Interaction Analysis and Psychology: A Dialogical Perspective

Interaction analysis is not a prerogative of any discipline in social sciences. It has its own history within each disciplinary field and is related to specific research objects. From the standpoint of psychology, this article first draws upon a distinction between factorial and dialogical conceptions of interaction. It then briefly presents the basis of a dialogical approach in psychology and focuses upon four basic assumptions. Each of them is examined on a theoretical and on a methodological level with a leading question: to what extent is it possible to develop analytical tools that are fully coherent with dialogical assumptions? The conclusion stresses the difficulty of developing methodological tools that are fully consistent with dialogical assumptions and argues that there is an unavoidable tension between accounting for the complexity of an interaction and using methodological tools which necessarily "monologise” this complexit

Learning through obstacles in an interprofessional team meeting: A discursive analysis of systemic contradictions

Drawing both on cultural-historical activity theory and on a dialogical approach to discourse, this article expands a method of analysis developed by Engeström & Sannino (2011) to capture discursive manifestations of contradictions in an activity system. The data consist of recorded meetings of an interprofessional team working with persons living with both a mental handicap and psychiatric disorders. The mission of this team is to coordinate socio-educative and psychiatric work. A sequence taken from one of these meetings was submitted to a step-by-step discourse analysis and examined how the participants negotiated and managed the obstacles met with in their daily work. The analysis showed how an initial obstacle presented as a conflict was gradually turned into a critical conflict and finally into a dilemma between two rules: professional confidentiality and transparency towards the patient. It showed how the participants collectively coped with this dilemma, and came to define it as a problem related to work organisation, and not only to interpersonal relationships. The study shows the importance of discourse processes in collaborative work and in fostering professional learning and focus upon discourse processes through which team members deal with obstacles in their daily work and to provide a fine-grained analysis of systemic contradictions

Third parties' voices in a therapeutic interview

Drawing on a dialogical approach inspired by Bakhtin, we start from the assumption that a concrete discussion is an intermingling between dialogue in praesentia and dialogue in absentia, and we refer to the notion of "enunciative positioning” to account for the various relations that a speaker may express toward the voices that he or she invokes. Our data are based on a first therapeutic interview between a therapist, a mother, and a child in a counseling center for children and adolescents. We identify the various voices invoked in this interview and show that three levels of discursive process were involved: (a) the speakers invoked absent speakers; (b) at the same time they developed their own discourse on the basis of their interlocutors' discourse which (c) itself drew on absent speakers or voices. We highlight the various discursive processes through which the speakers integrate their own voice into absent voices, or integrate a distant voice so that it loses its property of being a distant (and borrowed) voice. As a theoretical and methodological contribution to dialogism, our results show that absent voices and their specific intermingling with hic et nunc exchanges were a major resource for therapeutic processe

Interaction ou inter-actions? Deux conceptions de la notion d'interaction

This article aims at discussing two main definitions of the concept of interaction: the first one assumes that an interaction is the sum of individual actions (inter-actions) while the second one assumes that interaction is an inseparable unit of analysis. They constitute what can be called a factorial vs. dialogical conception of interaction. After having presented these two conceptions and shown some gaps between theoretical assumptions and methodological practices, we discuss what methodological consequences for research a dialogical conception of interaction may have, provide the example of a study which tried to take these consequences into account, and conclude with some challenges that have to be faced in future research

De la conception à la pratique: configuration et reconfiguration d\u27un dispositif de formation des enseignants aux technologies de l\u27information et de la communication

Constatant que la formation des enseignants aux technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) pose des problèmes spécifiques, cet article a pour but d’engager une réflexion sur ce thème. Nos réflexions s’appuient sur une expérience de formation réalisée dans 23 écoles professionnelles suisses engagées dans un programme national de soutien à l’utilisation pédagogique des TIC. L’article décrit la manière dont le dispositif de formation prévu a été mis en pratique, les difficultés auxquelles il a donné lieu et les réponses que les acteurs ont élaborées pour faire face à ces difficultés. Nous montrons qu’une analyse du déroulement effectif d’un dispositif de formation et des transformations qu’il subit constitue un élément essentiel pour orienter les futures actions de formation et penser la place des apprenants dans un dispositif de formation. (DIPF/Orig.)Ausgehend von der Einsicht, dass die Weiterbildung der Lehrkräfte in den Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) spezifische Probleme hervorruft, soll dieser Artikel Überlegungen zu diesem Thema präsentieren. Die Überlegungen stützen sich auf ein in 23 Schweizer Berufsschulen durchgeführtes Fortbildungsprojekt zur Förderung des pädagogischen Einsatzes der IKT. Der Artikel beschreibt, wie das geplante Weiterbildungsmodell in die Praxis umgesetzt wurde, welche Schwierigkeiten entstanden sind und wie die Beteiligten die Schwierigkeiten zu meistern versuchten. Eine Analyse des tatsächlichen Ablaufs eines Weiterbildungsmodells und dessen Anpassungen ist die Grundlage,zur Gestaltung zukünftiger Fortbildungsstrategien und zur Reflexion über die Position der Lernenden in einem Weiterbildungsmodell. (DIPF/Orig.

Elaboration de la notion de confiance et secret medical dans des focus groups

Le but général de ce travail est d’analyser la manière dont, dans des discussions de focus groups portant sur le secret médical, les sujets invoquent la confiance, l’élaborent et la mettent au service de leur argumentation. Après avoir montré les nombreuses facettes de la notion de confiance, on présente la méthode des focus groups et le cadre théorique adopté : une approche dialogique du langage et de la cognition principalement inspirée de Bakhtine. Le corpus est composé de six focus groups engagés dans la discussion d’un cas fictif (dilemme) mettant en jeu la notion de secret médical et, à travers elle, la question de la liberté individuelle opposée à l’intérêt collectif. La méthode d’analyse consiste tout d’abord à analyser les réponses des sujets au dilemme posé, leur trajectoire en cours de discussion et le lien entre réponse et invocation de la confiance ; elle consiste ensuite à étudier, dans deux groupes contrastés, les mouvements discursifs par lesquels les sujets répondent au dilemme posé et élaborent la notion de confiance. Les résultats montrent comment les sujets abordent la notion de confiance et quels usages argumentatifs ils en font. En suivant pas à pas le déroulement de la discussion dans deux groupes contrastés, on montre que chez un locuteur donné, la référence à la notion de confiance ne prend sens que par rapport à la production d’autres locuteurs. En tant qu’objet de discours, elle est donc le fruit d’une activité collective de groupe. - O objectivo geral deste trabalho consiste em analisar a maneira como, nas discussões de grupos-foco, que se centram na questão do segredo médico, os sujeitos evocam a confiança, a elaboram e se servem dela para sua argumentação. Depois de termos mostrado as diferentes facetas da noção de confiança, apresentamos o método dos grupos-foco e o quadro de referência teórico adoptado: uma abordagem dialógica da linguagem e da cognição, principalmente inspirada em Bakhtin. O corpus é composto por seis grupos-foco envolvidos na discussão dum caso fictício (dilema), que põe em jogo a noção de segredo médico e, através dela, a questão da liberdade individual, oposta ao interesse colectivo. O método de análise consiste, antes de mais, em analisar as respostas dos sujeitos ao dilema apresentado, a sua trajectória ao longo da discussão e as relações entre a resposta e a evocação da confiança; em seguida, consiste em estudar, em dois grupos contrastados, os movimentos discursivos pelos quais os sujeitos respondem ao dilema apresentado e elaboram a noção de confiança. Os resultados mostram como os sujeitos abordam a noção de confiança e quais as utilizações argumentativas que eles fazem. Seguindo passo a passo o desenrolar da discussão em dois grupos contrastados, mostra-se que, para um determinado interlocutor, a referência à noção de confiança só ganha significado quando relacionada com a produção de outros interlocutores. Enquanto objecto de discurso ela é, portanto, fruto duma actividade colectiva de grupo

Techno-social reconfigurations in diabetes (self-) care

This article focuses on the ways in which a flash glucose monitoring system, FreeStyle Libre®, is introduced and used by people living with type 1 diabetes, their relatives and healthcare professionals. It draws on a multi-sited ethnography in a variety of clinical and daily situations, and on interviews with caregivers and people living with diabetes. We explore how the users develop knowledge-in-practice, and consider the use of self-management technologies to be largely dependent on locally grounded and situated care acts, and resulting from the relational, pragmatic and creative maneuvering of technology-in-practice. Our findings show that adjustments between users, their bodies and the technology are required, and show the reflexive work and practices of patients and relatives who learn to use the device in a proper way. Moreover, we reveal that practitioners see this technology as a tool that not only improves self-care practices but also clinical practices, and that wearing and using this new medical device may become a moral injunction for self-improvement. Our results illustrate the techno-social reconfigurations at work and the development of new ways of feeling, thinking and acting in diabetes (self-) care