Malabarba2026
| Malabarba2026 | |
|---|---|
| BibType | INCOLLECTION |
| Key | Malabarba2026 |
| Author(s) | Taiane Malabarba, Hanh thi Nguyen |
| Title | Interactional Competence Development at the Lingua Franca Workplace: Changes in Small-Talk Topic Selection and Management by Hotel Staff Members |
| Editor(s) | Laurent Filliettaz, Evelyne Berger, Anne-Sylvie Horlacher, Anna Claudia Ticca |
| Tag(s) | EMCA, small talk, hotel, interactional competence development, English as a lingua franca, second language learning, longitudinal conversation analysis, service encounters |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Year | 2026 |
| Language | English |
| City | Singapore |
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| Pages | 53-80 |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.1007/978-981-92-0026-9_3 |
| ISBN | |
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| Howpublished | |
| Book title | Developing Interactional Competences at and for Work: Analyzing Talk-in-Interaction in different Professional and Training Contexts |
| Chapter | |
Abstract
This article investigates small talk interactions of two hotel staff members using English as a lingua franca with various international guests in Vietnam. Employing longitudinal conversation analysis, we trace changes over time related to topic selection and practices for managing small talk. We also discuss potential catalysts for these observable changes. The analysis shows a shift in the novice staff member’s topic selection from B-event topics concerning the guests’ personal matters to AB-event topics about the weather. This change aligns with the topic selection pattern observed in the small talk by the more experienced officer. Regarding topic management, both officers began to ground the new topic in preceding turns through practices such as tying. These modifications are shown to be linked to guests’ frequent repair initiation, the limitations on sequence expansion that certain topics demonstrably imposed, and the officers’ familiarity with the recurrent aspects of the speech-exchange system. Some implications of the findings for evidence-based professional training are also discussed.
Notes
