Definitions and Abbreviations for Speech Events and Speaker Attributes

Where will you find these abbreviations?

When using the MICASE Online search, you will see many abbreviations. The chart below explains what each of these codes stands for. You will find these abbreviations primarily in two places:

1. When you conduct a search, the search results will appear in a table. The far left column is the “Transcript ID”. The three letter code tells you which type of speech event the utterance came from. See the tables below for the definition of each code.

2. If you click on the transcript ID, there will be a blue link at the top of the page that says ‘Download entire transcript in XML’. When you view the speech event in XML, you will encounter ‘codes’ at the beginning of every new utterance, that give you more information about who the speaker is. You can see below, that the “Person ID” is followed by a series of codes. See our table below for definitions of those codes.

Speech Event Attributes

Speech Event Types

Classroom Events

NOTE: All classroom speech events are defined externally by the university regardless of the actual speech event characteristics, except in cases where prepared student presentations constitute the majority of the speech, in which case the event type is Student Presentations.

Category	Code	Definition/Comments
SMALL LECTURES	LES	Lecture class; class size = 40 or fewer students
LARGE LECTURES	LEL	Lecture class; class size = more than 40 students
DISCUSSION SECTIONS	DIS	Additional section of a lecture class designed for maximum student participation; may also be called recitation
LAB SECTIONS	LAB	Lab sections of science and engineering classes; may include problem solving sessions
SEMINARS	SEM	Any class defined as a seminar (primarily graduate level)
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS	STP	Class other than a seminar in which one or more students speak in front of the class or lead discussion

Non-class Events

Category	Code	Definition/Comments
ADVISING SESSIONS	ADV	Interactions between students and academic advisors
COLLOQUIA	COL	Departmental or University-wide lectures, panel discussions, workshops, brown bag lunch talks, etc.
DISSERTATION DEFENSES	DEF	Ph.D. theses defenses
INTERVIEWS	INT	Interviews for research purposes
MEETINGS	MTG	Faculty, staff, student government, research group meetings, not including study group meetings
OFFICE HOURS	OFC	Held by faculty or graduate student instructors in connection with a specific class or project
SERVICE ENCOUNTERS	SVC	Library, computer center, financial aid office services
STUDY GROUPS	SGR	Informal student-led study groups, one time or on-going
TOURS	TOU	Campus, library, or museum tours
TUTORIALS	TUT	One-on-one discussions between a student and an instructor or peer tutor

Academic Division

One of four divisions defined according to the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies classification of departments.

Category	Code	Definition/Comments
BIOLOGICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES	BS	Includes Biology, Biochemistry, Dentistry, Genetics, Immunology, Natural Resources, Neuroscience, Nursing, Pathology, Pharmacy, Physiology, Public Health
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING	PS	Includes Astronomy, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering (all), Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Technical Communication
SOCIAL SCIENCES AND EDUCATION	SS	Includes Anthropology, Business Administration, Communication, Economics, Education, History, Public Policy, Political Science, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, Urban and Regional Planning
HUMANITIES AND ARTS	HA	Includes Area Studies (all), Architecture, Classics, Comparative Literature, English, Fine Arts (all), Foreign Languages, History of Art, Information and Library Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, Women’s Studies

Academic Discipline

Corresponds to individual university departments when applicable; otherwise assigned as miscellaneous

Participant Level

Corresponds to the level of the majority of students for classes, or participants for other events.

Category	Code	Definition/Comments
JUNIOR UNDERGRAD	JU	First and second year undergraduates
SENIOR UNDERGRAD	SU	Third year and above undergraduates
MIXED UNDERGRAD	MU	Mixed undergraduates
JUNIOR GRADUATE	JG	First and second year or Master’s level graduate students
SENIOR GRADUATE	SG	Third year and above Ph.D. students
MIXED GRADUATE	MG	Mixed grad students
JUNIOR FACULTY	JF	Lecturers and Assistant Professors
SENIOR FACULTY	SF	Associate Professors and above
MIXED FACULTY	MF	Mixed faculty
RESEARCHER	RE	Non-teaching researchers
POST-DOC FELLOW	PD	Post-doctoral research fellows
STAFF	ST	Non-teaching University employees
VISITOR/OTHER	VO	Non-UM or non-academic affiliates
MIXED	MX	Mixed faculty, staff, students

Primary Discourse Mode

Refers to the predominant type of discourse characterizing the speech event.

Category	Code	Definition/Comments
MONOLOGIC	MLG	One speaker monopolizes the floor, sometimes followed by question and answer period
PANEL	PNL	Several consecutive monologues usually followed by multi-speaker interactions
INTERACTIVE	INT	Interactional discourse involving two or more speakers
MIXED	MIX	No one discourse mode is predominant

Speaker Attributes

Gender

Category	Code
FEMALE	F
MALE	M

Age Group

Category	Code
17 – 23	1
24 – 30	2
31 – 50	3
51 and older	4

Academic Role

Category	Code	Definition/Comments
JUNIOR UNDERGRAD	JU	First and second year undergraduates
SENIOR UNDERGRAD	SU	Third year and above undergraduates
JUNIOR GRADUATE	JG	First and second year or Master’s level graduate students
SENIOR GRADUATE	SG	Third year and above Ph.D. students
JUNIOR FACULTY	JF	Lecturers and Assistant Professors
SENIOR FACULTY	SF	Associate Professors and above
RESEARCHER	RE	Non-teaching researchers
POST-DOC FELLOW	PD	Post-doctoral research fellows
STAFF	ST	Non-teaching University employees
VISITOR/OTHER	VO	Non-University of Michigan affiliates

Native Speaker Status

Category	Code	Definition/Comments
NATIVE SPEAKER	NS	Native speakers of North American English
NATIVE SPEAKER OTHER	NSO	Native speakers of non-American English
NEAR NATIVE SPEAKER	NRN	Non-native speakers who consider English as their current dominant language and who appear to have native-like fluency and grammatical proficiency.
NON-NATIVE SPEAKER	NNS	Non-native speaker of English other than near-native speakers

First Language

Only shown when first language is other than North American English.