This thesis will explore how customers and bartenders accomplish the service encounter in a public house, or bar. Whilst there is a body of existing literature on service encounters, this mainly investigates customer satisfaction and ignores the mundane activities that comprise the service encounter itself. In an attempt to fill this gap, I will examine how the activities unfold sequentially by examining the spoken and embodied conduct of the participants, over the course of the encounter. The data comprise audio -and video- recorded, dyadic and multi-party interactions between customer(s) and bartender(s), occurring at the bar counter. The data were analyzed using conversation analysis (CA) to investigate the talk and embodied conduct of participants, as these unfold sequentially. The first analytic chapter investigates how interactions between customers and bartenders are opened. The analysis reveals practices for communicating availability to enter into a service encounter; with customers being found to do this primarily through embodied conduct, and bartenders primarily through spoken turns. The second analytic chapter investigates the role of objects in the ordering sequence. Specifically, the analysis reveals how the Cash Till and the seating tables in the bar are mobilized by participants to accomplish action. In the third analytic chapter, multi-party interactions are investigated, focusing on the organization of turn-taking when two or more customers interact with one or more bartenders. Here, customers are found to engage in activities where they align as a unit, with a lead speaker, who interacts with the bartender on behalf of the party. In the final analytic chapter, the payment sequence of the service encounter is explored to investigate at what sequential position in the interaction payment, as an action, is oriented to. Analysis reveals that a wallet, purse, or bag, may be displayed and money or a payment card retrieved, in a variety of sequential slots, with each contributing differentially to the efficiency of the interaction. I also find that payment may be prematurely proffered due to the preference for efficiency. Overall, the thesis makes innovative contributions to our understanding of customer and bartender practices for accomplishing core activities in what members come to recognize as a service encounter It also contributes substantially to basic conversation analytic research on openings , which has traditionally been founded on telephone interactions, as well as the action of requesting. I enhance our knowledge of face-to-face opening practices, by revealing that the canonical opening sequence (see Schegloff, 1968; 1979; 1986) is not present, at least in this context. From the findings, I also develop our understanding of how objects constrain, or further, progressivity in interaction; while arguing for the importance of analysing the participants semiotic field in aggregate with talk and embodied conduct. The thesis also contributes to existing literature on multi-party interactions, identifying a new turn-taking practice with a directional flow that works effectively to accomplish ordering. Finally, I contribute to knowledge on the provision of payment, an under-researched yet prominent action in the service encounter. This thesis will show the applicability of CA to service providers; by analysing the talk and embodied conduct in aggregate, effective practices for accomplishing a successful service encounter are revealed.

Cette recherche a pour objet l’étude des comportements des utilisateurs d’une plateforme de visioconférence poste à poste. Les utilisateurs de la plateforme sont deux groupes de tuteurs et leurs étudiantes ; le groupe de tuteurs est constitué de tuteurs en formation (de futurs enseignants en formation universitaire professionnalisante) et d’enseignants de FLE utilisant les outils du web 2.0. Cette recherche a pour cadre l’enseignement du FLE à destination d’un groupe d'étudiantes américaines de l’université de Californie Berkeley donné de janvier à mars 2010 sur une plateforme d’apprentissage vidéographique synchrone. La plateforme VISU, a été développé suivant une démarche originale, la conception d’une plateforme destinée a l’enseignement/apprentissage des langues. La particularité de ce projet réside dans le fait qu’un équipe de chercheurs et de développeurs ont accompagné les tuteurs et les étudiantes lors de cette expérimentation afin d’améliorer l’utilisabilté de VISU d’une séance sur l’autre. À travers une analyse de deux tâches dans les configurations qui placent un tuteur devant deux étudiantes, deux tuteurs devant deux étudiantes et un tuteur devant une étudiante, et d’une micro-analyse portant sur la transmission des consignes, nous tentons d’observer le discours et la mimo-gestualité témoignant de leur expérience utilisateur au contact de la technologie utilisée. Nous étudions également l’utilisation qu’ils font des différents outils textuels de communication, des ressources présentes sur la plateforme, ainsi que celle de la caméra. Nous discutons les résultats qualitatifs en vue de mettre au jour leurs comportements d’utilisateurs d’une plateforme en cours de construction. La méthode s’appuie sur la triangulation des données. Aux échanges en ligne du corpus multimodal est appliquée une analyse de la mimo-gestualité, ainsi qu’analyse de discours et des interactions. Des entretiens, des questionnaires et les perceptions des étudiantes et des tuteurs viennent éclairer l’analyse de leur vécu et de leur ressenti. Ce travail de recherche tente donc à travers la description de la communication pédagogique synchrone de mieux comprendre les différentes pratiques, principalement discursives et mimo-gestuelles, des tuteurs et des étudiantes engagés dans une formation en ligne. / This research studies the behavior of users of a desktop videoconferencing platform VISU (designed to deliver online courses), through the multimodal pedagogical communication of two groups of teachers: trainee tutors and experienced teachers based in different locations who taught French as a Foreign Language to a group of students from UC Berkeley in 2010. A team of researchers and developers worked together with the tutors in this experiment to improve the usability of the platform, which was under construction during the course of the study. In understanding the experience of users while using the tool, due to the performance limitations of the tool under construction, a new method of analysing data was devised in which user behavior was studied through discourse analysis, mimogestuality and the usage of tools including chat and webcam. Specifically, we analysed the usage of different tools (text based tools) as well as the webcam’s effects on user behavior. Then, through a micro analysis of the pedagogical instruction, we identified the role of these different communication tools used by the tutors in conveying the meaning of the task to be carried out. Interviews, questionnaires and perceptions of students and tutors were gathered to inform the analysis of their experiences and their feelings. This research therefore attempts, through the description of the synchronous teaching communication, to better understand the different practices, mainly discursive and mimo-gestural, of tutors and students engaged in the multimodal learning. In addition, a key significance of this study is that it demonstrates the value of considering user experience (UX) in studies involving language learning through technology. At the same time, it also indicates the value of including discourse analysis and mimogestuality in user experience research involving interactive pedagogical tools.