Assessments in Social Interaction: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

This special issue is focused on the multimodal sequential analysis of assessments in a variety of social contexts. It aims at contributing to the study of assessments by taking into consideration their role within the overall organization of activities, being sensitive to the peculiar contexts, both ordinary and professional, in which they can be observed, which may display a variety of sequential formats, mobilizing both linguistic and multimodal resources. In this introduction we will provide a theoretical overview of key studies that have advanced our understanding of the social and sequential organizations of assessments, discuss the types of data privileged in prior research, and finally outline the contributions of the studies included in this special issue.

Notes

The research presented in this special issue was implemented within the project “Language and Social Action: A Comparative Study of Affiliation Across National Communities and Institutional Contexts,” under the terms of the European Science Foundation initiative for collaborative research in the social sciences. The research collaboration was coordinated by Anna Lindström (Örebro University). Preliminary results have been presented at the International Conference on Conversation Analysis (Copenhagen, 2002, and Helsinki, 2006) and the International Pragmatics Association Conference (Göteburg, 2007).