Publication:

Calibrating for competence in calls for technical assistance (2005)

Author(s): Baker C; Emmison M; Firth A

    Notes: 'Calibrating for competence in calls to technical support' is the first of the three chapters in the technical assistance section of the book. Through the analysis of actual caller-call-taker (CT) conversational data, the authors demonstrate that the CT orients him/herself to and accommodates for the technical competence demonstrated by the caller and that both of them show their 'social-interactional' competence to understand and adjust to what each says about the problem to the other and about their understanding and resolution of the problem.

      • Book Title: Calling for Help: Language and social interaction in telephone helplines
      • Pages: 39-62
      • Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
      • Publication type: Book chapter
      • Bibliographic status: Published
        Staff

        Dr Alan Firth
        Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics