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Comment Elaboration

• Topics switch freely.
• Sometimes, topics are provoked by what speakers are doing, by objects in their presence, or by some association with what has just ben said.
• There is no defined purpose for the conversation.
• All speakers can introduce topics.
• Speakers comment on each other´s statements.
• Comments often include some evaluation.
• Ellipsis is common.
• There is repetition.
• It is common to use informal vocabulary.

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Students chatting round the tea-table_Comment Elaboration

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Service Encounters

• The main purpose of the conversation is transactional. That is to say, these are conversations in which people want to get things done.
• Sometimes, interactional language may be used when there is a bond of familiarity between speakers.
• The elements that are obligatory in a service encounter are: an offer of service, a request for service, a transaction, and a salutation.

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Debate and Argument

• Speakers take up positions, offer arguments and give their opinions on different topics.
• Sometimes, there is a lead-figure or chairperson who controls the debate and monitors everyone´s contributions.
• The discussion may be symmetrical if the speakers are equals.  That is to say, they have equal speaking rights and they intervene cooperatively.
• When speakers do not have equal status, the discussion will be more asymmetrical, with speaking rights controlled and assigned by the speaker who is dominant.
• The communicative purpose is to foster mutuality, consensus and interpersonal support.

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Decision- making / Negotiating outcomes

• Speakers work towards definitive or collective decisions, or a consensus.
• They solve problems by negotiation.
• Speakers state their position, but the usually use modal verbs or other softeners such as maybe, think and reckon.
• Problems can be presented, together with possible solutions, which are evaluated by the speakers.
• Discourse markers can be used to soften or personalize the speaker´s remarks.

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Language, Learning and Interaction

• The language is determined by the context of institutionalised and informal learning.
• The teacher takes most turns and his/her turns are longer than the students’.
• The structure is based on exchanges (initiation, response and feedback).
• The teacher reformulates, summarises and evaluates what the students say.
• The teacher uses ´known answer ‘or ´display´ questions (i.e. questions to which he/she already knows the answer)