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Conversation Analysis - LAN00112M

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  • Department: Language and Linguistic Science
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: M
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25

Module summary

This module will introduce you to a qualitative perspective to the study of interaction and language as social action: Conversation Analysis (CA). The module will introduce you to methods of data collection, transcription, and interactional analysis of video- and audio-recorded data. Research on interaction in different institutional and everyday contexts will be discussed, including parent-children interaction, interaction across L2 speakers, and classroom interaction.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2024-25

Module aims

The module aims to:

  • Introduce the basic theory and findings of Conversation Analysis (CA) and Interactional Linguistics (IL).

  • Illustrate the mechanisms that explain how human interaction is organised across different settings.

  • Present the methods used in CA for data collection, transcription, and analysis and provide opportunities for application.

  • Develop analytic skills in qualitative analysis of interactional data.

  • Develop academic writing skills.

Module learning outcomes

At the end of the module you will be able to:

  • Identify interactional practices and phenomena in recorded conversations and analyse them in detail.

  • Describe conversational phenomena using technical vocabulary.

  • Make recordings of everyday conversation.

  • Identify ethical concerns in data collection and learn about consent procedures.

  • Transcribe conversations at a fine level of detail using a standard transcription system.

  • Build and technically analyse a collection of comparable data extracts.

  • Describe differences in the interactional organisation of everyday and institutional settings.

Module content

This module will cover the following topics and skills:

  • Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics.

  • Language as action: position and composition in interaction.

  • Transcription conventions for interactional data and relevant software.

  • Data collection of video-recorded interaction.

  • Turn taking.

  • Sequence organisation.

  • Turn design: action formation and ascription.

  • Preference organisation

  • Repair: self- and other-repair, repair operations.

  • Storytelling in interaction.

  • Applied conversation analysis: Interaction in everyday and institutional contexts.

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 90
Essay/coursework 10

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 90
Essay/coursework 10

Module feedback

Students will receive oral feedback on the work carried out during seminars. Written feedback on formative and summative assessments will be provided via commentary on the scripts and a feedback form including an essay rubric. Feedback for summative assessment 1 will be returned within 2 weeks and the final summative feedback will be returned within 25 working days.

Indicative reading

Antaki, C. (2011). Six Kinds of Applied Conversation Analysis. In C. Antaki (Ed.), Applied Conversation Analysis (pp. 1–14). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Chapelle C. A. (2013). The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved July 19 2023 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781405198431.

Couper-Kuhlen, E., & Selting, M. (2017). Interactional Linguistics: An Introduction to Language in Social Interaction. Cambridge University Press.

Heritage, J. (1984). Chapter 9: Conversation Analysis. In: Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 233-292

Hoey, E., Kendrick, K. (2017), "Conversation Analysis", In: Research Methods in Psycholinguistics and the Neurobiology of Language: A practical guide (A. M. B. De Groot, Peter Hagoort, eds.), pp. 151-173.

Robinson, J. D., Clift, R., Kendrick, K. H., and Raymond, C. W. (fth) The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge University Press.

Sidnell, J., & Stivers, T. (2012). The Handbook of Conversation Analysis. John Wiley & Sons.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.