Using conversation analysis to identify unresponsiveness in peer interactions in inclusive groups

Background: Previous research regarding unresponsiveness in peer interaction, including participants on the autism spectrum (AS), is mainly based on predefined categorizations of unresponsiveness; thus, there is a need for conversation analytic research to examine unresponsiveness from participants’ perspectives. Method: Multimodal conversation analysis (CA) was applied to examine unresponsiveness in task-focused multiparty peer interactions of an inclusive group, including one participant on the AS. Results: The results showed that it was not meaningful to analyze unresponsiveness in situations where there was no (aligning) response and all participants’ orientations revealed that a response was (not) needed. Instead, participants’ discrepant orientations to the response relevance made unresponsiveness a meaningful issue for participants to negotiate. Discussion/conclusion: The CA approach can be useful for examining unresponsiveness accurately. The combination of both the speaker and recipient(s) orientations to response relevance can be used as a conceptual tool to identify unresponsiveness when it is relevant for the participants.