A Conversation Analytic Approach to Doctoral Supervision: Feedback, Advice, and Guidance

Description

This book reports on an empirical study of oral feedback practices in doctoral supervision meetings, observing supervisors’ and students’ conduct to enable a new understanding of the social organisation of doctoral research supervision. In a field that has predominantly drawn on surveys and interviews, this study presents a rare, direct insight into doctoral supervision meetings, showing us what actually happens and making a significant contribution to future practice. Based on 25 video-recorded supervision meetings at an Australian university, the book invites the reader into the micro-world of interactions between doctoral students and their supervisors. Drawing on conversation analysis as an analytical framework, the study uncovers how feedback is initiated and delivered, how supervisors manage when students disagree with their advice and guidance, how they acknowledge student autonomy and identity as people with knowledge and expertise in their own right, as well as how supervisors co-work within a team supervision environment. Offering an important new perspective to the study and practice of doctoral supervision, this book will be of interest to doctoral supervisors, postgraduate students and researchers working with conversation analysis and education, and those with an interest in feedback and advice as an integral part of their professions. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of extracts Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 1.1. The need for innovations in doctoral supervision practice and research 1.2. Applying CA to understand the institutional organisation of doctoral supervision 1.3. Applying CA to effect doctoral supervision practices 1.4. The structure of the book References 2. Feedback, advice, and guidance in doctoral supervision and in other educational contexts 2.1. Chapter overview 2.2. Feedback and advice in doctoral supervision: The “what” questions 2.2.1. What do feedback, advice, and guidance mean? 2.2.2. What are the possible areas for feedback, advice, and guidance? 2.3. Feedback and advice in doctoral education: The “how” questions 2.3.1. How do supervisors deliver critical feedback or criticism? 2.3.2. How can disagreement between students and supervisors be managed? 2.3.3. How do supervisors support co-production of knowledge? 2.3.4. How do supervisors support student development of knowledge identity? 2.3.5. How do supervisors support student development of autonomy? 2.3.6. How do multiple supervisors co-work in team supervision? 2.4. Feedback and advice in other educational contexts: An increasing interest in interactional research 2.4.1. Feedback in formal education 2.4.2. Feedback in clinical education 2.4.3. Feedback and advice in teacher education 2.5. Chapter conclusion References 3. Conversation analysis 3.1. Chapter overview 3.2. CA’s theoretical background and methodological principles 3.2.1. CA's theoretical background 3.2.2. CA's data-driven approach 3.2.3. CA's emic approach 3.2.4. CA's perspective on socio-cultural context 3.3. CA's core analytical tools: Fundamental mechanisms of social interaction 3.3.1. Turn-taking organisation 3.3.2. Sequence organisation 3.3.3. Repair 3.3.4. Epistemics 3.4. CA research on advice and feedback 3.4.1. CA approach to advice 3.4.2. Advisees' attention to competence and autonomy issues: Advice resistance 3.4.3. Managing advice resistance 3.4.4. Advice initiation in institutional interaction 3.4.5. CA research on feedback 3.5. CA research on storytelling 3.5.1. CA approach to storytelling 3.5.2. Storytelling as a resource for accomplishing social actions 3.5.3. Story-opening 3.5.4. Story-closing 3.6. CA research on social identity 3.6.1. CA perspective on social identity 3.6.2. Epistemic identity 3.6.3. Deontic identity 3.7. The study 3.7.1. The participants 3.7.2. The doctoral education programme: Candidature milestones 3.7.3. Data collection 3.7.4. The data corpus 3.7.5. Data transcription 3.7.6. Data analysis objectives: Action, practice, and phenomenon 3.7.7. Data analysis procedure and methods 3.8. Chapter conclusion References 4. Initiating feedback and advice activities and the practice of problematising student responses for advice purposes 4.1. Chapter overview 4.2. Student problem reporting turn and supervisor advice-giving turn 4.2.1. A minimal feedback and advice sequence 4.2.2. Student turn: Problem reporting 4.2.3. Supervisor responding turn: Orientation to advice giving 4.3. Supervisor inquiring practice 4.4. Supervisor practice of problematising student responses 4.5. Chapter conclusion and discussion References 5. Securing student display of understanding and acceptance of feedback and advice through storytelling 5.1. Chapter overview 5.2. Invoking supervisor knowledge authority at story-opening 5.3. Appealing to shared knowledge at story-opening 5.4. Pursuing students' display of understanding at story-closing 5.5. Securing acceptance of advice at story-closing 5.6. Chapter conclusion and discussion References 6. Managing resistance, rejection, and securing acceptance by invoking student epistemic identity 6.1. Chapter overview 6.2. Managing resistance and affirming student knowledge authority 6.3. Managing rejection of advice and exiting disagreement cordially 6.4. Addressing a problem with advice resistance and avoiding direct criticism 6.5. Pre-empting resistance/rejection and securing acceptance of advice 6.6. Chapter conclusion and discussion References 7. Managing disagreement by attending to student autonomy and invoking student deontic identity 7.1. Chapter overview 7.2. Invocation of student deontic identity to manage potential disagreement 7.3. Invocation of student deontic identity to exit disagreement 7.4. Chapter conclusion and discussion References 8. Anticipatory completion of feedback and advice in team supervision 8.1. Chapter overview 8.2. Displaying agreement and intensifying co-supervisor's advice 8.3. Assisting co-supervisors in constructing feedback and advice 8.4. Providing an alternative way of formulating feedback and advice 8.5. Securing speakership and making substantial contribution to co-construction of feedback and advice 8.6. Chapter conclusion and discussion References 9. Inviting collaboration in team supervision 9.1. Overview 9.2. Inviting co-supervisor collaboration as a turn-management strategy 9.3. Inviting co-supervisor collaboration to manage student resistance and disagreement 9.4. Chapter conclusion and discussion References 10. Towards effecting feedback and advice practices in doctoral supervision 10.1. Chapter overview 10.2. Innovative discoveries of supervisory feedback and advice practices 10.3. The innovativeness of the above discoveries 10.4. Recommendations for practice 10.5. Effecting practice through a CA-informed professional development programme 10.5.1. Why should we adopt a CA approach to professional development? 10.5.2. How can we develop a PD programme for doctoral supervisors drawing on CA empirical findings? References Appendix Index