Representation

Me: What does your job involve?
Ellie: I'm a waitress
Charlie: Are you very good with customers?
Ellie: I am
Me: Do you get tips?

...

Charlie: What did your job at Diesel involve?
Des: Jeans.
Me: Did you sell many jeans?
Des: Yes
Ellie:How did that go?
Des: It was great.
Charlie: Can you tell anyone their jean size?
Des: yeah

...

This transcript of our conversation in lesson opposes Zimmerman and West's dominance theory. The girls seem to be asking questions and leading the conversation. I start the conversation by asking an interrogative to Ellie. After she replies Charlie continues to ask another. This shows women being dominant in a conversation as Des, the only male in our group, did not interrupt or take over the conversation. However the girls in the group are more comfortable around each other and this may have contributed to how we interacted with each other. By asking questions quickly after Ellie had answered may seem as though Charlie and I are using constraints to reduce Ellie's airtime, However this was not the case we were trying to keep the conversation flowing.

In the second part of the transcript we can see the interaction between three females and a male which clearly does not support the dominance theory. The females hold dominance through the conversation by asking interrogatives in latched talk so that the conversation is rapid without hesitation. The interrogatives are asked so quickly after Des' answers we could have been interrupting him which is the opposite of stereotypical mixed gender conversations. This may be because there are more females. The interrogatives we were asking did show an interest in what others had to say as we asked questions about their occupation,