeping

[(1.0)keep]keep

• C: [What chastity?]
• A: chastity is like um (.) no sex before marriage just keeping clean

that’s all thing. Do they believe in sex (1.0) only when being

married in most cases

• E: [No] [yeah]
• R: [No] things are changing [now], some people are holding the (1.0)

like me I’m against (.) sex

[out of marriage

• E: [Before
• A: out of marriage
• C: [Umm]
• R: [Yeah ]
• A: Yeah

 

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