Mechanism Of Request-response In Chinese Public Service Calls

Request and response frequently occur in our social life.Most of the previous studies examined request and response based on isolated utterances rather than naturally occurring conversation,with few observations on what really occurs in the course of request and response in real life.In recent years,more and more studies examined request and response in naturally occurring conversation,including ordinary talk and institutional talk.Previous studies of request and response in institutional talk mainly focused on request and response in emergency calls,commercial services and medical encounters.Whereas,there have been few studies of request and response in nonemergency public service calls,in which callers make requests and directors of governmental agencies deliver responses.Directors'inappropriate responses to callers' requests may cause callers' distrust of governmental agencies.The present study,therefore,examines requests and responses in Chinese public service calls to find out how directors deliver responses to callers'requests in appropriate way.The present study aims to explore the mechanism through which callers make requests and call takers deliver responses to callers' requests in Chinese public service calls.Research questions include:(1)How do callers establish the credibility,legitimacy and relevance of their requests to this helpline while making requests?(2)In the series of questions and answers after callers' problem presentations,what is the role of the host and why do callers frequently deliver transformative answers to the host's questions?(3)What responses to callers' requests are delivered by directors of governmental agencies?What is the consequence of each sort of response?The data source of the present study is the audio recordings of 300 telephone calls to a live radio phone-in program,a public helpline set up by the government to solve citizens' problems.Directors of governmental agencies deliver responses to citizens' problems on the phone.Data analysis is focused on the trajectory of requests and responses in this setting.The analysis has been conducted from participants'perspective rather than on the basis of the analyst's intuition.Utterances in conversation have been analyzed in their sequential contexts.Main findings of the present study are as follows.(1)While presenting their problems,callers usually describe their physical access to reported problems to establish the credibility of their problem presentations.Callers attribute their problems to the complained parties' violation of social rules or failure to fulfill their responsibilities,describe consequences of their problems and account of their failed self-help to establish the legitimacy and relevance of reported problems.Callers have high entitlement to make requests when their requests are transparently legitimate,whereas they have low entitlement to make requests when their requests are possibly not legitimate.(2)After callers' problem presentations,the host asks a series of questions to find out the nature of reported problems and callers' stances on reported problems.In most telephone calls,callers deliver transformative answers to emphasize the fundamental point of their requests and enhance the legitimacy and credibility of their requests.(3)Directors' responses are accepted by callers and the host,when directors admit the legitimacy and credibility of callers' requests and provide feasible solutions to callers' problems based on callers' stances and epistemic status.But in many cases,directors fail to do so and their responses are resisted by callers or the host.(4)When callers' resistance is caused by their insufficient understanding of directors' responses or needs for more information,directors provide information that is asked for according to their professional knowledge.When callers'resistance is caused by directors' evasions or directors' failure to provide feasible solutions to callers' problems,the host provides guidance for directors on delivering appropriate responses.When callers' resistance is caused by their uncertainty about whether,when and how their problems will be solved,directors make compromises and allow callers to have control over solutions to reported problems.When callers pursue solutions to their problems after directors' dispreferred responses,directors account for their responses according to relevant laws and institutional policies.(5)The host's resistance mainly occurs after directors' evasions or failure to provide feasible and radical solutions to callers' problems.As a mediator in this helpline,the host identifies callers' stances on reported problems and provides guidance for directors on delivering appropriate responses.The host helps callers and directors to achieve mutual understanding and negotiate about appropriate solutions to callers'problems.Directors follow the host's guidance and find out feasible and radical solutions to callers' problems.These findings have been explained and compared with previous studies to demonstrate main features of this sort of institutional talk.In this public helpline,participants treat all listeners of this program as the recipients of their talk.They not only negotiate about callers' problems but also extend their conversation to other similar problems to provide public services for all citizens.After callers' problem presentations,the host finds out not only the nature of reported problems but also callers,stances on their problems to provide guidance for directors on delivering appropriate responses.The host solves conflicts and misunderstandings between callers and directors and plays the role of a mediator in the negotiation about reported problems.Based on findings of the study,the mechanism of requests and responses in Chinese public service calls has been elaborated.Findings of the present study demonstrate that resistance in most cases of Chinese public service calls is caused by the mismatch between callers,stances and directors5 stances on reported problems and that directors should find out reasonable solutions to callers' problems from both parties' perspectives based on callers' stances,epistemic status and relevant institutional policies.This study explores the mechanism of request and response in Chinese public service calls following the research tradition of conversation analysis.It demonstrates how request and response should be examined systematically in their sequential contexts based on naturally occurring conversation rather than invented examples or isolated utterances.Since this is an empirical study of request and response in public service calls,findings of this study may provide implications for directors of governmental agencies about delivering appropriate responses to citizens' problems.While delivering responses to citizens' requests,directors should eliminate callers'concerns and misunderstandings,take callers' epistemic status into consideration,avoid evasions,find out radical solutions to reported problems as managers and allow citizens to have control over solutions to their problems.Appropriate responses to citizens' problems may help to build up harmonious relationship between citizens and governmental agencies.