Basic Concepts

What is discourse?
What is discourse analysis?
Discourse
Widdowson (1984)
A communicative process by means of interaction

Gumper (1977)
A certain communication routines characterized by special rules of speech and non-
verbal behavior, and often distinguished by clearly recognized openings and closings.

Fairlough (1992)
Identifies that in social theory and analysis, discourse has been used to refer to different ways
of structuring areas of knowledge and social practice.

Van Dijk (1998)

Discourse has a role of expressing ideologies, power, dominance, inequality, and bias.
What are they?

Conversation, debates, warning,

advertisement, stories, spoken
announcements, etc.

Letters, newspaper content,

magazines, memo, announcements,
leaflets, etc.
Discourse Analysis

The study of the relationship between language and

its contexts.
Discourse analysis is not only concerned with the
description and analysis of spoken interaction but
also written interaction.

(McCarthy, 1991)
Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis is the analysis of language in

use. Better put, it is the study of language at use
in the world, not just to say things, but to do
things.

(Gee, 2011)
Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis studies more critically to

examine issue relating to power, inequality and
ideology.

(Baker and Ellece, 2011)

Discourse Analysis
Discourse analysis is a research method for
studying written or spoken language in relation
to its social context. It aims to understand how
language is used in real life situations.

(Luo, 2020)
 • The purposes and effects of different
types of language
What is the • Cultural rules and conventions in
focus of communication
discourse • How values, beliefs and assumptions
analysis? are communicated
• How language use relates to its
social, political and historical context
 Conducting discourse analysis means
examining how language functions and
What is how meaning is created in different
discourse social contexts.
analysis
used for? It can be applied to any instance of
written or oral language, as well as non-
verbal aspects of communication such
as tone and gestures.
 • Books, newspapers and periodicals
What are the
materials
• Marketing material, such as
brochures and advertisements
suitable for
discourse
• Business and government documents

analysis? • Websites, forums, social media posts

and comments
• Interviews and conversations
How is
discourse
analysis • Unlike linguistic approaches that
focus only on the rules of language
different
use, discourse analysis emphasizes
from other the contextual meaning of language.
methods?
How is
discourse • It focuses on the social aspects of
analysis communication and the ways people
use language to achieve specific
different
effects (e.g. to build trust, to create
from other doubt, to evoke emotions, or to
methods? manage conflict).
How is • Instead of focusing on smaller units
discourse of language, such as sounds, words
analysis or phrases, discourse analysis is used
to study larger chunks of language,
different
such as entire conversations, texts, or
from other collections of texts. The selected
methods? sources can be analyzed on multiple
levels.
 Discourse Elements
for Analysis
Vocabulary, Grammar, Genre, Non-verbal
Communication, and Conversational Codes
 Vocabulary

What is analyzed?
• Words and phrases can be analyzed for ideological
associations, formality, and euphemistic and
metaphorical content.

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
 Grammar

What is analyzed?
• The structure of a text can be analyzed for how it
creates emphasis or builds a narrative.

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
 Genre

What is analyzed?
• Texts can be analyzed in relation to the
conventions and communicative aims of their
genre (e.g. political speeches or tabloid newspaper
articles).

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
 Non-verbal Communication

What is analyzed?
• Non-verbal aspects of speech, such as tone of
voice, pauses, gestures, and sounds like “um”, can
reveal aspects of a speaker’s intentions, attitudes,
and emotions.

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
 Conversational Codes

What is analyzed?
• The interaction between people in a conversation,
such as turn-taking, interruptions and listener
response, can reveal aspects of cultural
conventions and social roles.

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
CRITICAL DISCOURSE
ANALYSIS
CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
END