Interactional management of face-threatening acts in casual ELF conversation: an analysis of third-party complaint sequences

Abstract

This paper investigates how English as a lingua franca is used to manage adversarial moments in casual conversation among friends, using conversation analysis and politeness theory. It presents a single case analysis of face negotiation devices utilized in two cases of third-party complaint sequences, in which complaints are made about someone else who is not present. The two cases to be analyzed were extracted from recordings of conversation of international students in British universities. The analysis revealed that the interactants utilize verbal and nonverbal devices, which are sometimes linguistically inexplicit but nonverbally resourceful, in a pragmatically sensitive manner in situ, thereby saving mutual face, intensifying the degree of face-threatening, or expressing disaffiliation in a face-saving way.

Disagreement practices in ELF academic group discussion: verbal, nonverbal and interactional strategies

“…While disagreement might be crucial within a discussion task for critiquing competing ideas, obtaining a consensus, and completing a task, it is also potentially a face-threatening communicative act which can disrupt the social equilibrium of a group. A small but growing number of studies have begun to explore disagreement practices within general ELF contexts (Jenks 2012(Jenks , 2017Pietikäinen 2018) and within the specific domain of HE (e.g., Björkman, 2015Björkman, , 2017Konakahara, 2017). Three studies in particular have explored the unique nature of disagreement in multi-party discussion within ELF academic settings (Bjørge, 2016;House, 2008;Konakahara, 2016).…”

Exploring Epistemological Expansions of English as a Lingua Franca

“…In response to the exclusion or underestimation of nonverbal semiotic resources, Block argued that communicative practice should be analyzed considering a range of embodied and multimodal resources that are simultaneously aligned with linguistic elements—or what Bezemer and Kress () have referred to as interlocutors’ “multimodal ensemble” (p. 166). Although a few recent empirical ELF studies (e.g., Konakahara, , ; Matsumoto, , , , , ) have integrated multiple semiotic resources into their analyses, a multimodal orientation in ELF research remains the exception rather than the norm. This is unfortunate because a multimodal orientation has the potential to enrich ELF research and deepen ELF interactional analysis.…”

“…In order to demonstrate different aspects of ELF interactions, recent research (e.g., Bjørge, ; Björkman, ; Guido, , ; Jenks, , ; Kappa, ; Knapp, ; Konakahara, , ; Matsumoto, ; Wolfartsberger, ) has begun shedding light on uncooperative ELF interactions, such as disagreements, impoliteness (e.g., face‐threatening acts; see Brown & Levinson, ), and other interactional tensions in a range of ELF interactional contexts. Furthermore, as several scholars (e.g., Konakahara, , ; Matsumoto, , ) have argued, it is essential to investigate the interrelationship between verbal and nonverbal behaviors in such situations—namely, the multimodal practice of disagreeing in ELF interactions. Nonverbal behaviors might express sensitive messages related to disagreement more explicitly than speech for the sake of saving face.…”

“…To illustrate my point, I offer a brief account of Konakahara's () study of casual conversations among international students in British universities, examining how those friends dealt with adversarial moments in which they complained about a third party who was not present. Adopting what appears to be a multimodal orientation to ELF interactional analysis, Konakahara conducted an in‐depth examination of the interactants’ face‐threatening acts by integrating both verbal and nonverbal interactional resources (e.g., gesture, facial expressions, and laughter).…”

“Cool my doubt is erased”: constructive disagreement and creating a psychologically safe space in multicultural student teamwork

“…A second strain of ethnographic studies on peer-to-peer ELF interaction in academic settings has examined relational talk, looking at the construction of meaning and translanguaging practices in social contexts and casual conversation (e.g. Kalocsai 2013;Konakahara 2016, Konakahara 2017Matsumoto 2014). Not surprisingly, the attention of these studies has also been on achieving understanding as an ultimate interactional goal rather than on the role of meaning creation for fulfilling concrete learning outcomes.…”