Intro to the Language and Social Interaction tradition

I had never heard of language and social interaction (LSI) research before coming to graduate school. So if you don’t know what it is, you are not alone. Knowing the basics is helpful though for anyone interested in different approaches to studying communication and analyzing everyday forms of talk.

What it is:

Scholarship on language and social interaction is dedicated to the meaning of discourse in specific situations, thus grounding it contextually. As Tracy and Craig (2010) said, what we have in common is the foundation that “to understand social action, interaction, or communicative practices–whatever this stuff is to be called–requires looking at it in the context in which it occurred” (p. 146). 

There are, of course, a lot of nuances to what language and social interaction involves based on different scholars' theoretical positions, but each approach maintains a commitment to closely analyzing language use (Tracy, 2015). This commitment to understanding how language works is what unites us across the LSI area and what makes our research valuable to the broader discipline of communication.

Tracy and Haspel (2004) noted that “LSI is best thought of as a multidisciplinary confederation rather than a single intellectual area” (p. 791). LSI scholars often have other topical homes, such as health communication, interpersonal communication, or organizational communication. What they share is a belief that studying situated interaction and its particularity is the best way to understand communicative life. The idea that speaking is a kind of social action is taken-for-granted in a lot of communication scholarship, but LSI scholars take that claim as their starting point (Tracy & Haspel, 2004).

Outside of the communication discipline, the term “discourse analysis” (DA) is more commonly used for referring to the variety of LSI approaches (Tracy, 2015). However, LSI scholars would assert that there are a variety of DA approaches. Gordon (2015) distinguished between five types of DA: conversation analysis, the ethnography of communication, interactional sociolinguistics, critical discourse analysis, and additional hybrid approaches such as action-implicative discourse analysis (AIDA). 

How I use it:

As described above, LSI is a broad category that includes many different types of research methods and analytical practices. My primary research method is the ethnography of communication (EC). The central goal is to understand the knowledge or meaning a speaker is acting upon when they communicate. Empirical EC studies include interrogating the practice of ‘listening’ among Blackfeet (Carbaugh, 1999), understanding the importance of Qi in the discourse of acupuncture (Ho, 2006), and examining the practice of dugri (straight) speech in Israeli speech (Katriel, 2012). Each of these demonstrates how EC research can look at situated communication practices to learn about the cultural values of a specific speech community.

Why you should care:

LSI research is not for everyone. If you are more interested in technology, structural discourses, or the macro, big-picture role of communication in society—it likely isn’t for you. However, if you love dissecting a conversation into pieces, considering what exactly was said and the effects, or how language is socially meaningful—LSI could be a good home for your interests. One of the best things about LSI research is that it is not defined by a single topic. There are LSI studies connected to politics, the environment, education, race, families, and organizations. What we share is a focus on the little things that constitute the big parts of human life.