Intercultural Communication Online: Conversation Analysis and the Investigation of Asynchronous Written Discourse

Abstract

This paper works through the methodological issues involved in treating "culture" and "interculturality" as interactionally demonstrable and observable phenomena in written online asynchronous discourse. In particular, the paper explores the ways that conversation analysis (CA) and its focus on sequentiality and membership categorization analysis might aid the analysis of culture as a textural interactional achievement. The paper argues that, while there are some clear differences between sequential talk and written asynchronous discourse, there are still interesting ways in which CA's analytic foci may be worked through in relation to online discourse. Both the concern with sequentiality and with membership categories may well help us to see how the construction of visible and recognizable intercultural discourse practices are accomplished through written modes in online forums. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0901493

Keywords

• conversation analysis
• sequentiality
• membership categorization analysis
• interculturality