Doing “okay”: On the multiple metrics of an assessment
Abstract
This article examines “okay” deployed as an assessment of student performance in parent–teacher conference interactions. By elucidating what is being done by a speaker who terms a student’s performance “okay” and a recipient who accepts or resists it so termed, this investigation shows “okay” to be directly and overtly rele- vant to and for the parties and the activities in which they are engaged. Data drawn from 35 videotaped and audiotaped conferences are presented to demonstrate that “okay” participates as a value in two distinct metrics of assessment—one binary, one gradated. Analysis reveals parties’ organized, systematic means of recognizing which metric is being made relevant in and through their talk on a local, moment-by- moment basis. By interactionally situating “okay” as a value within a binary or gradated metric, parties imbue it with a locally calibrated valence that can directly impact the social and educational lives of children.
Department
Communication, Sociology
Publication Date
Fall 2003
Journal Title
Research on Language and Social Interaction
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Pillet-Shore, Danielle. (2003). Doing “okay”: On the multiple metrics of an assessment. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 36(3), 285-319.