This course offers an introduction to conversation analysis (CA), an integrated theory and
methodology for the study of social interaction. The course will be structured into three main
sections. The first section will focus on the fundamental organization of talk through turn
taking, sequence organization, repair, and the overall structuring of larger units of talk. In the
second section we will examine recent expansions of CA from the study of talk to the study of
interaction as participants’ embodied achievement in the socio-material world (multimodal CA).
The third section will consider approaches that connect CA with other disciplines, such as
interactional linguistics and discursive psychology. Students will gain familiarity with CA’s
principles and practices for collecting, transcribing, exploring, and analyzing data. Coursework
will include training and assignments in transcription and analysis, discussion of the required
literature, and data sessions.
Department of Second Language Studies
University of Hawaii at Manoa