Any Questions?: Identity Construction in Academic Conference Discussions

Academic go to conferences for two main reasons: first, to discuss their research; second, and just as importantly, to negotiate their own standing in the scientific community. This book shows how academics in the humanities use conference discussions as a forum to co-construct both their own and each other's professional identities. While at first sight the researchers seem to be simply asking and answering questions, the detailed sequential analyses reveal many subtle underlying strategies adopted to display and negotiate claims of expertise, seniority and competence.

The Series: Trends in Applied Linguistics

The series aims to meet the challenges of the rapidly growing field of applied linguistics. Applied linguistics is understood in a very broad sense, by focusing on the application of theoretical linguistics to current problems arising in different contexts of human society. Given the interdisciplinary character of applied linguistics, the series includes cognitive, psycholinguistic, socialinguistic and educational perspectives.