The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 14(1). This study examines how asymmetry is produced in medical interviews as institutional interaction. In medical interaction, there are two primary asymmetries caused by status and power differences: the asymmetry of knowledge and the asymmetry of tasks between participants. For this research, dialogues between a doctor and his patients were investigated. In terms of analysis, this paper identifies five functional stages into which the procedures of a medical interview are arranged: opening, examination, diagnosis, prescription, and closing. As a result, two distinct exchanges were found: the question-answer sequence and the directive-response sequence. First, initiation of each sequence was conducted mainly by the doctor at each stage. A distinctive feature of the exchange was that the doctor's questions at the introduction stage did not have any special purpose but were just an automatic courtesy greeting. The doctor's initiations were usually followed by the patient's response without any interruption. Second, the directive-response sequence was the most distinct phenomenon at the prescription stage. Two different forms of directives were used: warning and advising. The doctor's directives had two functions. The first function was to maintain the doctor's institutional authority and the second was to gain patient compliance with the doctor's directives.

Jin, Jae-hee. 2006. A Study of the Institutional Talk Characteristics of the Medical Interview in Terms of Functional Stages. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 14(1). This study examines how asymmetry is produced in medical interviews as institutional interaction. In medical interaction, there are two primary asymmetries caused by status and power differences: the asymmetry of knowledge and the asymmetry of tasks between participants. For this research, dialogues between a doctor and his patients were investigated. In terms of analysis, this paper identifies five functional stages into which the procedures of a medical interview are arranged: opening, examination, diagnosis, prescription, and closing. As a result, two distinct exchanges were found: the question-answer sequence and the directive-response sequence. First, initiation of each sequence was conducted mainly by the doctor at each stage. A distinctive feature of the exchange was that the doctor's questions at the introduction stage did not have any special purpose but were just an automatic courtesy greeting. The doctor's initiations were usually followed by the patient's response without any interruption. Second, the directive-response sequence was the most distinct phenomenon at the prescription stage. Two different forms of directives were used: warning and advising. The doctor's directives had two functions. The first function was to maintain the doctor's institutional authority and the second was to gain patient compliance with the doctor's directives.

Jin, Jae-Hee. 2004. Aspects of Teacher-centered Communication in Conversations between Teachers and Learners in the Korean Language Classroom. Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea, 12(2). This paper examines how and why asymmetrical relationships are constituted through verbal interactions between teachers and students in the Korean language classroom. According to van Dijk (1989), 'power' in institutions such as hospitals or classrooms is best conceptualized as ‘group power asymmetrical relations’ between groups. As is the case for institutional members, members of dominant groups may derive their individually exercised power from the overall power of the group to which they belong. Speakers often possess an institutional role and their conversations are backed by the power or authority of the institution. From this perspective, this paper examines how power is being exerted and assigned in conversations between teachers and students in the Korean classroom. First, this research examined if the turns at talk for the participants (teacher and students) were equally distributed. The results showed that the teacher took about 50% of the total turns at talk, which is about eight times as many turns taken by each student. This indicates that the flow of classroom conversation starts from the teacher, or in other words, is teacher-centered communication. Second, this research considered inequality that occurs during problem solving meaning negotiation. Research results also showed that in 165 negotiated exchanges, over 85% were initiated by the teacher, which underscores the extremely asymmetrical instigation of conversation in Korean language classrooms. Student deficiencies in fluency and initiation, teacher questioning methodology and dialogue guidance, the teacher's almost exclusive right to choose the topic, the excessive adaptation of students to the classroom environment as well as the nationality of students were all factors contributing to this phenomenon.