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Part of
A Pragmatic Agenda for Healthcare: Fostering inclusion and active participation through shared understanding
Edited by Sarah Bigi and Maria Grazia Rossi
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 338] 2023
► pp. 200–226

Chapter 8
Metapragmatics and reflections in support of knowledge transfer and common ground in doctor-patient interaction

| Eötvös Loránd University
| Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics

In doctor-patient interactions, successful knowledge transfer and mutual understanding play a key role. To achieve them, participants need to construct common ground and collaborate jointly on meanings, while also overcoming difficulties arising from asymmetry of knowledge. These processes are often supported by a meta-management of discourse, mainly by the use of metapragmatic reflections. This paper investigates the metapragmatic expressions and meta-comments in 24 doctor-patient interactions, including 4 G.P. consultations, 12 dental appointments and 8 educational videos. The analysis demonstrates that metapragmatic reflections and comments may serve as an important means for the dynamic management of knowledge transfer and common ground in the domains of information, interaction and feelings, and help to adjust attention, negotiate interpretations, and resolve misunderstandings in the consultations.

Keywords: health communication, doctor-patient discourse, metapragmatic expressions, knowledge transfer, construction of common ground
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Metapragmatic reflections and common ground in doctor-patien-interactions
    • 2.1Metapragmatic reflections and the management of discourse
    • 2.2The role of common ground and mutual understanding in succesful communication
    • 2.3Metapramatic reflection, knowledge sharing and common ground in doctor-patient interactions
  • 3.Research material, methods and questions
    • 3.1Data
    • 3.2Defining metapragmatic reflections for annotation
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Content (propositional) information and knowledge
    • 4.2The process and activities of interaction
      • 4.2.1Reflection on actions as interaction management
      • 4.2.2Reflecting on the doctor’s actions
      • 4.2.3Therapy meta-discourse
      • 4.2.4Discourse marker concerning actions (understanding and acceptance)
    • 4.3Emotions and feelings (inner states)
  • 5.Summary
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 17 November 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.338.08kun
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