Identity and Alignment in Collaborative Student Engineering Design Reviews

This study investigates the influence of participants' alignments, or footings, on the use of the politeness strategies identified by Brown and Levinson (1987). Forty-two feedback sessions between student engineering design teams and their faculty supervisors were videotaped and transcribed. The transcripts were unitized, and then coded for alignments, politeness strategies, and face threat of the evaluation. The results suggested that, in addition to the effect of face threat, the alignments faculty members took towards the student groups influenced the amount and type of politeness strategies they utilized. Three extensions of Brown and Levinson's model of politeness are warranted. Because participants' alignments can change during an interaction, power and distance are not static, but instead shift as alignments shift. Capturing such shifts in alignments is necessary to account for politeness strategies. Further, although Brown and Levinson applied their model to dyadic interactions, the results of this study suggest that the model can be extended to apply to interactions between groups. Finally, the results suggest that the politeness strategies utilized can be influenced by nonpresent others.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Speech Communication

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Dun, Suzanne Alexandra

Contributors dc:contributor

• O'Keefe, Barbara J.

• Speech Communication

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3086049

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/87508