UAS

An Introduction to Discourse Analysis

Name : Ave Angela Michelle Sudoyo
Student number : 18202244049

1. Discourse is often considered has the same meaning with text. However, they have
different meanings. The definitions of discourse refer to language in context. Paltridge
(2012) stated that discourse analysis is an approach that considers the relationship
between language and the social and cultural context. Nunan (1993) stated that
discourse is the interpretation of the communicative event in context. Meanwhile text
does not consider the context. According to Cook (1989), in a text, the language is not
interpreted by considering the context but it is just interpreted formally.

2. Discourse analysis is an approach to examine language use beyond the sentence. It

studies the relationship between language and society. It is also interdisciplinary
approach which can be combined with other field of studies (N. Fairclough et al.,
1997). Unlinke phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantic which only do analysis
in small or limted parts of language, discourse analysis covers wider linguistics units.
According to Van Dijk (2004), discourse analysis can do the analysis at several text
levels such as phonology (sound), morphology (parts of word), syntax (word order),
or semantics (meaning) together.

3. Discourse analysis examines spoken and written forms of language. The examples of
spoken language are speech, conversation, presentation, interview, and lecture. The
examples of written discourse are letter, email, essay, magazine, and newspaper. And
then, discourse analysis is an interdiciplinary study which can involve other field of
studies. For example, combining discourse analysis and psychology in investigating
suicide letter; and combining discourse analysis and feminist study in examining
gender stereotypes in a text.

4. People from different languages and cultures usually have different ways to arrange a
text. What is common in one culture might be unusual in another different culture.
For example, Japanese usually start the email by informing the condition of the
weather after salutation or greeting because they do not want to be too blunt. For
example:

Dear Professor James,

It’s such a beautiful day here in Kyoto.

Meanwhile in America, it is not common to start an email with a topic about the
weather. They would rather start with greeting, asking condition, or just directly
stating the intention. For example:
 Dear Professor James,

I suppose to visit you next month but unfortunaltely I could not.

5.
Penguin
Penguin is a bird that cannot fly. They are more like aquatic animals because they
spend half of their time in the oceans and the other half on the land. Generally, they
live in the Southern Hemisphere, but it doesn’t mean that they can live only in a cold
place, because Penguins are also found in Galapagos Island, which consider to be a
tropical area. There are 16 species of Penguin in the world, one of them is Emperor
Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) which known as the largest Penguin.

Penguins have various body size depending on their species. The largest Penguin, The
Emperor Penguin, can reach the size of 1,1 m with the weight of 35 kg or more. The
smalles Penguin, the Little Blue Penguin, can reach the size of 40 cm and the weight
of 1 kg. Some others species such as King Penguin, Gentoo Penguin, Magellanic
Penguin and Yellow-eyed Penguin are vary between those sizes.

The head of a Penguin resemble the head of a bird with a beak in front of it and eyes
on each side of the head. They have two wings that function as flippers which help
them to swim. Their foot is similar to duck’s foot, this also support them in the water.
They have a wide and short tail. The tail and wings help them to keep their balance
when they are walking on the ground. The color of their inner body is white and the
color of their back is dark (usually black). This turns out to be a camouflage that
protects them from predator when they are underwater.

(https://www.bigbanktheories.com/contoh-report-text-pendek-tentang-penguin-dan-
terjemahannya/)

THEME RHEME
Penguin is a bird that cannot fly.
They are more like aquatic animals because
they spend half of their time in the oceans and
the other half on the land.
Generally, they live in the Southern Hemisphere,
but it doesn’t mean that
they can live only in a cold place,
because Penguins are also found in Galapagos Island,
which consider to be a tropical area.
There are 16 species of Penguin in the world,
one of them is Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes
forsteri)
which known as the largest Penguin.
Penguins have various body size depending on their
species.
The largest Penguin, The Emperor can reach the size of 40 cm and the
Penguin, weight of 1 kg.
The smalles Penguin, the Little Blue can reach the size of 40 cm and the
Penguin, weight of 1 kg.
Some others species such as King are vary between those size.
Penguin, Gentoo Penguin, Magellanic
Penguin and Yellow-eyed Penguin
The head of a Penguin resemble the head of a bird with a beak in
front of it and eyes on each side of the
head.
They have two wings that function as flippers
which help them to swim.
Their foot is similar to duck’s foot,
this also support them in the water.
They have a wide and short tail.
The tail and wings help them to keep their balance
when they are walking on the ground.
The color of their inner body is white
and the color of their back is dark (usually black).
This turns out to be a camouflage
that protect them from predator when they are
underwater.

Theme 1 Rheme 1

Theme 2 Rheme 2

Theme 1 Rheme 3

Theme 1 Rheme 4

Theme 2 Rheme 5

Theme 1 Rheme 6

Theme 1 Rheme 7

Theme 3 Rheme 8

Theme 4 Rheme 9

Theme 5 Rheme 10

Theme 6 Rheme 11
 Theme 1 Rheme 12
Theme 6 Rheme 13

Theme 7 Rheme 14

Theme 8 Rheme 15

Theme 9 Rheme 16

Theme 1 Rheme 17

Theme 10 Rheme 18

Theme 11 Rheme 19

Theme 1 Rheme 20

Theme 12 Rheme 21

Theme 1 Rheme 22

Theme 13 Rheme 23

Theme 14 Rheme 24

Theme 14 Rheme 25

Theme 15 Rheme 26

There are two types of thematic progression in this report text. They are constant
theme and zigzag/ linear theme. A report text has two parts. They are general
classification and description. In general classification, there are three constant
themes. This kind of theme used to stay focus on peguin in general. Then zigzag/
linear pattern is used to provide more information about the rheme.

6. In multimodal discourse analysis, we do not only see the meaning of the text through
words. Multimodal discourse analysis studies the communication process occurred
through images, colors, symbols, gestures, and other semiotic sources. For example,
in the magazine cover there are other components that deliver meaning to the reader
besides the words such as colors, font, the model’s pose, and the angle.
7.
Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Magazine Cover

 What meanings are being made in the texts?

The text “The New Mobile Moguls” shows that this magazine contains
information about a new powerful person in technology, Kim Kardashian who
is well-known as an American model. She started a new way to earn money.
  How are meaning being made in the texts?
At the top of the cover it is written “Internet of Things Gets Real” and
“Miracle-Gro Gets Stoned” as the header. They are the focus of the magazine.
The magazine will give information about how Internet and Miracle-Go have
opposite fates. The text “Kim Kardashian” is being emphasized with red color.
Then it is placed on the right hand side which means that it is an important
element along with the text that tells important information about her, that is
“She Made $45 Million from One Game”. The green color is used for
text”The New”. It symbolizes growth, freshness, and new thing. The white
color is used tohighlght the text “Mobile Moguls”.
 What resources have been drawn on to make the meanings in the texts?
Kim Kardashian is a famous top model from America. Her income must be
very high. She became more powerful by earning $45 millions from a mobile
game. Therefore she became the new mobile mogul. She folds her hands in the
picture. It symbolizes confidence. The background color is pink. It symbolizes
Kim Kardashian’s beauty and feminity as a model.
 In what social environment are the meanings being made?
Many people assume that models only rely on their good-looking appearances.
People also think that tech world is really different with modelling world. It is
a deviation if a model jumps to the tech world. Kim Kardashian becomes the
anomaly to this view. Moreover she is also able to gain success from tech
world.
 Whose interest and agency is at work in the making of the meanings?
It is for people who are interested in technology, businessman, economist, and
business students, and economics students, especially women.
8. According to Paltridge (2012), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is an analysis that
is interested in the relation between the use of language and the social and political
context in which it occurs. Fairclough (1992) developed a framework to use this
approach. It consists of three layers or dimensions:
- text : this is an analysis at word level
- discursive practice : this is an analysis that involves production or
consitution of the text
- social practice : this is an analysis that concerns with the impact of the
text on society or the influence of society on the text

Iqbal et al. (2014) gave insights about how Fairclough’s three dimensional model of
CDA can be utilized to examine ideology that is constructed in the text. The study
aimed to explain the language and strategies used by Fair & Lovely advertisements to
influence women. The results showed that linguistic devices used to attract women in
the advertisements were direct address, positive vocabulary, headlines, and catchy
slogans. The huge theme in the advertisements is the ideal look for women such as no
wrinkle and no marks.
 9. I conduct a research about gender stereotypes in Indonesian folktales. I chose this
topic because folktales are often used to learn English language. But several
qualitative researches on Indonesian folktales found that Indonesian folktales contain
stereotypes for each gender. Gender stereotypes can give negative impacts to people.
Particularly, it affects negatively to females because it hinders them to develop and
get the equal access to men. Wodak & Meyer (2001) stated that CDA aims to produce
enlightment and emancipation. It can be used to create social awareness on how
society normalizes inequality. Fairclough, (1985) argued that CDA needs to pay
attention to the strategies that normalize relationships of inequality. I utilize
Fairclough’s three dimensional model of CDA and Martin’s theory of appraisal.
According to Hart (2014), appraisal theory provides a structured handle on CDA’s
interests. He also stated that a subtype of appraisal, that is attitude, provides
systematic analysis for self-representation and other-representation. Attitude includes
assessment or value by reference emotional reactions, social judgements and aesthetic
evaluations. Additionally, Nuraisiah et al. (2018) relate sexism with attitudes because
they are socially constructed. Gender stereotypes are also socially constructed.
Therefore, I use the subtype attitude to do the analysis.

10. As the future EFL teacher, learning discourse analysis helps me to design the
materials, engage with students, and also conduct the learning material evaluation
before or after use it. McCharty (1991) argues that a language teacher should have
insight about how text is structured, how to see language beyond sentences, how to
follow patterns in different contexts, how to operate aspects in conversational
interactions, and how language relates to the norms which are different from a culture
to another culture.

REFERENCES:

Contoh Report Text Pendek Tentang Penguin Dan Terjemahannya. (n.d.). Retrieved July 1,
2021, from https://www.bigbanktheories.com/contoh-report-text-pendek-tentang-
penguin-dan-terjemahannya/
Cook, G. (1989). Discourse. OUP Oxford. https://books.google.co.id/books?
id=Q4VLKNdeEoQC
Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and text: linguistic and intertextual analysis within
discourse analysis. Discourse & Society, 3(2), 193–217.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/42887786
Fairclough, N. L. (1985). Critical and descriptive goals in discourse analysis. Journal of
Pragmatics, 9(6), 739–763. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(85)90002-5
Fairclough, N., Mulderrig, J., & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical discourse analysis. Discourse
Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, 2, 357–378.
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446289068.n17
Hart, C. (2014). Discourse, grammar and ideology: Functional and cognitive perspectives.
Bloomsbury Publishing.
Iqbal, A., Danish, M. H., & Tahir, M. R. (2014). Exploitation of women in beauty products of
Fair and Lovely: A critical discourse analysis study. International Journal on Studies in
English Language and Literature, 2(9), 122–131.
Nunan, D. (1993). Introducing discourse analysis. Penguin Books.
Paltridge, B. (2012). Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. In Language (2nd ed.).
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2004). From text grammar to critical discourse analysis. Unpublished
Academic Autobiography, Version, 2.
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2001). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis.
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