Conversation analysis in an oral business communication course
Conversation analysis in an oral business communication course

Summary/Abstract: Conversation Analysis (CA) treats language in use as an emerging process through which the participants coordinate their interactional behaviour to achieve a joint project. This paper is an attempt to make a case for an introductory theoretical CA component in a course on advanced oral communication for our MA students in international communication in business. For this purpose, we briefly describe conversation as a prototypical speech genre, outline the CA field of study and provide a selection of course and seminar activities. In conclusion, we assert that by familiarising the students with the inner workings of ordinary conversation they will be able to understand the idiosyncracies of the various sub-genres of oral business discourse.

• Details
• Contents