Situation management in the Oprah Winfrey show : a discourse analysis perspective

Abstract EN

Live talk show interviews are considered to be more spontaneous than the recorded ones.

They are closer to every day conversation in which a person uses in interacting with others.

Within these interviews, various opinions are given, and each party tries to win his/her opinion.

This battle of opinions requires special attention and strategies to manage the situation in order for the best situation manager to win his/her goals.

The main techniques to be used are situation management strategies (S).

They are of twelve types, each one is used for a purpose (begin a discourse, questioning, prevent goal abandonment…etc.

).

This study is a textual one since it analyzes strategies used through texts.

This study aims at investigating the different types of situation management strategies as they are used in the social context.

It aims at investigating the different usage of strategies by the host, guests, and audience.

To achieve these aims, the study hypothesizes that interviewers use certain strategies more than interviewees and vice versa.

In this study, one model is adopted, it is De Beaugrande and Dressler's model of situation management strategies (1981) It is applied to one interview extracted from "The Oprah Winfrey Show".

Furthermore, a statistical analysis is made, in both qualitative and quantitive ways introducing a general and detailed ways of analysis to clarify the findings.

It is concluded that there is a relation between situation management strategies in the Oprah Winfrey Show; and interviewers use certain types of strategies more than interviewees, and vice a versa.