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Use of inscribed objects in roleplay training sessions at a Japanese insurance company

  • Koyuki Mitani EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 28, 2025

Abstract

This study examines how trainers at a Japanese insurance company use inscribed objects (insurance brochures) during roleplay training sessions to instruct novice agents in professional sales practices. Roleplay training is widely employed across professional settings to prepare novices for institutional interactions, yet studies have focused primarily on talk, leaving the use of objects largely unexplored. Using multimodal conversation analysis, this research addresses this gap by investigating how trainers instruct novice agents in the use of institutional objects through dual framing of roleplays. The analyses demonstrate how trainers simultaneously maintain two interactional frames: a roleplay frame where participants enact customer – agent categories through category – bound activities, and a training frame where trainer – trainee identities become relevant through instructional actions. The analysis reveals two key instructional actions accomplished through dual framing with brochures: assisting and correcting trainees’ roleplay performances. These findings contribute to institutional interaction studies by illuminating how professional competence with task – essential inscribed objects is instructed through dual framing that enables situated instruction tailored to trainees’ immediate performances without disrupting the sequential organization of roleplay interactions.


Corresponding author: Koyuki Mitani, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, USA, E-mail:

Appendices

Appendix A: Transcription notations

Glossing conventions

CP

Various forms of copula verb

IP

Interactional particle

LK

Nominal linking particle

N

Nominalizer

Q

Question particle

QT

Quotative particle

S

Subject particle

TP

Topic particle

Special conventions for representing embodiment and textual objects

+

Descriptions of embodied conducts

GZ

Gaze

B

Both

L/R

Left/Right

IF

Index Finger

H

Hand

w/

with

twd

toward

BRC

Insurance Brochure

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Received: 2024-11-29
Accepted: 2025-06-03
Published Online: 2025-07-28

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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