Guthrie, Anna

Stivers, Tanya

eScholarship - University of California

UCLAIssues in Applied LinguisticsTitleThe Organization of ParticipationPermalinkhttps://escholarship.org/uc/item/4ff684bmJournalIssues in Applied Linguistics, 9(2)ISSN1050-4273AuthorsGuthrie, AnnaStivers, TanyaPublication Date1998-12-30DOI10.5070/L492005272 Peer reviewedeScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital LibraryUniversity of CaliforniaEditorialThe Organization of ParticipationWhen we talk about the organization of participation in social interaction,there are a number of ways we can conceptualize this phenomenon. Among themany possibilities researchers have explored, we can consider who the focal par-ticipants are in the interaction at any given moment and how they become focal orperipheral. We can ask when certain interactants participate and how this is orga-nized. We can ask how interactants' various identities can be made relevant throughtheir participation in the interaction. Additionally, we can look at the physicalbody and ways in which it is an integral part of the interaction.This special issue came out of many discussions about the growing and con-tinuing interest in the diverse aspects of the phenomenon of participation and howit is organized within social interaction. It was our hope to bring together a collec-tion of articles which would reflect the range and diversity of research perspec-tives. We received a wonderful array of submissions to our call for papers, and itis thanks to the collaboration of many people that we have the collection shownhere. Because of the different methodologies and contexts represented by thesepapers, the reviewers enlisted for the selection process included experts from manydisciplines and methodological traditions.We are very excited that the final collection of manuscripts explores theorganization of participation in five language communities and in five differentcultural and social contexts. The manuscripts also reflect the importance of look-ing at naturally occurring audio or video taped interaction in analyzing participa-tion as a social phenomenon. Arminen explores participation in various phases ofFinish Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He investigates how the talk during thesemeetings brings into being the concept of "mutual help." Fatigante, Fasulo, andPontecorvo look at children's participation in Italian dinner conversations. Theybring Goffman's concept of frontstage and backstage talk to bear on their phenom-ena and show a variety of ways in which children can be talked about in thesedinner conversations. Field brings together both a macro and a micro analysis ofparticipation as she explores question asking in a Navajo preschool and examinessome of the cultural differences which might explain silence as a response. Kangexamines triadic participation in Korean cultural center interactions, specificallylooking at how in-group membership is developed through the interaction betweenthe participants. Finally, Curley investigates the use of directives during a Japa-nese tea ceremony lesson. She argues that an understanding of the organization ofparticipation requires an analysis both of the participants' talk and of their bodydeployment.This year marks the first in several years when ial will not publish the pro-Issues in Applied Linguistics ISSN 1050-4273© 1998, Regents of the University of California Vol. 9 No. 2, 57-5858 Editorialceedings from the annual Conference on Language, Interaction, and Culture whichhas been held at UCLA. This year the proceedings will be published by a newjournal: Crossroads in Language, Interaction, and Culture. Congratulations to CLICfor accomplishing this, and we hope that you will consider supporting this newventure. For more information please contact us at ial.December 1997 Anna GuthrieTanya Stivers

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The Organization of Participation

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The Organization of Participation

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