discourse analysis tools

1. MA TESOL
E609 Approaches to
Discourse analysis
Lecture 3
Dr Helene Fatima Idris
University of Khartoum
Department of English

2. Today we will….
SEMINAR:
1. Present assignment 2: DA of You know you are Sudanese if…. (one person
from each group, 10 minutes each)
2. Discuss what a ’real’ Sudanese is (on basis of Gee’s book).
3. My DA of You know you are Sudanese if….
----- BREAK ------
LECTURE:
1. Possible topics for your course work on Applications of DA and TESOL in
Sudan.
2. Structure and contents of your course work paper.

3. Let’s start where we finished last week…
Assignment 2:
1. Read Gee, J.P. Introduction to Discourse Analysis, p. 20-28.
2. Discuss (critically) what being ’real’ means in this context.
3. Analyse I know I’m Sudanese if……. using the seven building tasks of
langauge and the four tools of inquiry above.
4. Discuss (in the group) what being a ’real Sudanese’ means.
5. Present your findings.

4. Utterances communicate
who-doing-what
• It is important to see that making visible who we are and what we are
doing always require more than language. It requires that we act,
value, interact and use language in coordination with other people
and with various objects in appropriate locations at appropriate
times.
• To see this wider notion of language as integrated with ’other stuff’
(other people, objects, values, times and places), we have read about
how Native Americans recognise each other ’really Indian’.
• And you have analysed You know you’re Sudanese if….

5. A reminder before we start:
What is discourse analysis?
To analyse how a speech or a text (language-in-use) is used to:
- tell a story,
- interpret something that has happened,
- give a message (makes things significant),
- create activities, identities, relationships and connections (by the
speaker/writer),
- communicate ’politics’ (social goods, such as beliefs, values, status,
normal/not normal, ’right/wrong’, etc.),
Tools for analysis:
- sign systems/’social languages’,
- ’discourses’ (non-linguistic symbols, clothes, tools, objects, values), and
- ’conversations’ (debate and themes discussed and in focus in the society).

6. What is NOT discourse analysis?
• Express your personal opinions whether you agree or disagree with
the text and speech, or the things spoken or written about. For
example, I don’t think that ’weddings are just an opportunity to sit
and gossip’.
• Focus on and analyse only the people, things or events spoken and
written about. For example, to analyse ’why Sudanese behave like
this’.

7. My DA of I know I’m Sudanese if…….
Analysis: 1. Significance
The identity of being Sudanese (LOOKING ON FROM OUTSIDE WITH
GOOD HUMOUR) -> Common recognition of these ways of behaviour
AND you have personally experienced them.
Examples:
• 1. Your family members are scattered over the whole globe.
• 13. If you ever ran inside the house in the middle of the night with
matresses on your head because it started raining.

8. Analysis: 2. Activity
•Social networking by young Sudanese, most of them
probably living outside Sudan; they know English
well and look upon Sudanese culture from outside.
•Strengthening the Sudanese identity, but with some
critical opinions/views.
Examples:
• 6. Your parents can't pronounce the letter p! "shambooo!" "bark" "beet-
zaa“.
• 4. A guy smoking is cool, but a girl smoking is GILAT-ADAB BAS!

9. Analysis: 3. Identities
•Sudanese identity (you have Sudanese parents and
relatives)
•Young
•English and Arabic speaking
•Living abroad
Examples:
• 1. Your family members are scattered over the whole globe.
• 2. All family friends are aunt and uncle, 3amoo + khaltoo!
• 9. Your nickname is name + -ooo, -ooya, -eeya.

10. Analysis: 4. Relationships
Social networking between Sudanese youths and other
people on Facebook, interested in discussing Sudanese
identity, culture and society in an entertaining (not serious or
academic) way, but with an analytical and critical view of the
Sudanese society.
Example:
3. When your brother can be out all hours of the night and a girl can’t
even be seen out ALONE in daylight: ajiii YA YOMMA! eibbb!!

11. Analysis: 5. Politics (social goods)
Most of the points are about what is seen as ’normal’, ’right’ or
’appropriate’ behaviour in Sudan, showing a critical view on some
behaviour in the Sudanese society.
Examples:
• 7. Saying Hello isn’t just a Hello, it’s a 5 minutes recited piece asking the
well-being of every family member: kef halik, kef ummik, kef abook, kef
khaltik, kef haboobtik….
• 8. Everyone at weddings look depressed/ upset, EVEN THE BRIDE!
• 10. When your dad can openly insult himself: Ya ibn al-kalb!
• 14. All Sudanese people know each other, so news spread like bush fire.

12. Analysis: 6. Connection
There are several connections to common Sudanese experiences. Certain
objects, such as Tayota, sifinjaa, mofraaka, foul, the biggest suitcase at the
airport, beds and milayaat, reksha, malaria, Macintosh, Pepsi, at least 30
cousins, etc. are made relevant to the Sudanese identity.
Examples:
• 5. Foul is an acceptable meal at all times of the day, breakfast, lunch,
dinner and for supper is futtah/bosh!
• 11. You know one who owns a Toyota or you have sat on the edge at the
back of one.
• 12. There are rarely any sofas...people don’t sit on them anyway. But there
are 325 beds in the house with matching milayaat.

13. Analysis: 7. Sign systems
High status langauge in this text: English and Sudanese Colloquial Arabic.
High status way of knowing (to be Sudanese) in this text: to recognize or to
have had these experiences.
Examples:
• 3. When your brother can be out all hours of the night and a girl can’t even
be seen out ALONE in daylight: ajiii YA YOMMA! eibbb!!
• 6. Your parents can't pronounce the letter p! "shambooo!" "bark" "beet-
zaa“,
• 13. If you ever ran inside the house in the middle of the night with
matresses on your head because it started raining.

14. Tools for Discourse analysis
• ”Social languages” used in this text:
English and Sudanese Arabic.
• Discourses: What language, actions, beliefs, ways of thinking and
objects does this text use to enact/perform a certain social identity?
The text uses Sudanese Arabic to perform the Sudanese identity,
such as foul, mufraaka, gilt al adab, ibn alkalb.
Objects: Beds and milayaat, Tayota, foul.
Ways of thinking: Politeness, long greetings, generosity,
different rules for girls’ and boys’ appropriate behaviour.

15. Tools for Discourse analysis
• Intertextuality: What other text or speech does this text refer to?
It refers to what the writers have heard their parents or other
Sudanese people saying.
• ”Conversations”: What themes, motifs or debates that are in focus in
society does this text refer or allude to?
Gender roles
How to raise (punish) children (’Ibn al-kalb, ).
Sudanese English (p -> b).
Choice of education and career for young people (influenced
by parents’ wishes/high status?); Lack of personal freedom?

16. Discourse analysis and language teaching
• McCarthy, M. 1991. Discourse analysis for language teachers.
It has bcome more and more important that language teachers keep
up-to-date with developments within their field. Discourse analysis is
one such area. Discourse analysis shows how real people use
language, as opposed to studying artificially created sentences.
Discourse analysis is therefore of immediate interest to language
teachers. Teachers need insights into how texts are constructed beyond
sentence-level; how talk follows regular patterns in different situations;
how intonation operates in communication; and how discourse norms
(the underlying rules that speakers and hearers adhere to) and their
realisations (the actual language forms which effect those rules) in
language differ from culture to culture.

17. Discourse in educational settings
• Schiffrin, D., Tannen, D. and Hamilton, H. 2001. The Handbook of
Discourse Analysis.

18. Applied research on classroom discourse

19. Educational applications
Gee and Handford. 2012. The Routledge Handbook of Discourse
Analysis.
• Research on literacy from a sociocultural approach (instead of a
psychological approach) uses discourse analysis as research method.
• Ethnographic studies of classroom discourse have provided
immensely rich insights into classroom discourse as a mediational
tool, not only for learning but also for the negotiation and (co)-
construction of identity, power, and social relationships. These studies
situate classroom discourse in the wider social and political context
outside the classroom.
• Research about bilingualism and language minority students has used
discourse analysis as a method.

20. Your coursework paper:
Applications of Discourse analysis
in TESOL in Sudan.
1. Select texts, speeches or dialogues that can be used in a TESOL
classroom in Sudan for teaching English.
2. Describe the reasons (= learning outcomes), the criteria (DA approaches,
e.g. speech acts, conversations, institutional communication, news
article, advertisements, political speech, sociocultural and sociolinguistic
context, storytelling) and the methods (= searching the internet,
newspapers, books, YouTube, etc.) for selecting these texts, dialogues or
speeches.
3. Analyse them according to (one of the) disourse analysis approaches
(that we will study in this course). If it is a spoken text, transcribe it.
4. Plan how you will teach it in a TESOL classroom (= lesson plan).
5. Conclude the benefits and difficulties in using discourse analysis of your
chosen texts, speeches or dialogues in TESOL in Sudan.

21. Structure of your research paper
(3000 words = about 10 pages)
Title page
1. Introduction 2 pages
2. Methods 1 page
3. Discourse analysis (data analysis) 3 pages
4. Application of ’your’ DA in a TESOL classroom (lesson plan) 2 pages
5. Conclusions 1 page
6. Recommendations ½ page
7. References ½ page
10 pages

22. 1. Introduction
1.1. Background (Put the reader into the picture with general,
but relevant, facts about discourse analysis, and about TESOL,
especially in Sudan).
1.2. Literature review (Summarise previous studies about
discourse analysis and TESOL/language education).
1.3. Objectives (Write what your paper is about: What is this
study about? Why have you chosen your specific topic?
(reason) How will you do it? (DA approaches) )

23. 2. Methods
2.1. Methods of selecting texts, speeches, dialogues,
conversations (searching the internet, newspapers,
books, etc.)
2.2. Method(s) of analysis (e.g. the seven building tasks
of language from a critical DA approach).

24. 3. Discourse analysis (data analysis)
3.1. Context/Background about the text, speech, dialogue,
conversation.
3.2. The text itself. If it is spoken language, transcribe the recording.
Number the lines and use transcription symbols.
3.3. Analysis according to ’your’ approach

25. 4. Application in a TESOL classroom
4.1. Lesson plan (with ’your’ spoken or written text as topic)’
4.2. Notes to the teacher
4.3. Learning outcomes

26. 5. Conclusions
• Summarize the main conclusions of your
paper.
• Your conclusions should be relevant to your
objectives (from the Introduction)

27. 6. Recommendations
•Recommend further studies or further research
in this field…
•Make a prediction…
•Propose a solution to a problem…
•The conclusions and recommendations section is
usually written in present tense.

28. 7. References (Bibliography)
•Minimum: 5 references, preferably more.
•Proper and consistent in-text citation
throughout.
•Proper and consistent listing of sources in the
bibliography.
•Follow the for in-text citation and references in
the biAPA Manual bliography ‘to the dot’!

29. Individual Assignment 3 until netxt week
Write down a ’proposal’ for your coursework! Anything that you’re
interested in!
• Topic (culture, sports, politics, religion, …..)
• DA approaches (speech act, interactional sociolinguistics, conversation
analysis, critical disocurse analysis…..)
• Texts (news paper articles, magazines, books, web pages, blogs, social
media….)
• Speeches (political speeches, academic/other lectures….)
• Conversations (dialogues, telephone conversation, institutional
communication, ….)
• Learning outcomes (language beyond the sentence (implied meanings),
English in use by ’real’ people, ’deeper’ understanding of the text and the
context, rules of conversation in English, ……)

30. Start writing now!
Put your thoughts and ideas on paper!
You could e-mail me on:
helenefatimaidris@gmail.com
Or: visit me at office hours Wednesdays 1-3 pm
at the Department of Linguistics.
I’ll give you feedback.