Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Stance analysis is a multidimensional technique of text analysis that identifies segments in which the speaker’s language use signals affect or evaluation, intensity or certainty. This technique is derived from multidimensional corpus analysis and based on linguistic theories about interaction and evaluation in text. We typically have used stance analysis as a way to investigate task-directed language in online and face-to-face focus groups and consumer interviews to locate the rich opinionated areas of discussion.

We look first at how to interpret the texts from the viewpoint of appraisal: people offer evaluation or appraisal at different points of their discourse, not just at its end, depending on which perspective they are using at any stage of the discourse. That perspective is the stance they are taking. Stance has multiple dimensions, each of which reflects different aspects of how speakers position themselves vis-à-vis other speakers, or take a perspective on a particular topic. The dimensions of stance are strongly influenced by the rhetorical impact of personal and interpersonal reference, as exemplified by the use of personal pronouns. For the poster session we will demonstrate the applicability and utility of stance analysis in qualitative research for analyzing task-directed discussions, using focus groups as an example.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper explores a model for teaching undergraduate students how to read, think and write critically, and one that I have used in my last two (and only) years of teaching. Though a college education is frequently defined as such, specific transferable skills to accomplish a critical stance is rarely, if ever, taught to most college students. I argue that the critical stance can be used in most college courses as it is centered on the development of skills that are required regardless of discipline or topic. I present the model as basic steps of teaching students how to critically read (through use of an Annotation System, use of Key Principles of Reading and use of Speed Reading), critically think (through use of a method which reflects THESIS, ARGUMENTS and EVIDENCE on each other) and critically write (through the use of the Author Analysis writing exercise which emphasizes rigorous use of theses, arguments, evidence and evaluative language). Additionally I discuss how to distinguish critical listening the grading policy that best accompanies the use of this model.
NOTE: This model has met with unprecedented success with students who have given its usage near perfect evaluation scores. It has also merited wide University recognition with four (4) teaching awards given to the author in the first year of its usage, an all-expenses-paid trip to the University of Boulder to do a workshop in January of this year, and an invitation by Arizona State University to do the same workshop this Spring.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Through stories, tellers convey their stance towards what they are reporting. However, given a general interactional preference for recipients to adopt an affiliative stance towards the telling, tellers generally monitor recipients for whether or not they are both a) aligning with the telling activity and b) affiliating with the content of the telling. Conversely, recipients can be observed to display alignment and afffiliation. This paper examines the interactional resources through which participants in story tellings accomplish the respective monitoring and displaying of alignment and stance during story tellings. The primary finding of this paper is that whereas vocal continuers convey alignment with the activity in progress, nods are calibrated to convey preliminary affiliation with the teller and his/her stance towards what he/she is telling about. Nods then can be conceptualized as a “servo mechanism” that works to bring the telling in “on target” achieving recipient affiliation at story completion.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: January 2004 marked a change in India-Pakistan relations as the two nuclear rivals pledged their commitment towards peaceful resolution of the conflict between them. Although the conflict is far from over, recent initiatives towards dialog are indicative of a willingness to work through long-standing, bitter animosities. Understanding how the India-Pakistan conflict has been sustained is critical at this juncture - the first step towards solving problems is to recognize how they emerged. Unfortunately, existing scholarship on this conflict remains limited in its reliance on traditional historical perspectives. For example, the claim that the India-Pakistan conflict is grounded in religious differences tells us nothing about how 'religion' has been deployed such that it is legitimized as the basis of hatred. A genealogical approach, on the other hand, is capable of dealing with the obscurities that accompany traditional historical explanations for it is concerned precisely with the conditions of emergence in which socio-political arrangements are socially (re)constructed. Therefore, this paper argues in favor of a shift from traditional history to genealogical accounts that move beyond static explanations emphasizing transcendental origins to dynamic accounts of the processes in which the India-Pakistan conflict emerges. Specifically, I analyze Main Hoon Na (I'll Be There), a Bollywood film about the India-Pakistan conflict, as a site from which to explore the complex negotiations in which boundaries between 'self' and 'other' have been imagined in the India-Pakistan context such that conflictual relations are legitimized. To investigate these processes is to produce reflective scholarship that highlights the importance of daily practices in which social realities are embedded both morally and practically.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Stance analysis, a multivariate statistical technique developed to measure how language patterns signal changes in a respondent's affect during an interview, was used on a series of sexual asault cases in which the victim and perpetrator were analyzed. The paper wil decribe the literature supporting stance analysis, the procedures used with stance analysis, the factors' results, and conclusions that can be deduced from the interviews.