The role of argumentative practices within advice-seeking activity types. The case of the medical consultation

  • Sarah Bigi
Keywords: activity types, advice giving, practical argumentation, medical consultation, health communication

Abstract

Advice seeking and advice giving have been studied both as speech acts and as complex discursive activities in various dialogical contexts. One particularly interesting aspect involved in the acts of seeking and giving advice is the negotiation of the epistemic status of the parties involved and it is interesting to observe the role played by argumentative practices in the achievement of this goal. In particular, it is argued that argumentation sequences may appear in advice-giving activities with two main functions: as the pivotal elements of pragmatic argumentation (i.e., providing reasons for supporting or refusing a certain proposal for action); and as dialogic tools for the alignment of assessment criteria for decision making. As a consequence, argumentation sequences emerge as decisive moments in the learning process leading to radical conceptual change. In this paper, the functions of argumentative practices within advice-giving activities are exemplified in relation to the goals of medical encounters, analyzed as instances of advice-seeking activity types. The analysis is based on excerpts from real-life interactions in different medical settings.

References

Ainsworth-Vaugh, N. (1998), Claiming Power in Doctor-Patient Talk, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Asterhan, C.S.C. & B.B. Schwartz (2009), «Argumentation and explanation in conceptual change: indications from protocol analyses of peer-to-peer dialog», in Cognitive Science, n. 33(3), pp. 374-400.

Bigi, S. (2016), Communicating (with) Care, IOS Press, Amsterdam.

Bigi, S. (forthcoming), «Using argumentative strategies to build emergent common ground in the medical encounter», in Journal of Argumentation in Context.

Bigi, S., Lamiani, G. (2016), The Power of Words: Deliberation Dialogue as a Model to Favor Patient Engagement in Chronic Care, in G. Graffigna, Ed, Promoting Patient Engagement and Participation for Effective Healthcare Reform, Pennsylvania, Hershey, IGI Global, pp. 66-92.

De Vries, E., Lund K., M. Baker (2002), «Computer-mediated epistemic dialogue: explanation and argumentation as vehicles for understanding scientific notions», in The Journal of the Learning Sciences, n. 11(1), pp. 63-103.

Erduran S. et al. (2015), «Research trends on argumentation in science education: a journal content analysis from 1998–2014», in International Journal of STEM Education, n. 2(5).

Gambarelli, G. (2017), «Therapeutic advice: a rhetorical-argumentative perspective on doctor-patient communication», in Res Rhetorica, n. 1, pp. 47-58.

Heritage, J. (2013), Epistemics in Conversation, in J. Sidnell and T. Stivers, Eds, The Handbook of Conversation Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, Malden, pp. 370-394.

Heritage, J., Sefi, S. (1992), Dilemmas of advice: Aspects of the delivery and reception of advice in interactions between health visitors and first-time mothers, in P. Drew and J. Heritage, Eds, Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 359-417.

Kamio, A. (1997), Territory of information, John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Kecskes, I. (2014), Intercultural Pragmatics, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Levinson, S. (1992), Activity Types and Language, in P. Drew & J. Heritage, Eds., Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 66-100.

Locher, M. (2006), Advice Online: Advice-giving in an American Internet health column, John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Locher, M.A., Limberg, H. (2012), Introduction to advice in discourse, in H. Limberg and M.A. Locher, Eds, Advice in Discourse, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp. 1-27.

Macagno, F. (forthcoming), «Practical reasoning and the act of naming reality», in Revue internationale de philosophie.

Macagno, F., Bigi, S. (2017a), «Analyzing the pragmatic structure of dialogues», in Discourse Studies, n. 19(2), pp. 148-168.

Macagno, F., Bigi, S. (2017b), «Understanding misunderstandings. Presuppositions and presumptions in doctor-patient chronic care consultations», in Intercultural Pragmatics, n. 14(1), pp. 49-75.

Maynard, D. (1991), «Interaction and asymmetry in clinical discourse», in The American Journal of Sociology, n. 97(2), pp. 448-495.

Moja, E., Vegni, E. (2000), La visita medica centrata sul paziente, Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano.

Perelman, C. (1959), «Pragmatic arguments», in Philosophy, n. 34, pp. 18-27.

Pilgram, R. (2009), «Argumentation in doctor-patient interaction: medical consultation as a pragma-dialectical communicative activity type», in Studies in Communication Sciences, n. 9(2), pp. 153-169.

Riccioni, I. et al. (2014), «Mitigation and epistemic positions in troubles talk: The giving advice activity in close interpersonal relationships. Some examples from Italian», in Language & Communication, n. 39, pp. 51-72.

Sarangi S. (2013), «Owning responsible actions/selves: Role-relational trajectories in counselling for childhood genetic testing», in Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, n. 9(3), pp. 295-318.

Sarangi, S. (1988), «Selection interviews as activity type: An intercultural perspective», in Lancaster papers in linguistics, n. 56, University of Lancaster.

Sarangi, S. (2000), Activity types, discourse types and interactional hybridity: The case of genetic counselling, in S. Sarangi and M. Coulthard, Eds, Discourse and social life, Harlow, Longman, pp. 1-27.

Sbisà, M. (1996), «Feminine subject and female body in discourse about childbirth», in European Journal of Women's Studies, n. 3, pp. 363-76.

Searle, J.R. (1969), Speech Acts. An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Ten Have, P. (1991), Talk and Institution: A Reconsideration of the “Asymmetry” of Doctor-Patient Interaction, in D. Boden & D.H. Zimmerman, Eds, Talk and social structure: studies in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, Cambridge, Polity Press, pp. 138-163.

Thesen, J. (2005), «From Oppression Towards Empowerment in Clinical Practice – Offering Doctors a Model for Reflection», in Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 33(suppl. 66), pp. 47-52.

Todd, A. D. (1989), Intimate Adversaries: Cultural Conflicts Between Doctors and Women Patients, University of Philadelphia Press, Philadelphia.

Walton, D. (1985), Physician-Patient Decision Making, Greenwood Press, Westport/London.

Walton, D. (1996), Arguments from Ignorance, The Pennsylvania State University Press, Pennsylvania.

How to Cite
Bigi, S. (1) “The role of argumentative practices within advice-seeking activity types. The case of the medical consultation”, Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio, 12(1). Available at: http://www.rifl.unical.it/index.php/rifl/article/view/473 (Accessed: 19March2024).