Discourse analysis (2)

Lecture 5 Instructor: Khadija Assulaimi March 17th, 2012

Approaches to discourse analysis

1. Sociology is the scientific study of society. 2. Sociolinguistics Studies the connections between language and society, and the way we use it in different social situations. 3. Philosophy Is the study of general and fundamental problems 4. Linguistics is the scientific study of human language

Approaches to discourse analysis

1. Sociology One method of sociology is Conversation analysis (CA)

2. Linguistics The Birmingham school Critical discourse analysis

1. Conversation Analysis
It is concerned with dialogic, spoken discourse of a fairly informal character.
It focuses on conversation because it offers an appropriate and accessible recourse for sociological enquiry. Key questions for CA (p. 58)

1. Conversation Analysis
The notion of Turn-taking
Patterns in turn-taking Adjacency pairs (a pair of turns that mutually affect one another) A: assalamu alaikum B: wa alaikum assalam

1. Conversation Analysis
Type of Adjacency pairs
1. Ritual adjacency pairs 2. Solidary routines 3. Converging pairs

1. Conversation Analysis

From where does CA get its strength? Discuss

2. The Birmingham school

A model for analyzing classroom discourse Developed by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975)

They assert that discourse is organized at several different levels Transactions Exchanges Moves Acts

2. The Birmingham school

1. Transactions (the lesson phases bounded by discourse markers) 2. Exchanges (question-answer-feedback combination) 3. Moves (single action) 4. Acts (local, micro-actions)

2. The Birmingham school

Example: The eliciting exchange is a typical exchange in the teacherfronted classroom. It has three moves (IRF):
T: How do we use a thermometer? Jennie P: Put it in your mouth. T: You put it in your mouth. Initiating move Responding move Follow-up move

3. Critical discourse analysis

It is concerned with: 1. the relationship between language, ideology and power. 2. The relationship between discourse and sociocultural change. It is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse that views language as a form of social practice and focuses on the ways social and political domination are reproduced in text and talk.

Thank you