Speech intervention for children with language impairment aims to both strengthen specific language skills and to reinforce the ability to participate in interactional contexts. Children with language impairment often have problems in interaction; therefore the contributions of the conversational partner are of great importance. Thus, the demands are high on the speech and language pathologist (SLP) for sense and cohesion in intervention. The aim of the present study was to examine how SLPs and children with language impairment interact in language intervention. An approach influenced by Conversation Analysis was used in order to identify various phenomena that occurred, and their effect on the structure of the interaction was analyzed. Four SLPs, two men and two women, were enrolled in the study.  They participated in intervention with two children with language impairment each, i.e. eight conversations. The analysis showed that different forms of feedback and different repair strategies had an impact on the interaction. In addition, it was shown that the interactions contained several situations related to social face work.  Both differences and similarities were found between the participants in the analyzed material. Different interactional patterns of the SLPs appeared to affect the outcome of the intervention in different ways. / Logopedisk intervention för barn med språkstörning har för avsikt att både stärka de specifika språkförmågor som brister och att göra barnet mer redo för kommunikativa sammanhang. Språkstörning hos barn innebär ofta svårigheter i interaktionen med andra, därför är samtalspartnerns agerande av stor betydelse. Således är kraven på logopeden stora för att skapa mening och sammanhållning i interventionen. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur logopeder och barn med språkstörning interagerar vid behandling av språkstörning. Ett arbetssätt influerat av Conversation Analysis användes för att belysa olika fenomen som förekom i interaktionen och vilken inverkan dessa hade på interaktionens struktur. I studien deltog fyra logopeder, två män och två kvinnor med två behandlingsbesök av barn med språkstörning vardera, således åtta samtal. Intressanta fenomen som förekom var olika typer av återkopplingar, reparationer och ansiktshotande situationer. Det förelåg både skillnader och likheter mellan deltagarna i det analyserade materialet. Logopedernas olika interaktionsmönster förefaller påverka interventionen på olika sätt.

The present study deals with task-oriented conversations between a person with hearing loss and a relative or friend. The purpose was to investigate how the participants in the task-oriented context co-construct understanding, and to focus on different kind of repair strategies that the participants may use to make the hearing loss relevant in the conversation. The method used was Conversation Analysis (CA). The material consisted of eight videotaped task-oriented conversations between a person with hearing loss and their significant other. Altogether eight persons participated in the study – four of them had a hearing loss and the other four had normal hearing. The essay also presents a summary of previous research on communication involving persons with hearing loss. The occurrence and usage of repair strategies was brought to focus as this was of particular interest for this study. It was revealed that quantitative measures of these phenomena previously have been the most commonly used method. The analysis demonstrated that the participants used several different types of repair initiatives during the studied sequences. The categorization was based upon these repair initiatives. The different initiatives were primarily classified according to the manner in whish they specified the nature of the repairable. The study pointed out that the underlying phenomena that were addressed in these sequences were of a complex and various nature. It was proposed that this might demonstrate a need to complement the approaches made earlier in this area with a more qualitative one. / Föreliggande studie behandlar uppgiftsorienterad interaktion mellan en person med hörselnedsättning och dennes anhörig eller vän. Syftet var att undersöka hur deltagarna i den uppgiftsorienterade kontexten samkonstruerar förståelse, och att fokusera på olika reparationssekvenser som deltagarna eventuellt använder för att göra hörselnedsättningen relevant för samtalet. Arbetsmetoden omfattade samtalsanalys i bemärkelsen Conversation Analysis (CA). Materialet bestod av åtta videoinspelningar av uppgiftsorienterade samtal mellan person med hörselnedsättning och anhörig. I studien deltog sammanlagt åtta personer, varav fyra hade hörselnedsättning och fyra var normalhörande. I uppsatsen presenteras även en sammanfattning av tidigare forskning kring kommunikation hos personer med hörselnedsättning. Fokus lades på studier om förekomsten och användandet av reparationsstrategier eftersom dessa var av särskilt intresse för studien. Det visade sig att mer kvantitativa mätmetoder av dessa fenomen tidigare varit det vanligaste tillvägagångssättet. Genom analys av samtalen framkom att deltagarna under aktuella reparationssekvenser använde sig av flera olika typer av reparationsinitiativ. Kategoriseringen i analysen utgick från dessa reparationsinitiativ. Initiativen indelades främst utifrån vilket sätt de preciserade vad som behövde repareras. I studien framkom att de bakomliggande fenomenen som adresserades i dessa reparationer var av komplex och varierande natur. Det föreslogs att detta demonstrerar ett behov av att kunna komplettera de metoder som tidigare använts inom detta forskningsområde med en ett mer kvalitativt synsätt.

I föreliggande studie undersöktes kommunikativa resurser i samtal mellan tre personer med afasi och deras respektive logoped/anhörig. Syftet var att identifiera och analysera resurser som samtalsdeltagarna gemensamt använde för att uppnå intersubjektivitet. Vidare undersöktes om det, utifrån vem personen med afasi samtalade med, fanns någon inverkan på hur de kommunikativa resurserna användes. Sex dyader spelades in och samtalsanalys användes för att studera materialet. Samtalsämnen valdes fritt av samtalsdeltagarna. Analysen resulterade i identi¬fie¬ring av tre bevarade resurser hos personerna med afasi; upprepningar, gester och skratt. Det gemensamma för dessa resurser var; att de förekom i den naturliga sekventialiteten i samtalet, att deras kommunikativa funktioner uppstod i samarbetet mellan samtalsdeltagarna och att de bidrog till intersubjektiviteten. Resurserna visade även på en social kompetens hos deltagarna med afasi som ofta döljs av de språkliga hindren. Då de kommunikativa resurserna fick liknande funktioner i de olika dyaderna, är resultatet troligen generaliserbart till annan interaktion där personer med afasi deltar. Resursernas kommunikativa funktioner föreföll inte bero på vem samtalspartnern var. Slutsatsen var att språklig kompetens hos personer med afasi framför allt bör ses ur ett inter¬aktivt perspektiv och att ett sådant förhållningssätt är önskvärt i logopediskt behandlingsarbete. / Analysis of Talk-in-Interaction involving People with Aphasia and Speech and Language Pathologists/Spouses: The Use of Communicative Resources in Collaboration toward Intersubjectivity. In the present study, communicative resources in conversations involving three persons with aphasia and their speech and language pathologists/spouses were investigated. The main purpose was to identify and analyse collaboratively used resources for achieving intersubjectivity. In addition, possible changes in the use of the communicative resources depending on conversational partner were investigated. The conversations of six dyads were recorded and analysed. Conversational topics were chosen by the participants. Through the analysis three preserved resources for participants with aphasia could be identified; repetitions, gestures and laughter. All resources occurred within the natural sequentiality of the conversation, their communicative functions emerged in collaboration of the participants and contributed to intersubjectivity. The social competence of the persons with aphasia, often concealed by the language impairment, was also revealed. The results may possibly be generalised to other communicative activities where persons with aphasia participate, since similar communicative functions were achieved through the same resources in different dyads. The functions of the resources were not determined by conversational partner. To conclude, it may be argued that linguistic competence of persons with aphasia should mainly be considered in an interactive perspective and that this view is preferred in language therapy.

Successful interaction makes sense to its participants – it is, in other words, coherent. As different resources are employed to indicate mutual orientation by showing which actions are linked and where attention is paid, coherent conversation can be said to be achieved multimodally. This thesis builds on an interactional and ecological theoretical basis, and investigates how strategies for sense-making vary depending on the context of interaction. Specifically, this is a study of interaction in different types of multimodal and multiplex communication situations. The characteristics of these technology-rich communication situations are mapped and, primarily through ethnographic methods and interaction analysis, it is investigated how conversational coherence is maintained. Furthermore, it is suggested how the findings can be applied to inform interaction design. The analysis presented is based on results from four case studies, dealing with different aspects of coherence creation in different English speaking contexts. Study 1 investigates coherence in intertwined threads in dyad instant messaging (IM) interaction, and Study 2 focuses on coherence through conversational feedback strategies in interaction in a multimodal desktop video conferencing system. Study 3 has a somewhat broader focus, as the multiple communication channels in which one participant is involved are all taken into consideration in the investigation of sequential coherence. Finally, in Study 4, the physical and digital interaction in a partly shared studio space is investigated, with an emphasis on how mutual orientation is established during conversation initiation. The findings show that when addressing coherence it is important to acknowledge both dynamic aspects of context, such as activity and participants, and more static aspects, such as communicative affordances of environments and tools. In online and mixed-mode interaction, the notion of context becomes particularly complex, as participants are simultaneously part of both the individual context, which may include digital tools for communication, and the shared context of interaction (polycontextuality). In this thesis, it is further shown that this has consequences for coherent conversation initiation and possibilities to engage in multiple semi-simultaneous conversations (polyfocality). Additionally, the results emphasize the importance of explicit linguistic strategies in computer-mediated interaction.

Music is everywhere. From formal occasions to a person’s morning run. Music is available on cell phones, computers, in religious ceremonies, at concerts and venues. Music is seen by society to be important and a person’s choice of music can be used to present an identity. The question considered in this article is how people talk about music and how they present identity through their discussion. The current study examines eight focus groups of three actors instructed to simply talk about music. The discussions were recorded and analyzed in a conversation analytic style to identify the structures of the conversations and how these were used to present and regulate identity. Participants also provided background information about their music preferences and experiences as well as their goals in managing their self-presentation. The results of the study focus on the general question of “What kind of music do you listen to?” and how participants managed their answers. Particular attention is given to actors’ management of opportunities to create an in-group identification and avoid inference rich categorization. This study focuses primarily upon different ways this can be managed. Examples include three part list use, storytelling, subgenre specifications, and the use of phrases like “I listen to all kinds of music.” It is argued that these devices can be used by an actor to present themselves as a member of the current in-group while avoiding being categorized in a possibly negative way based on their music choices.

Dementia may cause impairment of linguistic abilities, affecting both production and comprehension, which in turn affects communication (Mahendra & Hopper, 2012: Perkins, Whithworth & Lesser, 1998). The aim of the present study was to investigate and describe the communication strategies in everyday conversations between people with dementia and their interlocutors, and to describe the identified interaction phenomena based on a participatory perspective. The study was conducted at a home for people with dementia. Three people with known dementia and two health professionals participated in the study. Everyday interactions were filmed, and then transcribed and analyzed according conversation analytic principles. The transcribed data was also analyzed with ideas from positioning theory. The present study highlights the presence of trouble sources in communication between the person with dementia and carers and how these are handled by the participants in terms of strategies, competence and positioning. The study shows that all participants use communicative strategies when trouble sources occurs, but also that trouble sources in the conversation sometimes are ignored. How trouble sources are handled affects how participants acknowledge themselves and each other competence and how they position themselves and each other in the conversation. The study also demonstrates that Conversation Analysis can be an important tool to map strenghts and break downs in communication between people with dementia and key interlocutors. That knowledge could then form the basis for designing individual adaptations and strategies to facilitate communication.

The purpose of the research reported in this monograph has been twofold. First, it aims at contributing to an inquiry of the ways in which language and context are intertwined. Second, it aims at giving a characterization of a specific communicative event, second language teaching. The study starts out from a broad social-theoretical perspective, inspired by language game theory and ethnomethodology, as well as Goffman's (1974) 'frame analysis' and the work of Ragnar Rommetveit (1974, 1987). Levinson's (1979) notion 'activity type' is used in exploring how relevance criteria and frames of interpretation vary with the context of the activity in which language is used. The empirical material for the study consists of eight dyadic lessons of Swedish as a second language in grades 4-6 of the Swedish comprehensive, compulsory school. As material for comparison, the pupils, 10-12 year old boys from the Middle East, also participate in two non-didactic conversations around tasks defined by the research team, one together with his teacher of Swedish, one together with a class-mate of his. The first of the three empirical studies is a qualitative, discursive analysis of salient dialogue processes in language teaching activities. Abrupt shifts and breaks in the dialogue, misunderstandings, and lack of tuning between the conversational parties are interpreted as results of a tension between language at two levels in the language lesson. The dialogue in the language lessons of the corpus is characterized by an ambivalence between two perspectives on language, the ordinary, everyday perspective on language as a means for constructing and conveying messages versus the 'level 2 perspective', where language is seen as anabstract system of decontextualized linguistic items. The two other empirical studies are quantitatively oriented. In the first of these, important differences in dialogue processes, concerning dynamics, coherence and fluency are found between the lessons and the non-didactic conversations, as well as between different activities within the confines of a lesson. One of the most important results is that the teacher's interactional dominance seems to be systematically related to the content of lesson activities. The results of the last study suggest that in lessons, and especially language lessons proper, the pupil is givenfewer opportunities for talking and, also, that he refrains from taking the opportunities actually given to him. The main significance of the research is the demonstration of the dynamic character of linguistic communication and of the way in which linguistic meaning is the product of utterances being embedded in activities on which activity-specific premisses for communication are brought to bear. Also, the second language teaching situation is characterized as connected with particular communicative practices that are imbued with a certain degree of ambivalence and ambiguity.

<p>I föreliggande studie undersöktes kommunikativa resurser i samtal mellan tre personer med afasi och deras respektive logoped/anhörig. Syftet var att identifiera och analysera resurser som samtalsdeltagarna gemensamt använde för att uppnå intersubjektivitet. Vidare undersöktes om det, utifrån vem personen med afasi samtalade med, fanns någon inverkan på hur de kommunikativa resurserna användes. Sex dyader spelades in och samtalsanalys användes för att studera materialet. Samtalsämnen valdes fritt av samtalsdeltagarna. Analysen resulterade i identi¬fie¬ring av tre bevarade resurser hos personerna med afasi; upprepningar, gester och skratt. Det gemensamma för dessa resurser var; att de förekom i den naturliga sekventialiteten i samtalet, att deras kommunikativa funktioner uppstod i samarbetet mellan samtalsdeltagarna och att de bidrog till intersubjektiviteten. Resurserna visade även på en social kompetens hos deltagarna med afasi som ofta döljs av de språkliga hindren. Då de kommunikativa resurserna fick liknande funktioner i de olika dyaderna, är resultatet troligen generaliserbart till annan interaktion där personer med afasi deltar. Resursernas kommunikativa funktioner föreföll inte bero på vem samtalspartnern var. Slutsatsen var att språklig kompetens hos personer med afasi framför allt bör ses ur ett inter¬aktivt perspektiv och att ett sådant förhållningssätt är önskvärt i logopediskt behandlingsarbete.</p> / <p>Analysis of Talk-in-Interaction involving People with Aphasia and Speech and Language Pathologists/Spouses: The Use of Communicative Resources in Collaboration toward Intersubjectivity.</p><p>In the present study, communicative resources in conversations involving three persons with aphasia and their speech and language pathologists/spouses were investigated. The main purpose was to identify and analyse collaboratively used resources for achieving intersubjectivity. In addition, possible changes in the use of the communicative resources depending on conversational partner were investigated. The conversations of six dyads were recorded and analysed. Conversational topics were chosen by the participants. Through the analysis three preserved resources for participants with aphasia could be identified; repetitions, gestures and laughter. All resources occurred within the natural sequentiality of the conversation, their communicative functions emerged in collaboration of the participants and contributed to intersubjectivity. The social competence of the persons with aphasia, often concealed by the language impairment, was also revealed. The results may possibly be generalised to other communicative activities where persons with aphasia participate, since similar communicative functions were achieved through the same resources in different dyads. The functions of the resources were not determined by conversational partner. To conclude, it may be argued that linguistic competence of persons with aphasia should mainly be considered in an interactive perspective and that this view is preferred in language therapy.</p>

<p>This paper explores the interaction of children with language impairment (LI). The present essay is a conversation analytic study of child-child and child-therapist dyads. The aim was to explore in what ways children with LI reach common understanding. Another purpose was to investigate if there are differences in interaction between dyads with children with LI and dyads with children with LI and speech language therapist. Seven children, three girls and four boys, with LI participated in the study. All the children are enrolled at a language unit. The dialogues were recorded, transcribed and analysed. The results revealed no differences in the children’s length of utterance between the child-child dyads and the child-SLT dyads. Another important finding was that it became more of a course of event in the play between child and SLT in contrast to the child-child dyads, where the communication more concerned one or a couple of objects. In general, the children managed to initiate, respond, give feedback, negotiate and make requests of clarification and repair utterances in conversation with each other. One important conclusion is that conversation analysis could be used in identification of strengths and weaknesses in children’s communication. The knowledge from the analyses ought to be applicable in intervention with children with LI.</p> / <p>Föreliggande studie behandlar hur barn med språkstörning interagerar. Vidare är den en samtalsanalytisk studie av samtal barn-barn och barn-logoped. Syftet var att studera hur gemensam förståelse uppnås i kommunikation samt att undersöka om skillnader förelåg mellan de två samtalstyperna. Sju barn, tre flickor och fyra pojkar, med generell språkstörning deltog i studien. Samtliga går på språkförskola i södra Sverige. Samtalen spelades in, transkriberades samt analyserades. Resultaten visade att barnen initierade och responderade, återkopplade, förhandlade, begärde förtydligande samt reparerade yttranden relativt väl. Vidare framkom ingen skillnad i yttrandelängd hos barnen beroende på vem de kommunicerade med. Barnen upprätthöll ett samtalsämne tämligen adekvat. I logopedbarnsamtalen utvecklades samspelet mer till ett längre händelseförlopp, till skillnad från barnbarnsamtalen, där samtalen centrerades kring ett eller ett par föremål. Samtalsanalys förefaller vara ett bra verktyg vid bedömning av kommunikation. Metoden visar barns språkliga styrkor och svagheter i vardagligt samspel. Samtalsanalysens resultat kan därefter användas för att träna social interaktion i vardagen, och där torde logopeden ha en betydande roll gällande handledning av kommunikativ träning.</p>

This dissertation examines classroom conversations involving refugee and immigrant youth in a second language (L2) introduction program, exploring how L2 Swedish emerges as a multiparty accomplishment by both the teacher and the students. Drawing on forty hours of video-recorded Swedish L2 classroom conversations, as well as on observations and informal interviews, it focuses on talk as a form of social action. Theoretically and methodologically, the dissertation primarily combines insights from language socialization and social constructionist frameworks and detailed transcriptions informed by conversation analysis. Study I documents how schooled Swedish as a second language (SSL) student identities emerged as performative effects of how the students in school activities were addressed as “ethnic” students, and how they managed to handle, adopt, and contest being positioned as the Other. Study II records classroom performances and the formation of a community of practice. The analyses cover how students’ verbal improvisations (repetitions, stylizations, and laughter) and alignments to local registers authenticate SSL identities. The findings show how stylizations were important resources for metalinguistic reflections on correctness, and for the establishment of a local language ideology. Study III documents the interactional nature of classroom repair work. Detailed analyses of correction sequences and trajectories show that both the teacher and the students produced ambiguous other-corrections, illuminating the intricate multiparty work in correction trajectories. In brief, this dissertation illuminates multiparty aspects of classroom L2 socialization. The analyses of classroom talk show how both teacher and student investments in language competencies and local ideologies of correct Swedish or style, as well as participation and identity work, are co-constructed through participants’ tailoring of talk. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 3: Accepted.</p>