Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
1989
Thesis Director
Douglas Bock
Abstract
This study examined various types of opening lines that college students use with strangers in classrooms and social settings. An opening line was defined as the initial turn of the conversational sequence. The responses received by the students, through an open-ended survey, were analyzed and categorized using content analysis. The results revealed many similarities among the two settings in eight pre-established categories and three new categories except for in one of the newest categories. The social setting in one of the newest categories received more sarcastic conversational sequences than the classroom. This study provides examples pertaining to many opening lines for further analysis.
Recommended Citation
Hutcheson, Julie E., "Opening Lines in Classroom and Social Settings: A Study of the Initiator's First Conversational Sequence" (1989). Masters Theses. 2527.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/2527
