Analysis Of Court-related Mediation Discourse From A Goal-adaptational Perspective

As an indispensible part of Civil Judicial Procedure, mediation is an institutional interactional system in which disputing parties negotiate and resolve differences with the help of a third party. Mediation has developed for thousands of years in China as a nation with great emphasis on true peace. Nowadays, institutionalized mediation has become increasingly common and played an important role in conflict resolution and social harmony construction under the pattern of Big Mediation.As an institutional discourse, Court-related Mediation Discourse (CMD) is operated through mediating discourse expression, response and interaction of interacting parties, in order to share its specific dynamic mechanism and realize common recognition. However, compared with Court-related Judicial Discourse, literature concerning the analysis of the dynamic interaction of mediation discourse on micro-level is at its initial stage with limited perceptions and theoretical foundations.Through employing a qualitative micro-analytic approach based on authentic CMD data, this study focuses on the dynamic pattern and strategies as the research subject, establishing a Goal-adaptational theoretical framework of CMD. Through illustrating how mediator facilitates the conflict resolution through language choice-making and speech organization by adapting to participants’ physical, psychological and social mediation spaces with employing a set of strategies, this study aims to interpret the dynamic interactive mechanism of the goal-adaptational interactions of mediation parties from a new perspective.The study examines how mediation participants adapt dynamically to their goal to achieve interest appeals, narrow the difference, expand mutual understanding, and finally encourage arriving at an optimal conflict resolution. It makes a relatively thorough interpretation of mechanism and strategies of CMD, broadening the analyzing scope of institutional discourse, deepening the understanding of mediation interactive pattern. The major findings of the study also share theoretical implications on pragmatic studies of courtroom discourse, which could contribute as a step in establishing a more complete frame of research work in this domain as well as shedding light on practical implications on conflict resolution and the construction of harmonious society apart from judicial practices.