Robin Wooffitt, Conversation analysis and discourse analysis: A comparative and critical introduction

Extract

Robin Wooffitt, Conversation analysis and discourse analysis: A comparative and critical introduction. London: Sage, 2005. Pp. ix, 234. Hb $69.95, Pb $31.95.

Robin Wooffitt aims to answer a question in his new book: “Analytically, what is the best way to understand everyday communicative activities?” (2). His answer: “Conversation analysis offers the most sophisticated and robust account of language in action” (2). The remainder of the book proceeds, then, not only as an introduction to Conversation Analysis (CA) and Discourse Analysis (DA) as approaches to the study of language and communication in the social sciences (specifically, sociology and European social psychology), but also as a polemic for CA as a methodology superior to DA. The book is marketed as an introductory textbook; thus, each chapter includes periodic bulleted section summaries, and the early introductory chapters conclude with suggestions for further reading. As a textbook, this volume seems best suited for graduate seminars in linguistics or sociology; it deals with theoretical and methodological disputes that go well beyond most undergraduate students' background knowledge or pedagogical needs. As a scholarly volume, it should attract attention from social scientists already engaged in research utilizing CA or DA, as well as those working with other methodologies who are interested in how CA and DA conceptualize and investigate discourse.