Sequential strategies of accommodation: A new method in courtroom

Abstract

The aim of this research is to show the fruitfulness of a sequential analysis approach applied to the study of the dynamic and sequential character of accommodation strategies proposed by communication accommodation theory (CAT). It was applied to the convergence, divergence, maintenance, and control strategies undertaken in the courtroom during 47 hostile examinations from a single criminal case. Each of the 1,850 question-answer exchanges was classified for the content aspects (types of questions and of answers) and for the modalities of turn taking (interrupting, latching, and pausing) by both lawyer and witness. Log-linear analyses were performed. The main results show that the lawyer and the witness used both accommodation and maintenance strategies, even if the latter are used more by the lawyer. Both participants made use of unimodal and bimodal strategies and tended to reciprocate the behaviour of the interlocutor. The conclusions emphasize the advantage of using the sequential analysis approach to the accommodation strategies of CAT: studying multiple behaviours, identifying the direction and the modalities of the strategies even if they act simultaneously, and providing a means to evaluate the weight of the strategies on the whole and in detail.