Some Consequences of Deep Interruption in Task-Oriented Communication

Abstract

This research investigates the consequences of deep interruption in task-oriented communication in terms of subsequent turn-taking and listeners' evaluations of deep interrupters. In the first part of the investigation, 116 incidents of deep interruption in small group communication were studied. Although the majority of deep interruptions were unsuccessful in the first attempt, interruptors eventually succeeded in securing the next turn-at-talk significantly more often than not. In the second part of the investigation, 369 respondents from undergraduate speech communication courses watched videotaped interactions between either mixed-or same-sex dyads. A sample of the interactions included two deep interruptions by one speaker of another; the balance did not. Results indicated that interrupters were perceived to be more dynamic, yet less generally attractive, and less appropriate in their communication behaviour, than those they interrupted. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for further research of deep interruption in communication, are discussed.