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THE USE OF SILENCES/PAUSES IN SYNCHRONOUS VOICE-BASED COMPUTER- MEDIATED CONVERSATION: A CONVERSATION ANALYSIS PERSPECTIVE

This paper aims to investigate how participants from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds use silence/pauses in synchronous voice-based computer-mediated communication (SVCMC). Conversations were recorded from a Skypecast chatroom (see Jenks 2009a). The recorded data were transcribed and then analysed by the author using Conversation Analysis (CA). Analysis of data revealed that pauses are used (1) to afford selected speakers an opportunity to display alignment after being engaged by the first speaker in the first pair part turn, (2) as a source of interactional pressure, (3) to look for a suitable response, (4) to help to build coherence, (5) to help to get attention, and (6) to signal a dispreferred response. Possible pedagogical implications for teaching and learning in a CMC medium, in general, and for using pauses in the SVCMC medium, in particular, are discussed.