A Socio-cognitive Study Of Stance-Taking Features In College Students' Interactive Discourse

Using the methodological framework of conversational analysis as a central tool for analysis,based on Du Bois' s stance-taking triangle theory,the present study investigated stance-taking and its related linguistic practices in college students' interactive discourse.It was aimed at summarizing stance-taking features in context,in terms of distribution features and discourse features,and exploring their socio-cognitive causes and socio-cognitive nature from the socio-cognitive perspective.This present study achieved a number of important findings.First,four evident kinds of stance-taking were found in college students' interactive discourse: epistemic stance,alignment stance,evaluative stance and affective stance.Secondly,the respective features and their socio-cognitive causes and nature were also explored.In respect of distribution feature of epistemic stance,four types were found to frequently occur in college students' interactions.Ranked from high to low in terms of frequency,they were expressing directly,using epistemic stance marker,using modal adverbs,citing the epistemic stance of the third party.Discourse features of epistemic stance include epistemic stance markers,citation,modal adverbs and expressing directly.This study found that the egocentrism and cooperation in socio-cognition were the possible aspects that contributed to the features of epistemic stance-taking.The nature of the epistemic stance-taking in college students' interaction is social identity construction and common ground construction.In respect of distribution feature of alignment stance,this study found that alignment stance exists two types: alignment stance and disalignment stance.Alignment stance occupied the largest percentages.Discourse features of alignment stance include pragmatic markers,syntax and non-verbal.This study also found that the cooperation resulted by social factors in socio-cognition were the possible aspects that contributed to the high frequency of alignment stance and specific Chinese social and cultural background in socio-cognition were the possible aspects that contributed to the disalignment stance.The nature of the alignment stance-taking is the process of critical thinking and establishment of harmonious social relationship.In respect of distribution feature of evaluative stance,evaluative exist two types: negative evaluative stance and positive evaluative stance.The highest proportion is negative evaluative stance type.Discourse features of evaluative stance include vocabulary: adjective,noun,verb and adverb.The highest proportion of negative type in the evaluative stance-taking in this study is caused by social and interactive contexts.The natures of evaluative stance are personal evaluation expression and value identification.In respect of distribution feature of affective stance,affective stance exists two types: negative affective stance and positive affective stance.The highest proportion is negative affective stance type.Discourse features of affective stance include vocabulary: positive emotion word and negative emotion word.The highest proportion of negative type in the affective stance-taking in this study is also caused by social and interactive contexts.The natures of affective stance are personal emotion expression and resonance trigger.This study concluded that analysis of stance-taking features within the framework of socio-cognition facilitates the exploration of the nature of stance-taking and promotes the better understanding of relationship among individual cognition,society and culture in the process of stance-taking.The results of this study have different implications for the research of stance-taking in Chinese.This study finally summarized the major findings,as well as pointed out the limitation of this study and presented some suggestions for further study.