Articulating tacit knowledge through analyses of recordings: Implications for competency assessment in the vocational education and training sector

Abstract

In this chapter I argue that there are oral communication competencies that workers have developed and use to effect in their everyday practices but which have not been articulated and thus are not recognised in assessment measures related to training packages. The analysis of recordings of the talk used in authentic tasks, through which such competencies are made visible, can offer one way to ensure that such competencies become not only available for assessment but also available for formal recognition and credit for trainee employees. Conversation analysis, a broad term that includes the analysis of a range of types of talk, has rarely been used for this purpose and I argue that its application within the vocational education and training sector would increase the repertoire of trainers' and teachers' assessment methods in a valuable way. For readers outside this particular educational sector, however, the analyses of talk that enacts specific practices may also be a worthwhile addition to their pedagogical repertoire. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.