Literature on identities in marriage has suggested that there is a tension between the interpretation of marriage as a unity between two partners, and the importance of each partner within the marriage maintaining his/her individuality. By drawing on data from seven semistructured qualitative interviews with married couples or couples involved in marriage-like relationships I examine some ways in which these boundaries between individual and collective identities and associated epistemic rights are drawn or become treated as blurred. Specifically, I use a conversation analytic approach to examine two sets of practices that reveal how this tension is made observable and is negotiated: 1) the use of personal and collective pronouns and 2) shifts in gaze direction. In contrast to previous research on this topic, I focus on the exploration of these phenomena in their moment-by-moment construction in talk-in-interaction. Based on my findings, I conclude that these practices serve to demonstrate the oriented-to ways in which marriage involves compromising one’s own individual identity or epistemic rights while becoming a part of a unit and show how and where this is done in interaction.

Utilising integral parts of diverse socio-academic interaction finders establishing virtual online environment incorporating a collection of computer advances as interaction-support e-models was assumed most adequate in the Saudi context, where research confirmed poorer writing proficiency level than the desired standards of university students studying EFL as their major (Hujailan, 2004; Jahin, 2007; Gahin & Idrees, 2012; and Al Asmari, 2013). This environment facilitates interactional communications aiming at (basically) enhancing peer/expert revision and feedback provision processes needed for writing (or other language skills), and (generally) supporting knowledge construction. However, educationalists are not sure whether the purported benefits claimed by advocates of such interactional approach to the teaching of Writing (IATW) and associated means and techniques are true. Research also revealed negative attitudes of the Saudi college students towards learning a second language (ibid). The fact that demanded investigation on those issues inquiring whether an IATW programme – a package carefully designed as per the constructs of the approach referred to above – can be an effective tool to enhance Arab university EFL students' proficiency in English writing; and produce more positive attitudes towards learning English (writing in particular)? Following a mixed method (positivistic and interpretive-constructivist) research framework on the above-determined research question, this study was conducted. As a pre-test-post-test control group design of experimentation, data collection method used two instruments: a) pre- and post-writing proficiency tests (WPTs) to measure improvement of (27) experimental group students' writing ability, compared with that of the control group (28); and b) interviews to measure the impact of an IATW environment on a sub-set of (22) students' attitudes towards their interactional English writing approach experience. An action plan was followed to do relevant tests, two writing instruction methods, and semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data analysis of the WPTs revealed that the IATW made statistically significant difference in the experimental students’ overall Writing proficiency, compared with the control group scoring. The programme did not make statistically significant improvement in all Writing sub-skills than the control group. It improved the IATW students’ performance in the sub-skills: ‘Evidence & Reasoning’, ‘Organisation’, ‘Cohesion & Logical Consistency’, and ‘Mechanics’ in different degrees. However, the results revealed non-significant effect of the approach on the Writing sub-skills: ‘L2-related or L1-related Grammar’ error reduction. Conversely, the interactional mode did not function better than the traditional (non-interaction-based) approach in ‘Vocabulary’ or ‘Range of Ideas’: the traditional method showed more effectiveness. The experiment showed weak effect sizes in all cases. Qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed that the participants exposed to the interactional activities have developed positive attitudinal disposition: quite considerable ‘motivational intensity’, and increased ‘desire to learn’. Further discussions with the interviewees generated more evaluative thoughts (both favourable and unfavourable). They appreciated the IATW as easy-to-reach, relevant, purposeful writing activities; and communicative mode that played a role in elimination of passive experience of learning, and learner autonomy. However, they placed priority to other schooling goods than the approach adopted, and highlighted major constraints of utilising computer and iB applications for supporting interaction: lack of expertise, internet access, and time consuming. The insight gained from the findings posed a set of implications highlighted, and recommendations for further research study areas suggested.

Stuttering is a problem that touches the lives of many people. The goal of this research is to come to a better understanding of a complex process of psychotherapy with a person who stutters. This is a qualitative study: sixteen sessions of interpersonal psychotherapy were conducted over a period of six months with a twenty-year-old male who was diagnosed with a severe stutter. Process notes were analysed based on the principle of self-reflexivity, which entails personally and systematically examining the reciprocal influences in a process. This study provides traditional conceptualisations of stuttering and comes to the conclusion that stuttering is a multifaceted phenomenon that may require a complexity of interventions. It is suggested that stuttering can be approached from an interpersonal perspective. This means that stuttering is a less effective means of dealing with other probable interpersonal problems. It is also s problem that is maintained by less effective attempts at alleviating it and by a limited scope of interactional manoeuvres. Stuttering can be addressed through interpersonal psychotherapy. The study suggests that the therapeutic approach should consider warmth, empathy, congruence, patience, therapeutic decision-making and timing. It is important to note that each client should be treated uniquely and valued as a person. Self-reflexivity is proposed as an effective way of facilitating the psychotherapeutic process, the scientific basis of this process and the development of the therapist. / Dissertation (MA (Clinical Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Psychology / unrestricted

Thesis advisor: Katherine L. McNeill / Recent science education reform documents and standards, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), call for school science to better reflect authentic scientific endeavors by highlighting the centrality of students engaging in science practices. This dissertation study focuses specifically on argumentation (through the modality of talk), one of the eight science practices emphasized in the NGSS. Although extensively studied, argumentation rarely occurs in classrooms. The absence of this science practice in classrooms is partly due to the student-driven exchanges required by argumentation differing greatly from the interactions that occur during traditional instruction, where students primarily speak to and through the teacher. To transform the type of talk that occurs in science classrooms it is necessary to examine discourse patterns, as well as the roles classroom members take on, in order to identify and develop strategies that can facilitate the shift in discourse norms. This dissertation employs a mixed-methods approach, using social network analysis (SNA), multiple case study methodology, and discourse analysis (DA), to deeply examine video recordings of three middle school classrooms engaged in argumentation through a science seminar (a type of whole class debate). Findings from the SNA highlight the importance of argumentation research integrating a focus on argument structure with dialogic interactions, and point to the benefits of using multiple types of representations to capture engagement in this science practice. Furthermore, examining the manner by which teachers articulated student expectations and goals for the argumentation activity suggest the need to continue supporting teachers in developing and using rich instructional strategies to help students with the dialogic component of argumentation. Additionally, this work sheds light on the importance of how teachers frame the goals for student engagement in this science practice, specifically as being either individual goals or communal goals. Lastly, findings from the DA stress the relationship between discourse patterns and interactional norms, and also suggest the need to expand our perspectives of who can prompt for critique during an argumentation activity.

In recent decades, the field of assessing speaking has seen an increasing emphasis on ‘interaction’. In defining the construct of interactional competence (IC), both the theoretical formulation and empirical evidence suggest that the competence is coconstructed and context-specific. This poses a multitude of conundrums for language testing practitioners and researchers, one of which is the extent to which we can extrapolate candidates’ performance in the target non-testing context from their performance in a test. This thesis considers these questions in the case of the Group Interaction (GI) task in the School-based Assessment (SBA) for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE). Validation studies on the SBA Group Interaction task to date have generated somewhat contradictory results as to whether the task elicits authentic oral language use. Moreover, studies to date have not compared students’ interactions under different task implementation conditions (such as the amount of preparation time), or have investigated in detail what exactly students do during preparation time and how that might impact on their subsequent assessed interaction. This study explores what kinds of interactional features constitute interactional competence; how IC is co-constructed in discourse, and what complexities there might be in assessing the competence through a group interaction task. It also investigates whether the SBA GI task elicits authentic oral language use, and how the task implementation condition of preparation time might influence the validity of the task. Video-recordings of the assessed group interactions were obtained from two schools, with students given extended preparation time in one school but not the other. The assessed group interactions are analyzed using a Conversation Analytic approach, supplemented by data from mock assessments and stimulated recall interviews with student-candidates and teacher-raters. This study contributes to the construct definition of interactional competence – its components and the specific ways they are performed in discourse. Drawing on findings about students’ overhearer-oriented talk, it also problematizes the assumption that a group interaction task is necessarily eliciting and assessing candidates’ competence for interacting in a peer group only. More specifically to the SBA GI task, this study has produced evidence that group interactions with and without extended preparation time are qualitatively different, and has identified some of the ways in which extended preparation time might compromise the task’s validity in assessing interactional competence.

[pt] O presente estudo foca a coconstrução de narrativas de agentes de saúde do Instituto Vila Rosário e moradores atendidos no tratamento à tuberculose na região de Vila Rosário em Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro. O objetivo consiste em investigar o papel destas narrativas nas interações. A pesquisa tem o apoio da FAPERJ e está vinculada aos projetos de pesquisa Vila Rosário: Práticas discursivas da comunidade e representação social na prevenção e educação no combate à tuberculose e Vila Rosário: o discurso institucional e profissional na prevenção e educação no combate à tuberculose. A pesquisa é de abordagem qualitativa e interpretativa, com orientação teórica da Sociolinguística Interacional, Análise da Narrativa e de teorias sobre agência e performance. A metodologia de pesquisa é de cunho etnográfico, com orientações da microanálise. Os dados do corpus de análise foram gerados em reuniões de trabalho no Instituto Vila Rosário e em acompanhamentos de visitas feitas pelas agentes aos moradores, com gravações em áudio e notas de campo. Os resultados da análise das narrativas das agentes apontam para performances elaboradas, narrativas partilhadas, agentividade através do fazer e tensão entre o tratamento da tuberculose e a realidade social dos moradores. As narrativas dos moradores, coconstruídas com as agentes, também indicam agentividade, mas com passividade e subordinação, e o não-acesso ao tratamento à tuberculose como mais um dos muitos problemas que enfrentam. O trabalho busca contribuir com estudos sobre comunidades carentes e doenças, salientando a importância das narrativas como ferramenta de análise e reflexão. / [en] The present study focuses the co-construction of narratives of Vila Rosário Institute community health workers’ and residents in the tuberculosis treatment program in Vila Rosário area in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro. The objective consists in investigating the role of those narratives in the interactions. The research is supported by FAPERJ and is linked to the research projects Vila Rosário: Discursive Practices of the community and social representation in the prevention and education to combat tuberculosis and Vila Rosário: The Institutional and Professional Discourse for the prevention and education to combat tuberculosis. The research is of qualitative and interpretative approach, with theoretical orientation by Interactional Sociolinguistics, Narrative Analysis and theories of agency and performance. The methodology lies on ethnographic basis with micro analysis orientation. The corpus data were generated from work meetings at Vila Rosário Institute and during accompaniments to visits made by the workers to residents, with audio recordings and field notes. The results of the workers’ narratives show elaborate performances, shared narratives, agency through doing and tension between tuberculosis treatment and the residents’ social reality. Residents’ narratives, co-constructed with the agents, also indicate agency, but with passivity and subordination, and the non-access to tuberculosis treatment as one of the many problems they face. This work seeks to contribute with studies about poor communities and illnesses, emphasizing the importance of narratives as an analytical and reflexive tool.

The suggestion that bilinguals show enhanced cognitive control compared to monolinguals in certain aspects of executive function has received much contention. While this has been explained as a result of the extensive training in bilinguals having to manage the conflict that arises from their concurrently active langauges, others have argued that the superiority in executive control is attenuated when background variables such as immigration status, education and general cognitive ability is taken into account. This thesis was motivated by the general question: How is executive control influenced by differing bilingualism experiences? To this end, we compared attentional control performance in bilinguals and monolinguals on the Attention Network Test, the auditory Elevator task (Test of Everyday Attention), and the number Stroop task. The main aim of the thesis was to examine the role of two bilingualism factors: (i) interactional context (defined in the Adaptive Control Hypothesis, Green & Abutalebi, 2013), which pertains to how bilinguals switch between their languages, and (ii) linguistic distance, which refers to the extent of similarity between the bilingual's languages. The comparison between Edinburgh monolinguals, Edinburgh late bilinguals, Edinburgh early bilinguals, and Singapore early bilinguals as differentiated by their interactional context revealed better performance in bilinguals on two specific test components. Singapore bilinguals, who came from a dual-language and dense code-switching context, showed enhanced conflict resolution on the Attention Network Test, whilst Edinburgh late bilinguals, who were from a single-language context, were better on the Elevator reversal subtest tapping on attentional switching. The results thus suggest differential effects of interactional context on attentional control. We further compared task performance of bilinguals with related or distant L1-L2 combinations as defined by the linguistic and orthography overlap between their two languages. The data did not support a role of linguistic distance on attentional control. Edinburgh bilinguals studying an Indo-European language performed similarly to those studying the non Indo-European languages of Chinese and Japanese. In Singapore bilinguals, English-Chinese bilinguals also did not differ from English-Malay bilinguals on any of the test components. We supplemented the investigation by further examining if the factors of test-order and age could impact on how differences between monolinguals and bilinguals are exhibited. Our results suggest that monolinguals may show an improvement in attentional control after relatively short periods of engagement in experimental tasks, whilst bilinguals did not receive this boost. Test order may therefore partly explain the inconsistencies in literature regarding the claimed bilingual advantage. The comparison between older and younger adults also implied an effect of age. In young adults, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on the Elevator reversal subtest of auditory switching, whereas the advantage shown in older bilinguals was on visual attentional orienting. The results across the various themes are reviewed and discussed with relevance to the current standing in the field, and suggestions for future research directions are put forth.

The thesis should be regarded as a contribution to the development of knowledge about the interaction taking place in the educational setting for pupils with PIMD in Sweden, the training school (Sw. Träningsskola), and the contextual and interactional conditions that characterizes this educational setting. The study is expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of the pedagogical praxis in the training School and the pupils’ possibilities to be agents within the processes of interaction, participation and learning. The thesis aims to contribute to the development of knowledge about the contextual and interactional conditions that training school pedagogic practice is characterized by. The study's overall purpose is to analyze the participation and interaction in the context of five training school classes. A particular focus is placed on teaching organization and the interaction patterns appearing in the pedagogical practice and what kind of consequences the interaction has for the pupils’ participation. Participation in this study refers to how the teams and students jointly create interaction in classrooms, the patterns produced by the interaction. The study draws on a theoretical framework that is influenced by ethnometodological work and from the dramaturgical framework by Goffman, where the participant’s social actions and methodical ways of making sense in a social setting are in focus. The design of the data collection is inspired by an ethnographic approach and is constructed as a classroom study. The empirical material was collected by classroom observations and by video recordings. The data derive from video recordings that were made during spring 2009 and spring 2010 in five training school classes and all together twenty  pupils (age 8-19, eleven boys and nine girls) and 28 members from the teams (nine special teachers,  two music teachers,  one psychical education teacher and 16 assistants) participated in the study. The results are showing that the pedagogical practice in training school was defined by six different areas: Circle time, One-to-one tuition, Group joint education, Snack time/ lunch, Breaks and play-time and Transitions.  In the interaction between the pupils and the staff the pupils’ positions was constructed as: The attentive and responsive pupil, The experiencing pupil, The choice making and autonomous pupil, The exploring pupil, The pupil that shows civil inattention, The pupil as a recipient of care and The playing pupil.  A starting point for further research involves studying how students' participation is constructed in more inclusive settings i.e. in interaction with other children who do not have such extensive disabilities.

none

Complaint handling encounters represent useful opportunities for retailers to rectify problems, salvage the relationship between the retailer and the customer, and increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Service recovery (complaint handling) therefore becomes critical “moments of truth” for organisations in their efforts to satisfy and retain customers. The purpose of the research was to explore and describe complainants’ evaluations of appliance retailers’ complaint handling procedures in terms of their perceptions of justice. In addition, the relationships between perceived justice and emotions and perceive justice and post-complaint behavioural intentions were explored. The unit of analysis was consumers who had encountered an appliance failure and had sought redress from the appliance retailer where the appliance was originally purchased (within a oneyear recall period). This study used a cross-sectional survey approach to capture real perceptions of justice, emotions and behavioural intentions. Convenience sampling was employed in Tshwane, a major metropolitan area of South Africa. Data was collected via a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 198 usable questionnaires were collected. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that respondents had specific expectations about retailers’ complaint handling. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the respondents indeed judged complaint handling in terms of procedural, interactional and distributive justice. They experienced procedural justice when complaint handling personnel followed company policy and the correct procedures in handling their complaints, when the employees were competent, when they resolved complaints in a timely manner and made it easy for the dissatisfied consumers to voice their complaints. The respondents experienced interactional justice when complaint handling personnel treated them with respect (were polite), made it easy for them to determine where to lodge their complaints (i.e. to whom they should complain in the company), communicated clearly (with adequate use of language), were appropriately concerned about the problem, took great effort in resolving the complaint, and provided them with an appropriate explanation as to why the appliance has failed. Verbal communication about where to complain forms part of respondents’ perception of the fairness of the interpersonal communications used in settling complaints factor, rather than the procedural justice factor. The respondents experienced distributive justice when they perceived that the redress (i.e. compensation: free repairs, product exchange, refund, voucher etc.) offered by the retailers was more they expected, was fair, was what they deserved or was what they needed. Respondents perceived that retailers’ were fair concerning procedural justice and distributive justice, but unfair concerning interactional justice. The strongest positive emotions that respondents experienced were gratitude, happiness, being valued and joyfulness, while lower levels of warm feelings and pride were experienced. The strongest negative emotions that respondents experienced were anger, annoyance, being upset and being in a bad mood, while lower levels of guilt and sadness were experienced. Relationships exist between respondents’ perceptions of justice and their emotions, and between their emotions and post-complaint behavioural intentions (repurchase intentions, word-of-mouth intentions and third-party complaint intentions). The study has important practical implications for appliance retailers / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2014 / Consumer Science / Unrestricted