on being cavalier

One of the things that i found very difficult in my analysis of independent writing was actually deciding what social activity was being accomplished during an interaction. For example, requests were tricky. I spent a lot of time during the analysis, and since, wondering about the difference between a request for information and a request for help. Although these things might seem to be the same, at some stages students did specifically ask for help. Therefore I figured that there was a difference, although it is possible to argue that requests for help and requests for information are the same activity.

I am therefore very interested in analytic work that researchers do when they appear to have little trouble assigning a category or theme to utterances in a transcript. Sometimes I would love to be able to do that. Certainly some colleagues have suggested to me that CA gets caught up on these distinctions to the detriment of producing work that appeals to a wider audience. For me,it is interesting to consider the finer points and to work out how it might seem for those whose talk and interaction is the focus for my work.

Wayne: now (0.4) please help me ((moves closer to Melodie))