How to Analyze Talk in Institutional Settings

Book excerpt: Three approaches to analyzing institutional talk are introduced by internationally-recognized experts: Conversation Analysis, Discursive Psychology and Critical Discourse Analysis. The main section of the book ("Applications") illustrates these approaches by taking the reader through the process of analysis in such instances as how pilots talk in aircraft cockpits, how computer helpdesks work and how political speeches are constructed. Finally, the book opens up some theoretical and methodological controversies that occupy practitioners today. In this way, readers are introduced to the most recent ways of seeing how talk is critical to making the modern world work.