“A therapy agreement” between a bilingual speech therapist and a bilingual child: their interaction in the perspective of conversation and thematic analysis

Rafał Młyński

Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9069-0612


Abstract

In literature of the subject, the issue discussed in the article is associated with the concept of clinical discourse. The study examines, among other matters, conversations between speech therapists and their patients/clients conducted mainly during therapeutic procedures. The focus is on ‘small talk’ conversations. They include linguistic ways of creating a therapeutic bond, i.e. a relationship between the speech therapist and the patient/client based on understanding and trust. The presented study also addresses this issue as seen from the perspective of conversations before and during speech therapy
diagnosis. The study involved bilingual people, i.e. a Polish-American speech therapist
and children from the Polish diaspora. Their conversations were scrutinised using
conversation and thematic analysis. The use of these methodologies helped to demonstrate
micro-strategies and conversation topics that occurred during the speech therapist’s
conversations with the children. The influence of bilingualism on the contact between
them was also considered.


Keywords:

bilingualism, speech-language therapy, therapeutic agreement, conversation analysis, thematic analysis, clinical discourse


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Published
2025-12-11

Cited by

Młyński, R. (2025). “A therapy agreement” between a bilingual speech therapist and a bilingual child: their interaction in the perspective of conversation and thematic analysis. Papers in Linguistics, 27(4), 147–164. https://doi.org/10.31648/pj.11844

Rafał Młyński 
Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9069-0612