Significance Of Talk Research Articles

Leading a Peace Process: an interview with Bertie Ahern

ABSTRACTThis article is based on an extended interview with Bertie Ahern, former taoiseach of Ireland 1997–2008, and is concerned with how he viewed his leadership role in the Northern Ireland peace process and what influences he tried to bring to bear through that leadership. The interview highlights the importance of pragmatism and consensus-building for Ahern but also emphasises the significance of talk and the informal as key considerations. Referring to problems such as removing Articles Two and Three from the Irish constitution, prisoner releases and PIRA activity we see how important the development of trust and relations was for the Irish, as well as how both conditionality and context were used to bolster the case for negotiations, political accommodation and power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

Talking about Remembering and Forgetfulness in Oral History Interviews

In this article, the author seeks to open a discussion of explicit talk about remembering in oral history interviews. He explores ways of talking about remembering and forgetfulness in oral history interviews and the effects of such talk on the interview relationship as well as on the process of recall itself. The article provides examples of collaborative remembering between the narrator and the interviewer, the recall of specific details and reports of exceptional clarity of memory as well as justifications of faulty memory. Reported speech in oral history narratives is considered as a clear case of constructing as opposed to remembering the past. Throughout, the author frames questions concerning the significance of talk about remembering and forgetfulness for the evaluation of the events and personal identities expressed in the oral history interview.

“I make a mark”: The significance of talk in young children's artistic development

Young children frequently accompany drawing activities with descriptive, reflective, and social conversation, verbally monitoring, supplementing, and sharing the progress of their marks. This review of literature presents research and theory in support of the proposition that language is an essential component of early artistic development, crucial to the nature and nurture of visual expression. Consideration of the developmental significance of young children's talk about their art suggests that appropriate forms of dialogue between adults and children in art-making contexts may provide a foundation for understanding and facilitating artistic activity in the early years.