This study explores the management of conversational floor in adult-learner classrooms by describing topic transitions in recorded data from six instructors at one technical college in the Midwest. The analyzed data shows that a classroom on its face participates in the characteristics of what conversational analysts label a ;;singly-developed floor.;; This is a floor in which one speaker controls the conversation. However, the data also show traces of collaboration. These may suggest that the classroom -- specifically the adult-learner classroom but perhaps also classrooms in general -- is not primarily a singly-developed floor but may be either more of a ;;collaboratively-developed floor;; or even a hybrid of the two. The evidence of collaboration takes the form of specific word choices in managing various types of topic shifts (;;I;; messages) and thematic references to time management. The analysis of the data that follows will describe the topic shifts, noting issues relevant to both the singly-and collaboratively-developed floor models and arguing for the hybridity of the classroom floor.
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TRANSITIONAL TALK: MANAGING THE FLOOR IN AN ADULT-LEARNER CLASSROOM