In the first collection of its kind, Paul Drew and John Heritage bring together the latest advances in the application of conversation analysis to the study of language and interaction in institutional settings. Leading American and European scholars contribute to Talk at Work original empirical research into the interactions between professionals and 'clients' in a wide variety of settings, including doctor-patient consultations, legal hearings, news interviews, visits by health visitors, psychiatric interviews, and calls to the emergency services. Taken together, their reports are an illuminating exploration of how key aspects of an organisations' work are managed through talk and of the distinctively asymmetric character of institutional discourse. The use of a method at the forefront of research, on recordings of naturally occurring interactions in the settings under scrutiny, uncovers the relationships between social contexts and social actions and offers invaluable insight into the traditional concerns of the sociology and ethnography of organisations, sociolinguistics and pragmatics.

Talk at Work is a major collection of studies of language and interaction in a wide variety of institutional and workplace settings.

Book Information
ISBN 9780521376334
Author Paul Drew
Format Paperback
Page Count 596
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 796g
Dimensions(mm) 217mm * 140mm * 35mm