In this paper, we examine spoken and written language use at a Belgian company, focusing on the ways in which information is de/recontextualized (Park & Bucholtz, 2009) throughout the company's performance appraisal process as information travels discursively from text to talk and back to text. The interview is a key interaction in the appraisal process, where the topics of discussion are based on a preparatory document and the discussion itself is noted down in the form of a report. As such, the full process can be considered a 'discursive pathway of linked speech events' (Wortham & Reyes, 2015) structured around the interview. Previous research on this type of encounter has shown that written texts permeate and shape the spoken interaction in significant ways (Van De Mieroop & Carranza, 2018; Van De Mieroop & Vrolix, 2014). However, little is known about the specific processes of discursive change that occur from text to talk and talk to text throughout the performance appraisal process.
The dataset consists of (i) 16 video-recorded performance appraisal interviews between managers and sales agents, (ii) two versions of the evaluation form for each interview: the filled out version that is used as preparation for the interview, and the finalized version which is completed after the interview, and (iii) two follow-up research interviews with the managers about the performance appraisal interviews and process to contextualize the dataset with their emic perspective. Our analysis focuses on two things: the transformation of information as it moves from written to spoken mode and spoken to written mode and the discursive changes (e.g. selection, deletion, summary, addition, substitution) this involves, i.e. the practices of reporting, and the reasons why the discursive transformations occur, i.e. the norms of reporting. In latter case, our analysis topicalizes the (institutional) power and authority of the different interlocutors involved in the appraisal process as differentiated between the spoken and written discursive events, as well as the ways in which the identity of the 'model employee' (Van De Mieroop & Schnurr, 2017) is interactionally (co-)constructed and subsequently codified in written form. As such, our paper aims to shed light on the complex discursive mechanisms at play in the corporate categorization of employee assessment throughout the performance appraisal process.
Park, J.S.Y., & Bucholtz, M. (2009). Public transcripts: Entextualization and linguistic representation in institutional contexts. Text & Talk, 29(5), 485-502.
Van De Mieroop, D., & Vrolix, E. (2014). A discourse analytical perspective on the professionalization of the performance appraisal interview. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(2), 159-182.
Van De Mieroop, D., & Carranza, I.E. (2018). The interactional ventriloquization of written records in the service of authority. International Review of Pragmatics, 10, 1-28.
Van De Mieroop, D., & Schnurr, S. (2017). 'Doing evaluation' in the modern workplace: Negotiating the identity of 'model employee' in performance appraisal interviews. In J. Angouri, M. Marra & J. Holmes (Eds.), Negotiating Boundaries at Work (pp. 87-109). Edinburgh University Press.
Wortham, S., & Reyes, A. (2015). Discourse analysis beyond the speech event. Routledge.
