Verbal encounters: rapport management in the construction of image

Abstract

One way to access disciplinary knowledge in the academia is by means of

study groups. This kind of interaction, in the context of an agenda defined

by the nature of the task, involves the spread of resources of interrelational

nature aiming to the co-construction of meaning. This negotiation adds to

the construction of disciplinary knowledge as well as to the discursive

image within the group. In this article we intend to describe some of the

strategies of rapport management carried out within study groups. We use

a microanalysis that accounts for the identification of linguistic resources

selected by participants of verbal encounters in order to accomplish personal

and collective aims. From a total of 12 verbal encounters, which total

24 hours of video recording, we have selected three episodes from one of

these encounters. By applying a qualitative methodology, the data depict

that both a positive (polite) and negative (impolite) rapport management can

lead to the achievement of individual and collective aims.