A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics

Zhongtang Wei

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11

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A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics

Zhongtang Wei

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 9, Issue 5)

Received: 17 August 2021 Accepted: 9 September 2021 Published: 23 September 2021

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Abstract

Conversational strategies are the techniques that help speakers to maintain conversations going smoothly and to achieve the communicative goals. Via adopting the method of fieldwork and empirical research to collect authentic country doctor-patient conversations and making qualitative analysis with basic quantitative analysis as supplement, this study probed into the conversational strategies implemented by Chinese country doctors in communicating with their patients and furthermore, explored the social psychological functions and effects of each conversational strategy. Via collecting and analyzing 217 conversations between 10 Chinese country doctors aged from 35 to 45 with 217 patients, the author found that 12 conversational strategies were employed by Chinese country doctors to help their patients be more cooperative in the process of diagnosis and more positive and active to the treatment, which were greeting, enquiry, instruction in diagnosis, data display, assertion, instruction after diagnosis, explanation, comparison, comforting, praise, warning, and kinship address. Moreover, instruction in diagnosis consists of two kinds which are direct instruction and instruction with request. Instruction after diagnosis consists of three types which are simple instruction, instruction with negation, and instruction with consultation. Explanation consists of four different ways which are explanation with medical knowledge, explanation with government policy, explanation with patient’s behavior, and explanation with slang. Comparison consists of two parts which are vertical comparison and horizontal comparison, and horizontal comparison is further divided into two kinds which are upward comparison and downward comparison. Additionally, different conversational strategies observed or violated different maxims of politeness principle and thus, caused different topical and social psychological functions and effects on patients and thus, help them be more cooperative and positive.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 9, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11
Page(s)	233-246
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Conversational Strategy, Doctor-Patient Conversation, Chinese Country Doctor, Social Psychological Pragmatics

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Zhongtang Wei. (2021). A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(5), 233-246. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11

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Zhongtang Wei. A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2021, 9(5), 233-246. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11

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AMA Style

Zhongtang Wei. A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics. Int J Lang Linguist. 2021;9(5):233-246. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11,
  author = {Zhongtang Wei},
  title = {A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {9},
  number = {5},
  pages = {233-246},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20210905.11},
  abstract = {Conversational strategies are the techniques that help speakers to maintain conversations going smoothly and to achieve the communicative goals. Via adopting the method of fieldwork and empirical research to collect authentic country doctor-patient conversations and making qualitative analysis with basic quantitative analysis as supplement, this study probed into the conversational strategies implemented by Chinese country doctors in communicating with their patients and furthermore, explored the social psychological functions and effects of each conversational strategy. Via collecting and analyzing 217 conversations between 10 Chinese country doctors aged from 35 to 45 with 217 patients, the author found that 12 conversational strategies were employed by Chinese country doctors to help their patients be more cooperative in the process of diagnosis and more positive and active to the treatment, which were greeting, enquiry, instruction in diagnosis, data display, assertion, instruction after diagnosis, explanation, comparison, comforting, praise, warning, and kinship address. Moreover, instruction in diagnosis consists of two kinds which are direct instruction and instruction with request. Instruction after diagnosis consists of three types which are simple instruction, instruction with negation, and instruction with consultation. Explanation consists of four different ways which are explanation with medical knowledge, explanation with government policy, explanation with patient’s behavior, and explanation with slang. Comparison consists of two parts which are vertical comparison and horizontal comparison, and horizontal comparison is further divided into two kinds which are upward comparison and downward comparison. Additionally, different conversational strategies observed or violated different maxims of politeness principle and thus, caused different topical and social psychological functions and effects on patients and thus, help them be more cooperative and positive.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics
AU  - Zhongtang Wei
Y1  - 2021/09/23
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 233
EP  - 246
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11
AB  - Conversational strategies are the techniques that help speakers to maintain conversations going smoothly and to achieve the communicative goals. Via adopting the method of fieldwork and empirical research to collect authentic country doctor-patient conversations and making qualitative analysis with basic quantitative analysis as supplement, this study probed into the conversational strategies implemented by Chinese country doctors in communicating with their patients and furthermore, explored the social psychological functions and effects of each conversational strategy. Via collecting and analyzing 217 conversations between 10 Chinese country doctors aged from 35 to 45 with 217 patients, the author found that 12 conversational strategies were employed by Chinese country doctors to help their patients be more cooperative in the process of diagnosis and more positive and active to the treatment, which were greeting, enquiry, instruction in diagnosis, data display, assertion, instruction after diagnosis, explanation, comparison, comforting, praise, warning, and kinship address. Moreover, instruction in diagnosis consists of two kinds which are direct instruction and instruction with request. Instruction after diagnosis consists of three types which are simple instruction, instruction with negation, and instruction with consultation. Explanation consists of four different ways which are explanation with medical knowledge, explanation with government policy, explanation with patient’s behavior, and explanation with slang. Comparison consists of two parts which are vertical comparison and horizontal comparison, and horizontal comparison is further divided into two kinds which are upward comparison and downward comparison. Additionally, different conversational strategies observed or violated different maxims of politeness principle and thus, caused different topical and social psychological functions and effects on patients and thus, help them be more cooperative and positive.
VL  - 9
IS  - 5
ER  -

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Author Information

Zhongtang Wei

School of Foreign Languages, Qilu Normal University, Jinan, China

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Zhongtang Wei. (2021). A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(5), 233-246. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11

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ACS Style

Zhongtang Wei. A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2021, 9(5), 233-246. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11

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AMA Style

Zhongtang Wei. A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics. Int J Lang Linguist. 2021;9(5):233-246. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11,
  author = {Zhongtang Wei},
  title = {A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {9},
  number = {5},
  pages = {233-246},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20210905.11},
  abstract = {Conversational strategies are the techniques that help speakers to maintain conversations going smoothly and to achieve the communicative goals. Via adopting the method of fieldwork and empirical research to collect authentic country doctor-patient conversations and making qualitative analysis with basic quantitative analysis as supplement, this study probed into the conversational strategies implemented by Chinese country doctors in communicating with their patients and furthermore, explored the social psychological functions and effects of each conversational strategy. Via collecting and analyzing 217 conversations between 10 Chinese country doctors aged from 35 to 45 with 217 patients, the author found that 12 conversational strategies were employed by Chinese country doctors to help their patients be more cooperative in the process of diagnosis and more positive and active to the treatment, which were greeting, enquiry, instruction in diagnosis, data display, assertion, instruction after diagnosis, explanation, comparison, comforting, praise, warning, and kinship address. Moreover, instruction in diagnosis consists of two kinds which are direct instruction and instruction with request. Instruction after diagnosis consists of three types which are simple instruction, instruction with negation, and instruction with consultation. Explanation consists of four different ways which are explanation with medical knowledge, explanation with government policy, explanation with patient’s behavior, and explanation with slang. Comparison consists of two parts which are vertical comparison and horizontal comparison, and horizontal comparison is further divided into two kinds which are upward comparison and downward comparison. Additionally, different conversational strategies observed or violated different maxims of politeness principle and thus, caused different topical and social psychological functions and effects on patients and thus, help them be more cooperative and positive.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Study on Conversational Strategies of Chinese Country Doctors with Their Patients from the Perspective of Social Psychological Pragmatics
AU  - Zhongtang Wei
Y1  - 2021/09/23
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 233
EP  - 246
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210905.11
AB  - Conversational strategies are the techniques that help speakers to maintain conversations going smoothly and to achieve the communicative goals. Via adopting the method of fieldwork and empirical research to collect authentic country doctor-patient conversations and making qualitative analysis with basic quantitative analysis as supplement, this study probed into the conversational strategies implemented by Chinese country doctors in communicating with their patients and furthermore, explored the social psychological functions and effects of each conversational strategy. Via collecting and analyzing 217 conversations between 10 Chinese country doctors aged from 35 to 45 with 217 patients, the author found that 12 conversational strategies were employed by Chinese country doctors to help their patients be more cooperative in the process of diagnosis and more positive and active to the treatment, which were greeting, enquiry, instruction in diagnosis, data display, assertion, instruction after diagnosis, explanation, comparison, comforting, praise, warning, and kinship address. Moreover, instruction in diagnosis consists of two kinds which are direct instruction and instruction with request. Instruction after diagnosis consists of three types which are simple instruction, instruction with negation, and instruction with consultation. Explanation consists of four different ways which are explanation with medical knowledge, explanation with government policy, explanation with patient’s behavior, and explanation with slang. Comparison consists of two parts which are vertical comparison and horizontal comparison, and horizontal comparison is further divided into two kinds which are upward comparison and downward comparison. Additionally, different conversational strategies observed or violated different maxims of politeness principle and thus, caused different topical and social psychological functions and effects on patients and thus, help them be more cooperative and positive.
VL  - 9
IS  - 5
ER  -

Copy | Download