Rebuff 01

You want to do a thesis on what?
Talk.
Just that? Talk?
Mm.
Quite a broad topic, talk.
Thought you might help me narrow it down a bit.
Well. He taps a pencil on the desk. There’s teacher talk, student talk, baby talk, language learning. We do that here. In this department. We ARE after all in education. But just… talk. That’s Sociology.
I was thinking of something outside pedagogy. Like the structure of conversation. Something teachable, in the end.
Hmm. You mean turn-taking, conversational management. That sort of thing?
Probably involve that, yes. I’m interested, you know, particularly in what makes a successful conversation.
His eyes go steel blue, unblinking, behind the glasses. Woolly issue. Stay with pedagogy, I say. Questionnaire, OK. Text, OK. Stats OK. I can help with that. Don’t feel confident with an airy-fairy qualitative study.