Felicity conditions and genre : Linking act and conversation in LAP style conversation analysis

Recent criticism within LAP challenges the theoretical basis of the “conversation for action” schema described by Winograd & Flores (1986) as an approach for modelling interaction. The criticism points to conversation analysis, as practiced in the fields of Sociology and Communication, as a remedy. The remedy can be taken further, however. It is suggested here that the concepts of felicity conditions and genre can be used to improve the theoretical grounding for LAP style conversation analysis by linking act and conversation.