Verbal encounters: rapport management in the construction of image

Abstract

One way to access disciplinary knowledge in the academia is by means of study groups. This kind of interaction, in the context of an agenda defined by the nature of the task, involves the spread of resources of interrelational nature aiming to the co-construction of meaning. This negotiation adds to the construction of disciplinary knowledge as well as to the discursive image within the group. In this article we intend to describe some of the strategies of rapport management carried out within study groups. We use a microanalysis that accounts for the identification of linguistic resources selected by participants of verbal encounters in order to accomplish personal and collective aims. From a total of 12 verbal encounters, which total 24 hours of video recording, we have selected three episodes from one of these encounters. By applying a qualitative methodology, the data depict that both a positive (polite) and negative (impolite) rapport management can lead to the achievement of individual and collective aims.