UNIT 1 ENGLISH DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (an Introduction)

What is usually meant by ‘discourse’? In linguistics, the study of discourse refers to the study of how sentences are used together in narrative, conversation, or any other form of communication. Discourse analysis is usually conceived of as the interdisciplinary study of discourse including perspectives from linguistics, anthropology, sociology, rhetoric, and philosophy. Topics typically include conversational analysis [essentially a sociological subdiscipline], transcriptional techniques [from linguistics], genre analysis [from rhetoric], anthropological linguistics, the cooperative principle and speech act theory [from philosophy], prosodic analysis [from linguistics], narrative structure [from linguistics], and so on.

The discourse analysis as a research method Discourse Analysis can be characterized as a way of approaching and thinking about a problem. Discourse Analysis does not provide a tangible answer to problems based on scientific research, but it enables access to the ontological and epistemological assumptions behind a project, a statement, a method of research, or - to provide an example from the field of Library and Information Science - a system of classification. In other words, Discourse Analysis will enable to reveal the hidden motivations behind a text or behind the choice of a particular method of research to interpret that text.

…the discourse analysis as a research method Expressed in today's more trendy vocabulary, Critical or Discourse Analysis is nothing more than a deconstructive reading and interpretation of a problem or text (while keeping in mind that postmodern theories conceive of every interpretation of reality and, therefore, of reality itself as a text. Discourse Analysis can be applied to any text, that is, to any problem or situation, however, since Discourse Analysis is basically an interpretative and deconstructing reading, there are no specific guidelines to follow.

Discourse analysis In this class, we’ll be concerned with how information is distributed in discourses and how the English languages differs in the ways they distribute information. We’ll be interested in differences in the kind and amount of information that languages routinely encode. The central thesis of this course is that the language one learns to speak affects not only how information is expressed but also what information is expressed. These matters are only beginning to be investigated systematically, and for this reasons there is no textbook or published book of readings that can be assigned for a class like this. We’ll have to work from primary text, to the most complex ones.

Improving the written discourse The contents of essays and assignments can be let down by your poor use of English. If the piece of work (discourse) is difficult to read or understand, your lecturers might not have the time to decipher it. They may then give it poorer marks than it really deserves. There are many ways to improve your written English; for instance by reading books, newspapers and magazines as often as possible, in order to improve grammar, punctuation, spelling and style.

Effective writing A well-written piece can be described as incorporating elements of writing in such a way that a reader can experience the writer's intended meaning, understand the writer's premise, and accept or reject the writer's point of view.

…effective writing An effective Writing… Is focused on the topic and does not contain extraneous or loosely related information; Has an organizational pattern that enables the reader to follow the flow of ideas because it contains a beginning, middle, and end and uses transitional devices; Contains supporting ideas that are developed through the use of details, examples, vivid language, and mature word choice; and… Follows the conventions of standard written English (i.e., punctuation, capitalization, and spelling) and has variation in sentence structure.

CONTENT WRITER’S PROCESS AUDIENCEPURPOSE WORD CHOICE ORGANIZATION MECHANICSGRAMMARSYNTAX PRODUCING A PIECE OF WRITING sentence structure, sentence boundaries stylistic choices, etc Rules for verbs, agreement, articles, pronouns, etc. handwriting, spelling, punctuation,etc. paragraphs, topic and support, cohesion and unity vocabulary, idiom, tone the reason for writing the reader/s getting ideas, getting started, writing drafts, revising relevance, clarity, originality, logic, etc.

Good writing does not just happen. The best writers spend a great deal of time thinking, planning, rewriting, and editing….