Example of interaction analysis
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This document discusses interaction analysis and analyzes differences between male and female speech patterns. It examines previous research finding that males tend to dominate conversations through interruptions and use more vulgar language. The document then describes a study where a conversation between two men and two women was recorded and analyzed. Key findings were that males interrupted more and used more vulgar terms, while females used more active listening devices and tentative language. However, results for tag question use contradicted previous research. While not conclusive, the analysis found some differences in conversational styles between genders.
Example of interaction analysis
- 2. Interaction Analysis • Interaction Analysis is method for the empirical investigation of the interaction of human being with each other and with object in their environment. • It investigate human activities such as talk, nonverbal interaction, and the use of artifacts and technologies, identifying routines practices, and problems and the resources for their solution.
- 3. Introduction • This essay will examine and discuss gender differences in language using a recording of a conversation. The essay shall begin by detailing the background of research within this area. It will then move on to analyse the recording. This will also include a discussion of relevant issues which arise from the analysis of this research.
- 4. An Investigation into Differences between Women’s and Men’s Speech
- 5. analyses of male and female speech differences by writers such as Jesperson (1922) who wrote that women are more refined in their speech, use less coarse and gross expressions, are uninventive, and were men forced to be restricted to women’s speech style would quickly be reduced to a state of boredom due to the nature of women’s conversation. (Jesperson 1922) These views clearly illustrate how women are seen as being linguistically deficient in comparison to men.
- 6. Identifying Poblem • 1. Most man speech more vulgar, dominant, ungramatically, asserttive. • 2. Most Women are more refined in their speech, use less coarse , more active listening devices, tentative.
- 7. • There were also a large number of pieces of research into differences in the grammatical structures women and men use, as the traditional belief that women are more polite than men, (Brown 1980) use fewer vulgar terms (Gomm 1981) and language closer to Standard English were examined. (Milroy and Margrain 1980, Cheshire 1982)
- 8. Methodology • In order to investigate gender and speech, a conversation was recorded so that this could be transcribed and analysed to provide data from which these issues could be discussed.
- 9. • The conversation involved two men and two women, all of whom work for the same long- established English Language School. The recording took place with the full knowledge of all participants, and took place in the familiar surroundings of the teacher’s room during working hours. While it would have been preferable to make the recording without the participant’s knowledge, due to the desire to record ‘natural conversation’, this was practically impossible due to the recording equipment available, whilst also being ethically questionable.
- 10. • The participants were not told the reasons for the research, only that they were taking part in a piece of research for this course. Following the conversation all participants were given a confidential questionnaire to fill in, and were interviewed in an attempt to discover their general feelings about the conversation. This was done to gain an understanding of both the style of speech, and perceptions of how those involved spoke.
- 11. Analysis Conversational Dominance • One of the major differences in women and men’s speech is that men have been found to dominate conversations through the use of interruptions and overlaps, and that the amount of these conversational irregularities that took place rose significantly when men were talking to women.
- 12. Swearing and Vulgar Language • A traditional belief about the differences between men and women is the use of swearing and vulgar language. Illustrated by the prevalence of phrases such as ‘ladylike’ behaviour, or ‘swearing like a trooper’ which point to the beliefs that swearing is a habit purely for men. A number of assertions have been made about female and male speech styles in this area. It was claimed by Jesperson (1922) that women have an instinctive shrinking from coarse and gross expressions and a preference for refined and (in certain spheres) veiled and indirect expressions.
- 13. • Flexner (1960) claimed that “most American slang is created and used by males.” (Flexner 1960: xii). Also Lakoff (1975) claimed that while men use stronger expletives, women use politer versions such as ‘damn’ and ‘oh dear’. (Coates 1986: 108) • From the analysis it appears that in part this belief holds out to be true. As eighty per cent of the vulgar terms in the transcript, are uttered by the men.
- 14. Assertive and Tentative Speech Styles. • A further common belief about language is that women are more tentative in their speech. Lakoff (1975) highlighted the use of the ‘tag question’ as an illustration of this. Claiming that women use more tag questions than men, who in turn by using them less appear to be more assertive. Further research found that tag questions were more commonly associated with women’s language (Siegler and Siegler 1976), illustrating people’s attitudes towards women’s speech and its tentativeness.
- 15. • The study carried out for this essay however, found very different results with men using tag questions more than the women. What is interesting about this is that none of the tag questions are uttered by Male, who was assessed as the more dominating person, due to his excessive use of interruptions. • This is perhaps significant as the more aggressive style of speech employed by Male could also lead to his being more assertive in his speech. However, this can not be said to be related to gender.
- 16. Conclusion • This study has attempted to examine the differences between female and male language, and while generalisations from such a small research group are impossible, it does point to the fact that in certain areas conversation styles differ greatly. To say whether this is a question of gender or simple differences in conversational style would require much more research. However, within this group: both men interrupted the most, and both women were interrupted the most; a woman used the most active listening devices, and a man used the least; a man spoke the most, and a woman spoke the least; both women used more hedges which signify tentative speech; and both men used more vulgar terms. These basic facts show that while there are many factors which could have and did influence this research, such as length of relationship, seniority in the company, and not least that the researcher is a man. It does appear that a number of the research findings from twenty and thirty years ago, still hold true today.