Interactional Sociolinguistics as a Multi-Pronged Approach to Office Hour Rapport ManagementJournal of English for Academic Purposes Volume 62 – Thu Ha Nguyen

Abstract: This study proposes a multi-pronged approach for examining office hour (OH) rapport management. Using an interactional sociolinguistic lens, I examine how an international teaching assistant (ITA) managed rapport in the face of misunderstanding and schema mismatch during an OH consultation. I show that a multi-method approach illuminates how participants brought along schemas and interactional goals and displayed them to one another in their meeting, which led to a lack of rapport at the brought about level. Data were collected through classroom observations, OH video-recording, an exit survey, and follow-up interviews with participants. These sources facilitate triangulation while bringing the wider context to the fine-grained analysis of the consultation. Using frame analysis and contextualization cues, I analyzed the strategies the ITA used to maintain and strengthen rapport when the student displayed rapport neglect and rapport challenge (Spencer-Oatey, 2008). This paper unpeels the process where the mismatch in framing between the ITA’s view of OHs as teaching opportunities versus the students’ need for explicit instruction made it necessary to negotiate rapport. The study highlights how managing rapport is not confined to avoid damaging face. In this particular case, a face-threatening request is preferred because it met the student’s interactional goals.

Nguyen, H. (2022). Interactional sociolinguistics as a multi-pronged approach to office hour rapport management. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 62, 101213-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2022.101213