Gail Forey

The interpersonal dynamics of call-centre interactions: co-constructing the rise and fall of emotion

In this article we investigate how speakers contribute to the interactive rise and fall of emotion in problematic interactions in a data set of in-bound telephone conversations collected from call centres in the Philippines. These interactions are between the Filipino Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) and American clients who initiate the calls to seek information, clarification, or resolution to a problem. The study draws on Appraisal theory (Martin and White, 2005) to analyse the contribution of the caller and the CSR to initiating, maintaining and adjusting the interpersonal intensity of the interaction. Findings point to a limited reliance on explicit attitude on the part of both speakers, with attitude more often implied rather than expressed explicitly. Of note, too, is the interdependence of the attitudinal choices on the part of each speaker, and the role that concessive contractors such as just, already, once, yet and actually , as well as moments of silence can play in the management of the emotive intensity. While we intend the outcomes to make a contribution to professional training in the industry, we also look beyond that context to contribute in theoretical and methodological terms to the analysis of interactions in other contexts where problems need to be resolved through talk.

Supporting Effective English Communication within the Context of Teaching and Research in a Tertiary Institute: Developing a Genre Model for Consciousness Raising.

Abstract Genre-based approaches to curriculum delivery have been applied to primary, secondary, tertiary and graduate programmes. This paper takes this approach one step further and shows how such an approach was applied in conceptualising a funded staff development programme at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The programme described is entitled Effective English Communication for Teaching and Research (EECTR), and its remit is to provide English language support to all academic staff in the institution. In this paper we describe how we developed and modified our initial plans for programme delivery, took into account a number of contextual constraints, and attempted to apply a theoretical framework focusing on reflection within a broad genre-based approach. The description in this paper is based on an attempt to deconstruct the discourse of the providers and clients of EECTR. Through this description of the evolving theory of a contextualised, reflective genre-based approach to staff development, we attempt to show that such an approach can go far beyond the prescriptive, structural mode and can indeed be seen as a pedagogy of possibilities within a staff developmental context.

Analyzing the Genre Structure of Chinese Call-Center Communication

This study investigates the genre structure of Chinese call-center discourse based on data collected from the call centers of a telecommunication company in China. Using an integrated theoretical framework informed by approaches to genre from English for specific purposes, systemic functional linguistics, and social perspectives, the study focuses on an analysis of the recurrent situation and social practices, the communicative purposes, the move structure, the exchange structure, and the generic-structure potential of call-center communication. A corpus-based quantitative analysis further reveals the dynamic complexity of interaction at call centers. The study compares Chinese and English call-center interactions in order to illustrate universal language functions as well as institutional and cultural differences in this professional discourse. The findings may have implications for both academics and practitioners in the call-center industry.

Parental involvement in foreign language learning: The case of Hong Kong

It has long been established that parents play a key role in educational achievement. In this paper, we examine parental involvement in children’s foreign language learning and the goal of finding ways to support families as they help their children to acquire a foreign language. The study investigated the ways in which Hong Kong families do and could support their children, aged 5–8, in English learning. The nature of existing parent involvement is described based on quantitative and qualitative data obtained via questionnaires and focus group discussions with a group of parents. In order to explore what parents could do to support their children with school-based requirements for English learning, a focus group of parents participated in a workshop that focused on the practice of reading aloud to their children in English. The results show that Hong Kong parents are involved in supporting their children’s English literacy development in a variety of ways, yet they do not generally embrace culturally specific Western practices such as reading aloud; and furthermore, to adopt such practices might be problematic.

Discursive control and power in virtual meetings

Ways of communicating effectively in spoken English, using technology, in a virtual globalized context have received little attention from applied linguists. The role of language in synchronous computer-mediated discourse (CMD) used in virtual teamwork is now emerging as a key area of research concern in business management and information technology disciplines. This article uses linguistic frameworks, most particularly critical discourse analysis (CDA) and systemic functional linguistics (SFL), in particular appraisal analysis, to demonstrate how interpersonal meanings may create dominance, power and solidarity within a sample of a virtual team management meetings. Focusing on one manager case study, we investigate how language is used, consciously or unconsciously, to dominate and close down discussion with his colleagues. We first present the key findings from a turn-taking analysis and then present, through the application of appraisal analysis, how this manager opens or contracts the space available for others to participate. By revealing how power and control unfold through this analysis, the findings may lead to an enhanced self-awareness among all members in virtual teams and reveal how language plays a crucial role in engaging members during a meeting, or in this case, disengaging them.

Meaning-making in a secondary science classroom: A systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis

The purpose of this chapter is to present a framework for examining meaning-making in the science classroom through a range of resources. Based on the notion of social semiotics from systemic functional linguistics, we propose a framework that examines the affordances of meaning in one mode, such as language, or gesture, or animation, and the multiplying of meaning across these modes. We argue that knowing what meaning can be afforded by a mode and the ways to communicate meaning across modes can enhance learning opportunities in the science classroom. We focus on three modes used in the science classroom, namely language, gesture, and animation, and propose a framework that helps unpack the meanings made. We draw on data collected from a 66-minute video recording of a Grade 9 class studying the process of digestion. We investigate the organization of meaning in the identified modes and the multiplying of meaning across modes in constructing explanations. While gestures and animation are found to make meaning through the logics of time and space, language plays a significant role in mediating the technicality of scientific knowledge. The findings also identified two ways of multiplying meaning across modes, namely, creating multimodal links and reiterating organizing structures. The complex mediation of meaning within each mode and across modes highlights the need for explicit instruction by the teacher to support and highlight how meaning is made in science and other teaching and learning contexts. We suggest that the findings are relevant for apprenticing learners into the world of science, and also apprenticing scientists into the world of teaching.

Offshore outsourcing: The need for appliable linguistics

SECTION 1: APPROACHES TO PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION A. General theoretical frameworks * Analysing Discourse Variation in Professional Contexts - Vijay Bhatia * Corpus Analyses of Professional Discourse - Winnie Cheng * A Situated Genre Approach for Business Communication Education in Cross-cultural Contexts - Yunxia Zhu * Stretching the Multimodal Boundaries of Professional Communication in Multi-Resources Kits - Carmen Daniela Maier * Broad disciplinary frameworks * Business Communication - Catherine Nickerson * Business Communication: A Revisiting of Theory, Research, and Teaching - Bertha Du-Babcock * Research on Knowledge-Making in Professional Discourses: - Graham Smart, Stephani Currie, and The Use of Theoretical Resources Matt Falconer * Technical Communication - Saul Carliner * The Complexities of Communication in Professional Workplaces - Janet Holmes and Meredith Marra * Electronic Media in Professional Communication - Goodman, Michael B. & Hirsch, Peter B. * The Role of Translation in Professional Communication - Marta Chroma * Specific disciplinary frameworks * Management Communication: Getting Work Done Through People - Priscilla S. Rogers * Business and the Communication of Climate Change: An Organizational Discourse Perspective - David Grant and Daniel Nyberg * Professionalizing Organizational Communication Discourses, Materialities, - Patrice M. Buzzanell, Jeremy P. Fyke, and Trends and Robyn V. Remke * Corporate Communication - Finn Frandsen and Winni Johansen * Corporate Communication and the Role of Annual Reporting - Identifying Areas for Further Research - Elizabeth de Groot SECTION 2: PRACTICE A. Pedagogic perspectives * A Blended Needs Analysis -- Critical Genre Analysis and Needs Analysis of Language and Communication for Professional Purposes - Jane Lung * The Changing Landscape of Business Communication - Sujata Kathpalia and Koo Swit Ling * Methodology for Teaching ESP - William Littlewood B. Disciplinary perspectives * English for Science and Technology - Lindsay Miller * Communicative Dimensions of Professional Accounting Work - Alan Jones * Professional Communication in the Legal Domain - Christoph A. Hafner * Communication in the Construction Industry - Michael Handford * Offshore Outsourcing: The Need for Appliable Linguistics - Gail Forey * Media Communication: Current Trends and Future Challenges - Isabel Corona * The Public Relations Industry and its Place in Professional Communication Theory and Practice: past, present and future perspectives - Anne Peirson-Smith SECTION 3: ACQUISITION OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE * Communities in Studies of Discursive Practices and Discursive Practices in Communities - Becky S.C. Kwan * The Formation of a Professional Communicator: A Socio-Rhetorical Approach - Natasha Artemeva and Janna Fox * Collaborative Writing: Challenges for Research and Teaching - Stephen Bremner * Training the Call Centre Communications Trainers in the Asian BPO Industry - Jane Lockwood * Credentialing of Communication Professionals - Saul Carliner SECTION 4: VIEW FROM THE PROFESSIONS * Banking * Law * Accounting PR