Yes / Audio recordings of meetings of two community groups in a deprived inner-city area were analysed, using discursive psychological and conversation analytic techniques to explore situated enactments of ‘community’. Participants situated themselves as members; of a geographical community; of an “imagined” community; and, of other constitutive communities. A sense of community was enacted through five interactional strategies: affirming moral codes, ‘defending’ other members, distinguishing insiders from outsiders, enacting empowerment and challenging institutions. Participants regularly employed emotional displays and affirmed moral positions, both to constitute ‘community’ and to take action in it. In so doing they worked up social capital and positioned community concerns in ways more reflective of their own situated values than of criminal law or government policy.

Theories of reflexivity have primarily been concerned with the way agents monitor their own actions using knowledge (Giddens) or deliberate on the social context to make choices through the internal conversation (Archer), yet none have placed emotion at the centre of reflexivity. While emotion is considered in theories of reflexivity it is generally held at bay, being seen as a possible barrier to clear reflexive thought. Here, I challenge this position and, drawing on the work of C.H. Cooley, argue that feeling and emotion are central to reflexive processes, colouring the perception of self, others and social world, thus influencing our responses in social interaction as well as the way we reflexively monitor action and deliberate on the choices we face. Emotional reflexivity is therefore not simply about the way emotions are reflexively monitored or ordered, but about how emotion informs reflexivity itself.

The study aims to explore whether gender stereotypes are reflected, questioned, or redefined in the podcast medium. The research question specifically investigates differences in these patterns between male and female participants and examines the language used to express them. The study is theoretically grounded in Kerstin Nordenstam’s (1990), Catrin Norrby’s (2014) and Deborah Tannen’s (2013) observations regarding gender differences in conversation topics and styles. The research involves conducting a conversational analysis to explore gender stereotypical conversational patterns on six of Sweden's prominent podcast episodes; Alex och Sigges podcast, Aldrig ensam, Wahlgren & Wistam, 30's in the City, Kafferepet and Helvetet med Walden och Parisa. It involved a dual-level approach, initially a broad analysis was conducted of short segments from all six episodes. Subsequently, a more in-depth examination was carried out on two specific episodes, involving the analysis of more extensive portions of each conversation. The analysis reveals that gender stereotypes emerge in podcasts through topic choices, support signals, overlapping speech and word distribution. For instance, women often focus on personal relationships and use more support signals, while men exhibit more dominance, especially in overlapping speech. The analysis of word distribution also confirms previous research on longer male utterances. Conclusions are drawn regarding how these patterns are reinforced by the podcast's structure and content choices. The results provide insights into gender related conversational patterns. Scientifically, the study fills a gap by applying previous theories to the modern podcast medium, opening new avenues for research on gender and communication. Societally, the study highlights how these patterns contribute to maintaining gender norms and specific expectations.

Yes / Objective This study explores whether the profile of patients’ interactional behaviour in memory clinic conversations with a doctor can contribute to the clinical differentiation between functional memory disorders (FMD) and memory problems related to neurodegenerative diseases. Methods Conversation Analysis of video recordings of neurologists’ interactions with patients attending a specialist memory clinic. “Gold standard” diagnoses were made independently of CA findings by a multi-disciplinary team based on clinical assessment, neuropsychological testing and brain imaging. Results Two discrete conversational profiles for patients with memory complaints emerged, including (i) who attends the clinic (i.e., whether or not patients are accompanied), and (ii) patients’ responses to neurologists’ questions about memory problems, such as difficulties with compound questions and providing specific and elaborated examples and frequent “I don’t know” responses. Conclusion Specific communicative difficulties are characteristic of the interaction patterns of patients with a neurodegenerative pathology. Those difficulties are manifest in memory clinic interactions with neurologists, thereby helping to differentiate patients with dementia from those with FMD. Practical implications Our findings demonstrate that conversational profiles based on patients’ contributions to memory clinic encounters have diagnostic potential to assist the screening and referral process from primary care, and the diagnostic service in secondary care.

Yes / Objectives: In the UK dementia is under-diagnosed, there is limited access to specialist memory clinics, and many of the patients referred to such clinics are ultimately found to have functional (non-progressive) memory disorders (FMD), rather than a neurodegenerative disorder. Government initiatives on ‘timely diagnosis’ aim to improve the rate and quality of diagnosis for those with dementia. This study seeks to improve the screening and diagnostic process by analysing communication between clinicians and patients during initial specialist clinic visits. Establishing differential conversational profiles could help the timely differential diagnosis of memory complaints. Method: This study is based on video- and audio recordings of 25 initial consultations between neurologists and patients referred to a UK memory clinic. Conversation analysis was used to explore recurrent communicative practices associated with each diagnostic group. Results: Two discrete conversational profiles began to emerge, to help differentiate between patients with dementia and functional memory complaints, based on (1) whether the patient is able to answer questions about personal information; (2) whether they can display working memory in interaction; (3) whether they are able to respond to compound questions; (4) the time taken to respond to questions; and (5) the level of detail they offer when providing an account of their memory failure experiences. Conclusion: The distinctive conversational profiles observed in patients with functional memory complaints on the one hand and neurodegenerative memory conditions on the other suggest that conversational profiling can support the differential diagnosis of functional and neurodegenerative memory disorders.

This thesis consists of material for conversation in Spanish at the high school level.

This study looks at what happens in informal conversations between three people with learning difficulties (intellectual impairment) and a range of non-disabled partners. It takes a participatory approach using data collected by the participants with learning difficulties who chose their communication partners; these partners included family and staff who were paid to support them. The study uses descriptive statistics to highlight areas where there was apparent asymmetry in the conversations. Conversation Analysis combined with features taken from Systemic Functional Linguistics is then used to look in detail at some of these aspects. Important features identified include turn design, repair, and the use of evaluative language and the contribution of non-verbal aspects in particular eye gaze, gesture and the use of artefacts. The study highlights possible strategies for assessing and supporting more effective and equitable interaction for those with learning difficulties and communication impairment and identifies features that should be considered when training professionals working in the field of learning difficulties.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Ce travail de thèse se donne pour objectif d’analyser des pratiques interactionnelles de réunions professionnelles en interrelation avec les technologies. La webconférence est un système de réunion à la convergence de l’audioconférence et d’un support web permettant de gérer la réunion, de chatter, de partager des applications, un écran, des présentations ou des documents. En nous appuyant sur une collection d’enregistrements audiovisuels de situations réelles d’usage de webconférences, nous analysons comment les participants tiennent compte des spécificités de l’environnement sociotechnique et mobilisent les ressources (verbales, non-verbales, artefactuelles) dans l’organisation située de leurs actions.Nous traitons l’organisation transitionnelle complexe de l’entrée en réunion à l’ouverture de la séance. Nous montrons comment des séquences spécifiques reconfigurent les ouvertures des réunions et nous interrogeons les spécificités des cadres de participation qui émergent dans ces dispositifs. La mise en relation des personnes par webconférence ou audioconférence se produit sur le modèle de l’entrée et non plus sur celui de la sommation qui distribue les identités d’appelant et d’appelé dans les appels dyadiques. C’est d’abord le répertoire de pratiques pour « entrer en réunion » qui fait l’objet de notre analyse. Nous examinons ensuite la paire relationnelle standardisée participant/modérateur vers laquelle les membres s’orientent pour organiser la parole à l’entrée. Enfin, nous étudions les procédures systématiques et multimodales pour retarder le début de l’activité (la pré-réunion) et pour accomplir une transition vers l’activité de réunion. / This research aims at analyzing members’ interactional procedures interrelated with technology in professional distant work meetings. Webconference is a kind of audioconference system enhanced by web features allowing the users to manage the gathering, to chat, and to share screen, presentation, documents or applications. Based on video recordings of naturally occurring webconferences in work setting, the thesis analyzes how members take into account the specificities of the sociotechnical environment and mobilize verbal, nonverbal, and artefactual resources in order to accomplish situated actions. The study analyzes the complex transitional accomplishment of entering the meeting when opening the session. I examine how specific sequences reconfigure the way a meeting is opened and how the frame participation emerges in this specific distant setting. Opening and sustaining social relations in webconferences (and audioconferences as well) are not produced anymore within the model of a dyadic telephone call, where the ring produces a summons which makes relevant the standardized relational pair caller/called and organizes the call. Webconference is based on the model of the entrance. I analyze the repertoire of practices used by members to achieve the entrance into the meeting. I examine how a new standardized relational pair participant/moderator is made relevant to achieve and organize talk. At last I study systematic and multimodal procedures to delay the start of the meeting (pre-meeting) and to achieve a transition toward its beginning.

La recherche porte sur la formation universitaire à distance adaptée à des personnes détenues, dispositif qui se situe à l’intersection de plusieurs domaines d’activités, universitaire et carcérale. Cette étude vise à analyser plusieurs étapes d’un processus d’innovation pédagogique. Une première consiste à appréhender le terrain de la prison dans une démarche ethnographique constituée de pratiques d’accès aux activités de cours. Une seconde est conduite de façon à épouser les spécificités sociales et pédagogiques d’un tel terrain. Une troisième analyse les méthodes et les procédures de distribution de la parole dans des interactions enseignant-étudiants. Le corpus a été constitué lors d’activités de cours en prison.Celles-ci ont été recueillies sous forme d’enregistrements sonores et visuels, eux-mêmes explorés à l’aide de l’analyse de conversation. Une quatrième porte sur une collection de propositions techno-pédagogiques développées tout au long de la démarche de terrain. Cette recherche propose une façon d’accéder aux activités sociales en prison. Elle ouvre un champ exploratoire quant à l’étude de l’interaction pédagogique en prison, sa portée sociale et pédagogique, qui va bien au-delà des murs de la prison. / The research focuses on distance learning adapted to prisoners. This activity is situated between two areas of activities, university and prison. The aim is to analyze a pedagogical innovation process, in various stages. The first stage use an ethnographic approach to understand prison fieldwork through classroom activities observations. A second stagematch pedagogicals and socials specificities of this field. A third stage considers methods and procedures of organization of talk in teachers-students interactions. The corpus has been constituted through classroom activities in prison and it relies on audio and video recordings, which are explored using Conversation Analysis and of technopedagogicals proposals throughout field approach. This study proposes an other way to access to social activities in prison. It opens on an exploratory field study of educational interaction in prison, social and educational reach beyond the prison enclosure.