Paraphrasing in Conversations of People with Aphasia and Communication Partners

Author

Kate Howard, Fontbonne University

Year of Award

2014

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

College

College of Education & Allied Health

Department

Communication Disorders and Deaf Education

First Advisor

Carmen Russell

Second Advisor

Lynne Shields

Third Advisor

Gale Rice

Keywords

communication, strategy, breakdown, compensatory, interactions

Abstract

The focus of this project was paraphrasing as a communication strategy in conversations of people with aphasia and their communication partners. Because aphasia can significantly impact a person's ability to effectively communicate, training the person with aphasia and their communication partner(s) to use strategies to repair breakdowns can be an appropriate focus for speech therapy. Paraphrasing, or providing an utterance with the same meaning as a previously stated utterance (Fromkin, Rodman, and Hyams, 2003), is the communication strategy of interest in this project. Three conversations between a person with aphasia and one to two communication partners were transcribed using conversation analysis (Hutchby and Wooffitt, 2008). Paraphrasing was identified by the author all three conversation samples. The success of each paraphrase was determined based on whether or not repair work successfully concluded following the paraphrase and furthermore, each paraphrase was described based on communicative function. Overall, data collected from the conversation analyses support training paraphrasing as a communication strategy for people with aphasia and for their communication partners. Finally, indications regarding type of paraphrase and appropriate candidates for training paraphrasing are discussed.

Document Type

Restricted Thesis

Recommended Citation

Howard, Kate, "Paraphrasing in Conversations of People with Aphasia and Communication Partners" (2014). All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects. 96.
https://griffinshare.fontbonne.edu/all-etds/96