A closer look into the ‘black box’ of coaching – linguistic research into the local effectiveness of coaching with the help of conversation analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper, located in the paradigm of Linguistic Coaching Process Research, theoretically introduces Conversation Analysis (CA) as a means to explore the ‘black box’ of coaching, i.e., the concrete conversation, and to address pressing research gaps in this field. CA, developed to describe, analyse, and understand practices and patterns of talk-in-interaction, presents a rigorous, systematic, and transparent qualitative method to document and research the sequentially organised conversational structure of coaching as well as the discursive practices of coach and client. The analytical power of CA lies in identifying change-inducing practices and in detailing how these contribute to the local effectiveness of coaching. A case in point are questioning practices, whose transformative power as local agents of change emerges in their sequential set-up as ‘coaches’ question – clients’ response – coaches’ reaction in third position’. In an exemplary analysis using CA, we illustrate the (un-)successful processing of questions in coaching. The two data extracts stem from the ongoing project Questioning Sequences in Coaching. While the paper aims to shed predominantly theoretical light on how to linguistically unpack the ‘black box’ of coaching, it also aims to sensitise practitioners to consider interventions, e.g., questions, as embedded in the locally transpiring, turn-by-turn interaction with their clients.