Paul Svongoro
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of the Western Cape
Patson Kufakunesu
Languages, Literature and Culture, University of Zimbabwe
Transcription is a crucial tool in language research, particularly in discourse analysis, as it provides a distillation of real-time interactions. In the 21st century, researchers are increasingly interested in studying authentic data samples, such as audio-recorded court hearings, to turn evanescent speech into readable and analysable formats. However, transcription involves a complex process of theoretical or methodological issues about language, making it a rich source of examinable data. Researchers need to develop adequate methodologies to make such data available for their research endeavours. This exploratory research presents transcription as a methodology for researchers interested in language and ethnographic methods, addressing critical considerations such as the data to be transcribed, the transcriber responsible, and how to represent it. The paper explores innovations in transcription and presents the benefits and challenges of transcription as a methodology, particularly in language research.
Bailey J (2008). First steps in qualitative data analysis: Transcribing. Family Practice 25(2): 127-131. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmn003
Bolden GB (2015). Transcribing as research: “Manual” transcription and conversation analysis. Research on Language and Social Interaction 48(3): 276-280. doi: 10.1080/08351813.2015.1058603
Cassel C, Bishop V (2019). Qualitative data analysis: Exploring themes, metaphors and stories. European Management Research 16(1): 195-207. doi: 10.1111/emre.12176
Cencini M, Aston G (2002). Resurrecting the Corp (us/se): Towards an encoding standard for interpreting data. In: Proceedings of the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities.
Davidson C (2009). Transcription: Imperatives for qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 8(2): 35-52. doi: 10.1177/160940690900800206
Du Bois JW (1991). Transcription Design Principles for Spoken Discourse Research. Pragmatics.
Du Bois JW, Schuetze-Coburn S, Cumming S, Danae P (1993). Outline of discourse transcription. In: Edwards JA, Lampert MD (editors). Talking Data: Transcription and Coding in Discourse Research. Erlbaum. pp. 45-89.
Duranti A, Goodwin C (1992). Rethinking context: An introduction. In: Duranti A, Goodwin C (editors). Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1-42.
Duranti A (2006). Transcripts, like shadows on a wall. Mind, Culture and Activity 13(4): 301-310. doi: 10.1207/s15327884mca1304_3
Edwards JA (2003). The transcription of discourse. In: Schiffrin D, Tannen D, Hamilton HE (editors). Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Blackwell.
Express Scribe (2019). How to transcribe audio for free with express scribe. Available online: https://www.nchsoftware.com/howto/how_to_transcribe_audio-for_free (accessed on 27 March 2023).
Ehlich K (1992). A transcription system for discourse data. In: Edwards JA, Lampert MD (editors). Talking Data: Transcription and Coding in Discourse Research. Erlbaum. pp. 123-148.
Francis G, Holloway J (2007). What have we learned? Themes from the literature on best-practice benchmarking. International Journal of Management Reviews 9(3): 171-189. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2370.2007.00204.x
Hepburn A, Bolden GB (2013). The conversation analytic approach to transcription. In: Sidnell J, Stivers T (editors). The Handbook of Conversation Analysis. Blackwell. pp. 57-76.
Jefferson G (1996). A case of transcriptional stereotyping. Journal of Pragmatics 26(2): 159-170. doi: 10.1016/0378-2166(96)00010-0
Jefferson G (2002) Is “no” an acknowledgement token? Comparing American and British uses of (+)/(−) tokens. Journal of Pragmatics 34(10-11): 1345-1383. doi: 10.1016/s0378-2166(02)00067-x
Jefferson G (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an Introduction. In: Lerner GH (editor). Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation. John Benjamins. pp. 13-23.
Jenks CJ (2011). Transcribing Talk and Interaction: Issues in the Representation of Communication Data. John Benjamins.
Mishler E (1991). Representing discourse: The rhetoric of transcription. Journal of Narrative and Life History 1(4): 255-280. doi: 10.1075/jnlh.1.4.01rep
Mishler E (1995). Models of narrative analysis: A typology. Journal of Narrative and Life History 5(2): 87-123. doi: 10.1075/jnlh.5.2.01mod
Mondada L (2007). Multimodal resources for turn-taking: pointing and the emergence of possible next speakers. Discourse Studies 9(2): 194-225. doi: 10.1177/1461445607075346
Mondada L (2012). Coordinating action and talk-in-interaction in and out of video games. In: Ruth A, Cornelia G (editors). The Appropriation of Media in Everyday Life. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins. pp. 231-270.
Niemants N (2012). The transcription of interpreting data. Interpreting 14(2):165-191. doi: 10.1075/intp.14.2.03nie
NCH Software (n.d.) Available online: https://www.nch.com.au/scribe/ (accessed on 27 March 2023).
Ochs E (1979). Transcription as theory. In: Ochs E, Schieffelin B (editors). Developmental Pragmatics. Academic Press. pp. 43-72.
Point S, Baruch Y (2023). (Re)thinking transcription strategies: Current challenges and future research directions. Scandinavian Journal of Management 39(2): 101272. doi: 10.1016/j.scaman.2023.101272
Saunders MNK, Townsend K (2016). Reporting and justifying the number of interview participants in organizational and workplace research. British Journal of Management 27(4): 836-852. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12182
Copyright © 2023 Paul Svongoro, Patson Kufakunesu
This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
