exploring conversations

I am a bit disappointed with the readings for this section, for I see the direction of the discussion and research conclusions do not take into account anything related to culture or culture within culture. For example, even within native speakers of English, there are differences in communication cues and how people take turns or present delays, mitigations and delays based on what region they are from or even educational background they belong to. It is even more important so when the conversation takes place between native speakers of English and non native speakers of English. Some cultures are characterized by “high power distance” while others are not. Even to this day, I am not able to accept a compliment without cringing. I cringe when I have to say (according to the American cultural rules) “thank you” to an innocent compliment. In my culture, one does not readily accept a compliment... there is always some sort of mitigation on the meaning of the compliment, and a readily acceptance of a compliment is in the least extremely rude and selfish. Even the simple question of “how are you” is answered or taken differently based on the cultural background (and/or level of connection between participants).

In other words, I think conversation analysis is very interesting; however the researcher must consider the cultural (educational) background of each participant to the conversation before venturing to make any assumptions or draw conclusions. It is a slippery slide...