Negative self-assessment revisited: Exchange of reason for the evaluation to make congruent understanding visible in Japanese conversation

This study aims to explore the fundamental and necessary unit in discourses that initiate with negative self-assessment. Since past research has mainly focused on the second assessment as a response to the negative self-assessment as the flrst as- sessment, it remains unclear how conversations progress beyond the second assess- ment. Data for the study were collected from a corpus of 20 same-gender Japanese dyad conversations between undergraduate students who had close relationships with each other. The participants talked about “areas that I am not good at or flnd difficult”. The study found that the participants typically exchanged rationales for the negative self-assessment and reached a consensus on their views regarding the assessment. The study concluded that conflrming both sides’ views was prioritised over formally denying the negative self-assessment, and such conflrmation was es- sential for gradually forming a consensus among the speakers.