"Brilliant. next question...": High-grade assessment sequences in the completion of interactional units

We note interviewers' use, after an answer receipt, of markedly positive as sessments (such as "brilliant," "excellent," etc.). They occur in a (permis sive) sequence of [answer receipt] + [right/ok token] + [high-grade assessm ent] + [move to next item] which, we argue, are task-oriented, rather than content-oriented, devices. They signal movement through a series of interac tional units: the completion of individual question-answer pairs, interview schedule sections, and the whole series of questions. We discuss the possi bility that such high-grade assessment sequences are hearably "institutiona l" talk and that troublesome conduct of an interview may occasion their use to mark successful completion of institutional objectives (here, interview progress). We speculate on what it means to find that the use of these hig h-grade assessments seems to be more prominent in interviews with people wi th learning disability but note that their use might signal an episode of " institutional" exchange in any talk.