The Methodological Aspect of Conversation Analysis

Abstract

In this chapter, I will examine certain aspects of internal conversation and mediation, initially through the work of Lev Vygotsky, who was the first to define the specific elements of which inner speech is comprised, and then through Conversation Analysis (CA), a sociological method which investigates conversation (synonymous with external conversation, as used in the present work) in terms of action. The section on CA is in two parts: the first introduces CA as a sociological method and compares internal and external conversation according to CA’s specific terminology and tools; the second part introduces the first stage of the mediation process, based upon Vygotsky’s and Vocate’s two main terms (‘internalisation’ and ‘externalisation’) and two further concepts deriving from CA, ‘interpretation’ and ‘elucidation’.