Communication as language use in consultations: Methodological considerations

In this contribution, I present an approach to the analysis of medical consultations that offers theoretical and methodological tools useful to highlight and describe some of the communication processes that could then be linked to proximal and intermediate outcomes, leading to clinical outcomes. The contribution takes into consideration aspects of language use in medical interactions, developing a description of consultations as activity types in which ‘advice giving’ is the focal discourse type. This approach allows to describe the various linguistic strategies adopted by participants as strategies aimed at co-constructing advice seeking and giving through a complementary distribution of the interactional work that shapes cooperative communication projects within the dialogue. In the conclusions, advantages and implications of the proposed approach are highlighted.