Discourse analysis approach

1. Discourse Analysis
for Language Teachers
Andrea Jiménez R.

2. What is discourse analysis
• 1.1A brief historical overview
 Study of relationship between language and the contexts in which is used.
 Language in use:
- written texts
- spoken data: conversation/ forms of talk.
 Distribution of linguistic elements: in extended texts, and the links between the text and the social situation;
Study of speech in it social setting.
 British discourse analysis:: influenced by MAK; functional approach; social functions of language and the thematic and
informational structure f speech and writing.
 Sinclair and Coulthard is a model based n teacher-pupil talk, have hierarchy of discourse units. Intonation in discourse.
Followed structural- linguistic criteria.
 American Discourse: dominated by work within the ethno methodological tradition. Research method of close
observation of groups of people communicating in natural setting. For example: story telling, greeting rituals and verbal
duels in different cultural and social settings. Conversation analysis. Natural data. Conversational norms. Exist in this
approach different discourse types.
 Discourse is work of text grammarians; written language.
 The Prague school of linguistics contribute to show the links between grammar and discourse.
 Language above the sentence and an interest in the contexts and cultural influences
which affect language in use.
Andrea Jiménez R.

3. Andrea Jiménez R.

4. 1.2 Form and function.
Decisions about communicative function cannot solely be the domain of grammar or phonology.
The situations that we will to follow different conventions and the factors that are involved.
Fundamental distinction: language forms and discourse functions.
1.3 Speech acts and discourse structures.
Functions: concerned what are doing with language as what they saying.
Speech acts approach to communicate language teaching emphasizes the functions.
Discourse analysis is fundamentally concerned with the relationship between language and the context of its use.
Difficult: attaching of speech-act labels to utterances . Features difficult to interpret.
Andrea Jiménez R.

5. 1.4 The scope of discourse analysis.
DA is not only about description and analysis of spoken interaction.
Discourse analysts are interested in the organization of written interaction.
Andrea Jiménez R.

6. 1.5 Spoken discourse: models of analysis.
 Birmingham model ( Sinclair and Coulthard) has connections with the study of speech acts, and at the same
time tries to capture the larger structures.
Transaction: two framing moves; question and answer sequence that falls between them.
Framing moves: are created in interaction of “frame” on either side of sequence of questions and answers.
Exchange: represented by // and is a basic unit and is use to isolate a typical segment consist of moves.
 Opening move (initiation): first move in each exchange (1) function as questions (2) give information.(3)
command.
 Answering move (response): second move (1) answer (2) acknowledgement (3) non-verbal response.
 Follow-up move: (1) to be polite (2) confirm the information (3) to say thank again.
The patterns of such exchanges may vary from culture to culture.
Different situations will require different formulae, depending on roles and settings.
Function is arrived of the reference to participants; roles and settings in any discourse and that linguistic forms are
interpreted a light of these.
Andrea Jiménez R.

7. 1.6 Conversations outside the classroom.
Exchange conversations in class limit students responses to the assessment applied by teachers.
Vary in “real world” the structures used in the conversations.
Rank scale ( the bare of the hierarchy)
The Sinclair and Coulthard ‘s model is useful in short-formal conversation or in an organized environment like
Teachers- students; costumers-sellers, but in the real world are more complicated.
1.7 Talk as social activity.
Turn-taking: people taking turns at talk when they feel they have the right to say something.
Class environment not allow students to have complex structures in conversations in which the structures not are
only one though in class.
1.8 Written discourse.
Problem with spoken transcripts not exist.
Sentences are well-formed because writer has more time to think cohesion: limited set of options for creating a new
sentences to the text; is only a guide to coherence.
Andrea Jiménez R.
Transaction Move ActExchange

8. 1.9 Text and interpretation.
Cohesive marker; create links across sentence boundaries and pair and chain together items are
related.
Interpretation: is a pint of view about how the readers perceive the text.
Interpretive acts involved in textual segments: phenomenon- reason, cause-consequence, instrument-
achievement.
- Phenomenon-reason: Relation which united the two sentence to extract.
- Cause-consequence and instrument-achievement: logical sequence relations.
Logical sequencing and matching are two basic categories of the clause-relational approach.
1.10 Larger patterns in texts.
1.11 Conclusion
Discourse analysis is a big area in which are involved linguistic-aspects to analyze spoken and written
language. It also provide suggestions concerning teaching materials and procedures whenever it seems
that DA has some direct bearing on these matters.
Andrea Jiménez R.
Situation Problem Problem-solution

9. • Fonts:
• Cambridge; paper: “Discourse Analysis for
Language Teachers” by Michael McCarthy.
• Images: free websites.
Andrea Jiménez R.

10. • Fonts:
• Cambridge; paper: “Discourse Analysis for
Language Teachers” by Michael McCarthy.
• Images: free websites.
Andrea Jiménez R.