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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 1012

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

Role Interaction in a Vertical Relationship: An Analysis of Questions in Japanese Teacher-Student Conversations

Authors: Ueno, Kishiko
Submitted by: Ueno, Kishiko (Japan Women's Universtiy, Japan)

     This study investigates the use of questions in Japanese teacher-student conversations in terms of the roles dictated by a vertical relationship. The act of question asking is thought to be concerned with power because of its function that compels, requires, and may even demand a response. Power in the West is regarded as an attribute of the individual, but power in Japan is much more an attribute of role relationship, such as the relationship of a teacher to a student (Wetzel 1993). Examining how the teacher and the student ask questions may provide an account of linguistic behavior that meets role expectations compatible with the internal workings of vertical relationships embodied in Japanese society.     

     The data consist of 12 conversations by Japanese female dyads. In the first encounter, the participants in each conversation are a teacher and a college student. The participants are asked to talk freely for five minutes about things that have surprised them in their everyday lives. Thus, questions in our data are used mainly for two purposes: (1) eliciting a topic to be related by the other, and (2) eliciting information that contributes to topic building.

     The analyses show that the teacher initiates questions three times more frequently than the student. Through question asking, the teacher asks the student for a new topic, providing a hint that can make the student easily step into relating her story (ex. “As you are a senior, don't you have a surprising experience in your job hunting? ” ). This results in inducing the student to relate a story complying with the teacher's suggestion (ex. “Yes, I have a lot of surprises in my job hunting; for example, ... ”). The teacher then asks the student information questions, which are designed to help the student talk in more detailed and explanatory ways, or the teacher even leads the progression of the topic that is originally provided by the student. On the other hand, in the student's questioning, there are constraints of usage. Besides the poverty of questioning, the students deliberately avoid asking questions that would largely affect the topic building.   

     The pattern of question asking observed in the data reflects the role relationship. That is, the teacher takes the leadership in such a way as to display the ability to decide what information is required from the student, while also simultaneously supplying supportive, nurturing, and benevolent implications based on “parental sentiment” (Lebra 1976). The teacher's leadership involves a corresponding dependence by the student. It is thought that the teacher's leadership does not embrace the idea of decisive executive power wielded by the individual, but rather embodies the role expectations ascribed to the superior, which permeate Japanese society.

References

Lebra, T. S. 1976. Japanese Patterns of Behavior. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Wetzel. J. P. 1993. The language of vertical relationships and linguistic analysis. Multilingua 12(4), 387–406.