Module Title: Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis

Module Code: ELT 612

Module Value in ECTS: 7 ECTS= 175 hrs

1. Desired Learning Outcomes

On the successful completion of this module, students will be able to:

 Show awareness of how meaning is structured by understanding pragmatic and discourse
features, rules and functions in communication events;

 Explain the role of context or setting in Discourse organization;

 Analyze how oral and written texts are textured and structured;
 Grasp how pragmatic and contextual features extend meanings of texts;
 Analyze the communicative or functional impact of Discourse in terms of Conversational
Implicature, Co-operative Principle and Politeness phenomena;

 Produce sample texts reflecting discourse features like cohesion, coherence, and other
discourse markers in connected speech and writing;
 Make use of pragmatic features, discourse patterns and text analysis ( oral and written),
for ELT-- Use knowledge in pragmatics and discourse in the teaching of English—
listening, speaking, reading and writing

 Examine and explain different Discourse genres like Narrative, Procedural, Expository
and Hortatory Discourse;

2. Module Description
Language organization and use beyond the level of the sentence or utterance; a study of selected
spoken and written genre of Pragmatics and Discourse and stylistic variation; the concepts of
dexis (cohesion) and coherence ( logical relations); conversational Implicature; Co-operative
Principle and Politeness Phenomena; analysis of texts in terms of Structure, Setting and Style
which are the major components of pragmatics and Discourse analysis ; the impact of different
rhetorical and Discourse devices; application of pragmatics and Discourse Analysis in ELT;
Evaluation of practical production of discourses in the form of spoken or written texts

III. Module Contents

A.Theory

1.Language and its functions

- The relations of signs to interpreters
- Semiosis –psychological, biological, sociolinguistic phenomena—in the functioning of
signs
- Reference to context
- Functional perspective
 - Performance

2. The making of meaning

- the lexical and propositional meanings of words and sentences
- Language and grammatical relations and meaning -dexis (person, place, time,
social)-Anaphoric Vs non anaphoric usage of dexis cohesion and coherence
- Language and Contextual relations-inferences, presuppositions, implicatures,
- Ways in which languages encode or grammaticalize features of the content of
utterance or speech event
- Ways in which the interpretation of utterances depends on the analysis of that
context of utterance.

3. Conversational implicature
- Implicature effects simplification of both the structure and the content of semantic
descriptions
- Implicature: Grice’s maxims of conversation—cooperative principle; the maxim of
quality, quantity, relevance and manner
- Speech acts—performatves—felicitious/non felicitious , constatives.---
Representatives , directives, commisives, Expressives, declarativesillocutionary ,
locutionary and perlocotinary force ,
- Conversational Structure--Discourse analysis Vs Conversational Analysis
- CA: ethnomethodology –Turns and turn taking
- Turn un its and transitional relevance place (TRP).

Practical Application in ELT

Part One: Demonstrating the use of pragmatics and discourse analysis in the teaching
of listening and speaking skills

a. The use of the cooperative principles

b. The use of speech acts in ELT
(i) Performatives felicitious
(ii) Performatives nonfelicitious
(iii) Performatives Representatns
(iv) (Performatives Directives
(v) Performatives Commissives
(vi) Performatives Expressives
(vii) Performatives Declarations

Part Two: Discourse Analysis of written and spoken texts: The use of
dexis( cohesion) and coherence in text texturing and structuring, intention,
 informativeness, accomplishment of purpose(s) for teaching of reading and writing:
descriptive, narrative, expository, argumentative

Part Three: The use of turn taking and turn units in analyzing classroom
conversation: Showing turn taking, transcribing a dialogue between two conversants and
using the conversation for teaching speaking.

Part Four: Assessing Teaching Materials using discourse analysis

( Grades 9-12)

IV. Module Calendar

50 % of the time is allocated for Part A and Part B each

V. Assessment Methods
 Regular Attendance and Classroom Participation
 Practical activities on tasks: classwork, homework and projects
VI. Assessment Criteria
 Individual works: 40 %
 Group work: 20 %
 Final Written Examination: 40 %
VII. Reading Materials

NOTE:Students are advised to study library and other source materials as widely as possible.
Reference books and research journals can be consulted in the Graduate Library and the
Kennedy Main Library. As this model is not based on one single textbook, a selected list of
reference sources for reading is given below.

Austin, J.L. 1962. How To DO Things with Words. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Blommaert, J. 2005. Discourse: Key concepts in Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: CUP
Brown, G. and G. Yule .1993. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: CUP
Brown, P. and S. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some universals in Language Use. Cambridge:
CUP
Courthard, M. and Montgomery (Eds.). 1981. Studies in Discourse Analysis. London: Routledge
Fairclugh, N. 1995. Critical Discourse Analysis. London: Longman
Giglioli, Pier P. (ed.) 1973. Language and Social Contex. Penguin Books (First published in
1972)
Grice, H.P. 1975. "Logic in Conversation". In J. Cole and J. Morgan (eds.). Syntax and
Semantics III. New York: Academic Pres
Halliday, M.A.K., A. McIntosh and P.D Strevens. 1964. The Linguistic Science and Language
Teaching. London: Longman
_____________., and R. Hasan. 1976. Cohesion in English. London: Longman
_________________________. 1985. Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a
Social-Semiotic Perspective. Oxford: OUP
Hockett, C.F. 1958. A Course in Modern Linguistics. New York: Macmillan
Leech, G.N. 1984. Semantics. Hardmondsworth: Penguin (First published in 1974)
________________. Principles of Pragmatics. London and New York: Longman
Levinson, S. 1983. Pragmatics. Cambridge: CUP
Nunan, D. 1995. Research methods in Language Learning: Cambridge: CUP
Searle, J.R. 1969. Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: CUP
Simpson, P. 1997. Language through Literature. London and New York: Routledge
Sinclair, J. M. H. and Courthard, M. 1975. Towards an Analysis of Discourse. Oxford: OUP
Stern, H.H. 1994. Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching. Oxford: OUP (First published
in 1983)