PhD Mercedes Pérez Agustín

TEFL systems (Unit 9)

 Types of discourse

The notion of text linguistics designates “any work in language science

devoted to the text as the primary object of inquiry” (Beaugrand and
Dressler, 1988). Narrative discourse which implies telling a story.
Narrative texts are based on experiences and they use dialogues and
familiar language. Narrative text structures are composed of folktales
(myths, legends, fables, wonder tales), contemporary fiction (fantasy,
science fiction, historical fiction) so they can either be fiction or non-
fiction.

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 Types of discourse (II)

It involves features such as: point of view (from a first or a third

person), characters, setting, plot, conflict and resolution. 
Narrative texts use some literary devices like (adjectives, dynamic and
stative verbs, concrete nouns) with the aim of enriching the
understanding of the story. Although the term cohesion accounts to
different types of relations as we saw in the previous unit (ellipsis,
conjunction, reference and substitution), other elements like
(anaphora, cataphora and deixis) can be found in narrative texts. An
example would be a biography.

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 Types of discourse (III)

Who Was Nikola Tesla?

Nikola Tesla was an engineer and scientist known for designing the
alternating-current (AC) electric system, which is the predominant
electrical system used across the world today. He also created the
"Tesla coil," which is still used in radio technology. 
Born in modern-day Croatia, Tesla came to the United States in 1884
and briefly worked with Thomas Edison before the two parted ways.
He sold several patent rights, including those to his AC machinery, to
George Westinghouse.
Early Life
Tesla was born in Smiljan, Croatia, on July 10, 1856.
Tesla was one of five children, including siblings Dane, Angelina,
Milka and Marica. Tesla's interest in electrical invention was spurred
by his mother, Djuka Mandic, who invented small household
appliances in her spare time while her son was growing up.
Tesla's father, Milutin Tesla, was a Serbian orthodox priest and a
writer, and he pushed for his son to join the priesthood. But Nikola's
interests lay squarely in the sciences.
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 Types of discourse (V)

We will now analyze some typical grammatical features of narrative

texts that can be found in this biography.

Grammatical features

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 Types of discourse (VI)

Grammatical features

Descriptive discourse
Descriptive discourse where descriptive words and phrases are used
are closely related to narrative texts because both appeal the reader’s
imagination through senses (see, hear, feel, touch and smell). The
main difference is that descriptive texts focus on images and narrative
on actions. This text type aims to create a mental image in the
reader’s mind that responds to ‘What is it like?’

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 Types of discourse (VII)

Descriptive texts can either be:

Subjective (because they focus on the senses and specially on the
reader’s intentions).
Objective (also known as technical because they expose more than
describe), examples of objective descriptive texts can be (instructions,
official letters, guide books) because they just describe straight facts
avoiding giving the writer’s opinion.

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 Types of discourse (VIII-IX)

Is this text subjective or objective?

CoachJen (n. d.)
Ingredients
18 (3 inch) unbaked tart shells.
7 tablespoons brown sugar.
2 tablespoons butter, melted.
1 teaspoon pear-flavored white balsamic vinegar.
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
3 large ripe d'Anjou pears - peeled, cored, and diced.
3 tablespoons chopped almonds.
Add all ingredients to list.

The students are expected to answer that this text is descriptive and
objective because the facts are described straight away avoiding the
writer’s opinion. We will now analyze some features inherent to
descriptive texts.

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Types of discourse (IX)

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 Types of discourse (X)

Persuasive discourse
Persuasive discourse aims to convince the reader/listener of the way
of thinking to persuade them to take a specific action.
Among the various examples of persuasive discourse are
advertisements as we can see in the following image.

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 Types of discourse (XI-XII)

Persuasive discourse
Through this advertisement just using adverbs of time the reader
deduces that if you try Macdonald’s French Fries there will be none
left right after because they are delicious.
Argumentative discourse
Argumentative discourse aims to present arguments that could either
be rhetorical or dialectical, so the main goal is to persuade the
audience. The audience can be specialized so the basis of
agreement is more specific, and non-specialized that appeals to
common sense and common principles and values. This text
discourse can take the form of a book, a speech, an interview, a
letter, etc.
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 Types of discourse (XII)
Argumentative texts can be subjective or objective. In subjective, the
writer or speaker desires to communicate certain ideas, generally
speaking, thought-provoking. Argumentation can be found in oral or
written discourse. Thus, oral discourse can be found in political
debates, interviews, radio and TV reports and written discourse
appears in opinion columns, press articles, letters, etc.
The main features of argumentative discourse are:
•Present the information in an organized way because the main goal
is persuasion.
•Use of cohesive devices like substitution, ellipsis, reference,
anaphora, cataphora, deixis.
•Declarative verbs to express opinions like say, believe, claim, argue,
think, promise, etc. that are generally conjugated in the present
simple or imperative forms.
•Adjectives to express real facts or relevant research.

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 Types of discourse (XIII)
.
The main features of argumentative discourse are:
•Concrete nouns to provide definitions.
•Adverbs to express the quality of something.
•Use of adversative connectors like (however, but, opposed to, etc.)

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. Types of discourse (XIII)
School Choice – An Educational Custom Fit Imagine if only one size of pants
were sold in stores and government regulations wouldn’t allow any other size
to be made available to consumers. This may sound crazy but it’s much like
what’s happening with the education of our nation’s children. As Americans
we enjoy a wide range of personal choice, and thankfully it includes our ability
to select the pants that fit us best. But think for a moment about traditional
public education. For decades the public school system has offered a one
size fits all approach to educating our nation’s children. As we approached the
21st century, the public school system began to show its age. More and more
children began to fall behind in a rapidly changing environment marked by the
introduction of personal computers and later the internet. Sensing a need for
change, many people began to push for new educational models that would
keep up with the times. This marked the beginning of the school choice
movement.
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Types of discourse (XIV)

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 Types of discourse (XIV)

Expository discourse
Expository discourse delivers information about an issue, subject
or idea widening the reader’s knowledge. A wide variety of
expository texts can be found in weather forecasts, travel guides,
newspaper articles, etc. The first type of expository texts may
explain how something works (instructions) and the second type
deal with human behavior (how to be more popular, what causes a
hurricane…). Among expository texts we can find analogies that
consist on:

•Cause and effect: Itching/scratching, virus/cold.

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 Types of discourse (XV)

Expository discourse
Among expository texts we can find analogies that consist on:
•Part to the whole: Battery/car, toy, finger/hand.
•Object to the purpose: Knife, scissors/ cut, pencil/write.
•Item to the category: Dog to mammal, fish to animal, lizzard to
reptile.
•Synonym: Handsome/beautiful, nice/pleasant.
•Antonym: Pretty/ugly, happy/sad.
•Product to source: Milk/cow, apple/tree.
•Object to material: Shoe/leather, necklace/gold.

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Types of discourse (XVI)

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Types of discourse (XVII)

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Designing discourse-based lessons and Activities

The lesson plan will take 60 minutes and will be addressed to

intermediate level students. The objective will be to learn the
discourse markers and the needed materials are:
Video of a trailer of the film Chicago from the Oscar ceremony.
Cards of photographs taken from the film Chicago.
Written text from an internet website.
Cards of discourse markers.

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Designing discourse-based lessons and Activities
(II)

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Designing discourse-based lessons and Activities (III)
The following lesson plan will last 60 minutes and be addressed to
6th primary students. The main objective will be to learn the
passive voice through a famous monument ‘The Statue of Liberty’.
Through this lesson plan students will use the 4 skills and will
learn the passive voice implicitly.

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Designing discourse-based lessons and Activities (IV)
Another way to introduce discourse analysis is through
pragmatics, which is mainly focused on communicative skills.
Learners at pre-intermediate and higher levels should be aware of
the meaning behind the message. As Nunan (1993, p. 20)
pinpoints “with reference to the purposes and functions”, by
planning activities that analyze “for which the discourse was
produced, as well as the context within which the discourse was
created.” 

Performance
Students are asked to read an advertisement (see image below)
and prepare a short dialogue and think why the company needed
to do this campaign. It could also be used as an awareness
campaign against smoking. Through this activity they will work on
persuasive language (adjectives, adverbs, modal verbs).

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Designing discourse-based lessons and Activities (IV)

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Designing discourse-based lessons and Activities (V)

The students are expected to represent how the idea came out and the
point of the campaign. For example:
One morning in the office my boss was really nervous and I asked him,
“Why are you so nervous” and he replied “Because I am quitting
smoking” She then replies “But are you getting any help, a doctor,
medicine, etc.?” Her boss replies “Of course not, I am ready to quit”.
Then she says “In my opinion, you should use... (and add the name of
the product you want to advertise).  This activity would be suitable for
secondary students or adults with an intermediate + level of English.

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Designing discourse-based lessons and Activities (VI)

The teacher will show the students different types of discourse and
they will have to match them to the corresponding images.
First conversation (Easy Pace Learning, 2020a)
Laurie: So, what are your plans for this weekend?
Christie: I don’t know. Do you want to get together or something?
Sarah: How about going to see a movie? Cinemax 26 on Carson
Boulevard is showing Enchanted.
Laurie: That sounds like a good idea. Maybe we should go out to eat
beforehand.
Sarah: It is fine with me. Where do you want to meet?
Christie: Let’s meet at Summer Pizza House. I have not gone there for
a long time.
Laurie: Good idea again. I heard they just came up with a new pizza. It
should be good because Summer Pizza House always has the best
pizza in town.

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Designing discourse-based lessons and Activities (IX)

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