The first aim of the dissertation is to shed light on how communication at a drama college may obstruct the students’ involvement. There are three studies on this subject in the dissertation. The first study deals with the students’ involvement in their education in general. The second study deals with the applicants’ involvement in the entrance examination to the college. The third study deals with the students’ involvement in a basic acting course at the college. The main theoretical framework is Etienne Wenger’s theories on social practices and social configurations, Per Linell’s activity type theory, and Herbert Clark’s theories on joint projects. The studies reveal a number of potential communicative obstacles, due to different basic communicative circumstances, communicative procedures and normative formulations. The second aim of the dissertation is to offer analytical tools which drama colleges and similar organizations can use to shed light on their own communication. The analytical concepts and the method used in the studies have the potential to be useful for such organizations: the concepts are relatively comprehensible and do not require a specific type of data, and the method offers steps in which to conduct an analysis. The third aim is to develop forms for what in the dissertation is called a practice-oriented communication analysis, in order to contribute to the discussion on how to study language use as part of broader communicative and social contexts, and how to collaborate with those whose communication is studied. The dissertation offers an orderly way to handle such questions, by formulating guidelines for the selection of theories, methods, and data, and by arguing for certain theories, methods, and data in regard to the guidelines.

ABSTRACT Background: A language is an individual tool for stimulating and organizing concepts and thinking. Through a language, the individual is also given opportunities to understand the outside world and himself. Not having access to a functional language and means to communicate results in a potential loss of opportunities for development and limitations in all aspects of life. For individuals with language-, speech- and communication difficulties, there are Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). AAC is a collective term for various tools and methods that aim to improve and facilitate communication and interaction between the individual and the persons surrounding them. One type of AAC is Pragmatic Organized Dynamic Display (PODD). Aim: This study aims to investigate what happens during interaction with PODD in conversations between two people using the methodology of Conversation Analysis (CA). Method: A qualitative case study was conducted during a day at a training school where an AAC user ("Adam") and his communication partner ("Elin) interacted with PODD in different everyday activities. The observation was documented with two video cameras. Result: The recorded material totaled three hours. From this amount of video material, a couple of sequences were selected for analysis. The analysis of the material shows that the interaction with PODD is built up sequentially through cooperation between the participants. Participants used different approaches to initiate, maintain and terminate communicative projects with PODD. The analysis also shows that PODD was used to perform various social actions within several different activity types. The results also indicate that it is the partner’s ability to pay attention to, interpret, support and guide the AAC user's communicative initiative, which gives the AAC user the opportunity to participate in the joint communicative projects. / SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund: Ett språk är ett individuellt redskap för att stimulera och organisera begrepp och tänkande. Genom språket ges individen också möjligheter att förstå omvärlden och sig själv. Att inte ha tillgång till ett funktionellt språk och kommunikationssätt innebär att individen riskerar att gå miste om många utvecklingsmöjligheter och bli starkt begränsad i livets samtliga aspekter. För individer med språk, tal och kommunikationssvårigheter finns Alternativ och Kompletterande Kommunikation (AKK). AKK är ett samlingsbegrepp för olika redskap och metoder som avser att förbättra och underlätta kommunikation och interaktion mellan individen och personerna i dennes omgivning. En form av AKK är Pragmatisk Organiserad Dynamisk Display (PODD). Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att med metodologin för Conversation Analysis (CA) undersöka vad som sker i interaktion med PODD under samtal mellan två personer. Metod: En kvalitativ fallstudie som genomfördes under en dag på en träningsskola då en AKK-användare (”Adam”) och hans kommunikationspartner (”Elin) interagerade med PODD i vardagliga aktiviteter. Observationen dokumenterades med två videokameror. Resultat: Det inspelade materialet uppgick till totalt tre timmar. Utifrån denna mängd valdes ett par sekvenser ut för analys. Analysen av materialet visar att interaktionen med PODD byggs upp sekventiellt genom ömsesidigt samarbete mellan deltagarna. Deltagarna använde sig av olika tillvägagångssätt för att initiera, upprätthålla och avsluta kommunikativa projekt med PODD. Analysen visar även att PODD användes för att utföra olika sociala handlingar inom flera olika aktivitetstyper. Resultaten tyder också på att det är kommunikationspartnerns förmåga att uppmärksamma, tolka, stötta och vägleda AKK-användarens kommunikativa initiativ som ger AKK-användaren möjlighet att delta i det gemensamma kommunikativa projektet.