Including Written Turns in Spoken Interaction: Chat as an Organizational and Participatory Resource in Video-Mediated Activities

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the use of the chat interface in video-mediated learning activities. Drawing on screen-recorded data from an online crisis management course and using multimodal conversation analysis (CA), the aim is to show how written turns posted in the publicly available channel become included in spoken interaction. The analysis illustrates maintaining sequential order across the spoken and written modality as a practical problem, which the participants address via careful coordination of verbal, embodied, and screen-based resources. The sequential environment and timing of chat posts’ appearance are shown to have special relevance in the interactional work needed to make written turns intelligible in the moment. The study sheds light on the complexities of deploying text-based channels of communication in video-mediated activities, highlighting the chat interface as an important resource for other-than-current speakers to adjust their participant status in situ. The data of the study are in English.