Based on a discursive understanding of coaching, the current paper presents the basic-activity model of coaching as the linguistic contribution to the coaching process research. Centerpiece of the current approach is the coaching conversation itself, which is transcribed via a linguistic transcription method and analyzed with the help of an integrative discourse analysis. Zooming in on the level of the coaching conversation allows us to distill the discursive and communicative particularities

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... coaching and thus to gain the necessary insight into the coaching process itself. It will be argued that coaching is co-constructed by coach and client via four basic activities: 'defining the situation', 'building the relationship', 'co-constructing change' and 'evaluating the coaching'. Using 'basic activity' as descriptive and analytic category allows us to answer questions regarding coaching-specific discursive practices in contrast to other consulting or counseling formats; it allows us to display the gamut of coach-client interactions within coaching and, concurrently, the category functions as tool to assess the quality of coaching.