Institutional interaction is informed by the purpose of visiting the institution, and interaction practices may be highly formalised. Many institutions aim to improve their customer service by working on their customer interaction, and interaction studies can aid institutions in their development.

I have conducted several studies on interaction practices in institutional conversations (doctor’s appointments, visiting the Social Insurance Institution, shopping at a kiosk) and worked with various groups of language users, officials and private sector actors. An analysis of authentic interaction allows us to see what kind of issues cause misunderstandings and how they could be prevented, or what kind of practices customer service personnel have for dealing with an angry customer and what new procedures could be developed.

In the beginning, it was surprising to note how much such things as the physical setup of the interaction space determine which interaction practices will even function. For example, the question of who will feel comfortable initiating the conversation depends on whether the customer, when their number is called, walks to a clerk sitting behind a desk, or whether the clerk approaches the customer to bring them to their office. Likewise, at a kiosk the linguistic structure of the customer’s request is affected by whether the customer is already waiting by the till or still walking towards it.

Findings such as these have demonstrated the fact that to analyse interaction and its language requires a multimodal perspective: a study of the use not only of language but also of bodily actions, various written documents, and other objects (e.g. goods on sale). Attached to our Centre of Excellence is a Finland Distinguished Professor project, funded by the Academy of Finland, entitled Multimodality: through embodiment into language and action. The project is led by Professor Lorenza Mondada, and it is investigating variation in shopping practices across Europe.