This presentation outlines and illustrates some of the opportunities and challenges of operationalizing Bakhtinian dialogism in empirically-driven study of (classroom) interaction. In support of harnessing Bakhtinian concepts and conversation analysis (CA) in methodological partnership, some affinities between them are highlighted. Resonance between Bakhtin and CA inheres in, for example, a common perception and explication of social order in human speech as well as an insistence that language can only sensibly and seriously be studied in its situated communicative realization. Dissonance between Bakhtin and CA also exists particularly with regard to emic-etic approaches and interpretive stances. It is suggested that common orientations make a basis for productive partnership possible while divergent interests can complement each’s distinctive contribution.

To illustrate a Bakhtin-CA methodology, examples are taken from a study which uses the Bakhtinian concept of addressivity as lens for inspecting some of the mutual orientations between participants and intricate instructor addressivity work in classroom task instructions. In this environment, student questions set up tensions between the demand to respond to the individual and responsibility to uphold the general instructional agenda. To meet both individual and collective accountabilities, dual addressivity – targeting two or more addressees in response to a student question – proves instructionally crucial.