Showing papers on "Discourse analysis published in 2006"

Security as Practice: Discourse Analysis and the Bosnian War

Abstract: 1. Introduction Part I. The Theory and Methodology of Discourse Analysis 2. Discourse analysis, identity and foreign policy 3. Beyond the Other: analyzing the complexity of identity 4. Intertextualizing foreign policy: genres, authority and knowledge 5. Research designs: asking questions and choosing texts Part II. A Discourse Analysis of the Western Debate on the Bosnian War 6. The basic discourses in the Western debate over Bosnia 7. Humanitarian responsibility versus "lift and strike" 8. Writing the past, predicting the future 9. The failure of the West? The evolution of the Genocide discourse and the ethnics of inaction 10. Conclusion

Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract: 'Analysing Newspapers' provides students of journalism, communication studies and discourse analysis with a systematic, discourse-based framework for the critical study of newspaper reporting. Assuming no prior knowledge of discursive theory, the book explores how the language of journalism works--its power, its function and its effects. Using wide-ranging and highly topical case studies and examples, students are shown discourse analysis of journalism "in action". Identifying and exploring key linguistic concepts and tools, Richardson provides a detailed introduction to a practical model of critical discourse analysis which students will be able to apply to their own newspaper research.

A framework to analyze argumentative knowledge construction in computer-supported collaborative learning

Abstract: Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is often based on written argumentative discourse of learners, who discuss their perspectives on a problem with the goal to acquire knowledge. Lately, CSCL research focuses on the facilitation of specific processes of argumentative knowledge construction, e.g., with computer-supported collaboration scripts. In order to refine process-oriented instructional support, such as scripts, we need to measure the influence of scripts on specific processes of argumentative knowledge construction. In this article, we propose a multi-dimensional approach to analyze argumentative knowledge construction in CSCL from sampling and segmentation of the discourse corpora to the analysis of four process dimensions (participation, epistemic, argumentative, social mode).

Ideology and discourse analysis

Abstract: Contrary to most traditional approaches, ideologies are defined here within a multidisciplinary framework that combines a social, cognitive and discursive component. As ‘systems of ideas’, ideologies are sociocognitively defined as shared representations of social groups, and more specifically as the ‘axiomatic’ principles of such representations. As the basis of a social group's self-image, ideologies organize its identity, actions, aims, norms and values, and resources as well as its relations to other social groups. Ideologies are distinct from the sociocognitive basis of broader cultural communities, within which different ideological groups share fundamental beliefs such as their cultural knowledge. Ideologies are expressed and generally reproduced in the social practices of their members, and more particularly acquired, confirmed, changed and perpetuated through discourse. Although general properties of language and discourse are not, as such, ideologically marked, systematic discourse analysis offe...

The tension between authoritative and dialogic discourse: A fundamental characteristic of meaning making interactions in high school science lessons

Abstract: In this paper, we draw upon a framework for analyzing the discursive interactions of science classrooms (Mortimer & Scott, 2003, Meaning Making in Secondary Science Classrooms, Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press), to probe the movement between authoritative and dialogic discourse in a Brazilian high school science class. More specifically, we argue the point that such shifts between communicative approaches are an inevitable part of teaching whose purpose is to support meaningful learning of scientific knowledge. We suggest that a necessary tension therefore exists between authoritative and dialogic approaches as dialogic exchanges are followed by authoritative interventions (to develop the canonical scientific view), and the authoritative introduction of new ideas is followed by the opportunity for dialogic application and exploration of those ideas. In these ways, one communicative approach follows from the other, authoritativeness acting as a seed for dialogicity and vice versa. We discuss how this analysis, in terms of shifts in communicative approach, offers a new and complementary perspective on supporting “productive disciplinary engagement” (Engle & Conant, 2002, Cognition and Instruction, 20, 399–484) in the classroom. Finally we consider some methodological issues arising from this study. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed90:605–631, 2006

Mobility, Indexicality, and the Enregisterment of “Pittsburghese”

Abstract: This article explores the sociolinguistic history of a U.S. city. On the basis of historical research, ethnography, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistic interviews, the authors describe how a set of linguistic features that were once not noticed at all, then used and heard primarily as markers of socioeconomic class, have come to be linked increasingly to place and “enregistered” as a dialect called “Pittsburghese.” To explain how this has come about, the authors draw on the semiotic concept of “orders of indexicality.” They suggest that social and geographical mobility during the latter half of the twentieth century has played a crucial role in the process. They model a particularistic approach to linguistic and ideological change that is sensitive not only to ideas about language that circulate in the media but also to the life experiences of particular speakers; and they show how an understanding of linguistic variation, language attitudes, and the stylized performance of dialect is enhanced by expl...

Knowledge building in asynchronous discussion groups: Going beyond quantitative analysis

Abstract: This contribution examines the methodological challenges involved in defining the collaborative knowledge-building processes occurring in asynchronous discussion and proposes an approach that could advance understanding of these processes. The written protocols that are available to the analyst provide an exact record of the instructional transactions at a given time in the online discussion. On the basis of a study of online discussion forums used in a higher education context, a model for the analysis of collaborative knowledge building in asynchronous discussion is presented. The model allows examination of the communication from the multiple perspectives of interaction, cognition and discourse analysis. The investigation was conducted using a qualitative case study approach and involved an in-depth examination of three cases. Content analysis of the discourse was done at a number of levels, focusing on the discussion forum itself, the discussion threads, the messages, and the exchanges and moves among the messages. As a result of correspondences found among the variables representing the different levels of the analysis, the most important being the relationship between type of interaction, phase of critical inquiry, and move in the exchange structure, it was possible to build a scheme for assessing knowledge building in asynchronous discussion groups. The scheme integrates the interactive, cognitive and discourse dimensions in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). The study represents a merging of quantitative analysis within qualitative methodology and provides both an analytic and a holistic perspective on CSCL.

Metadiscourse in L1 and L2 English

Abstract: The pervasive phenomenon of metadiscourse – commentary on the ongoing discourse – is beginning to take its rightful place among the major topics of discourse studies. This book makes simultaneous contributions to the theory of metadiscourse, corpus-based methods of studying such phenomena, and our knowledge of metadiscourse use in written English. After comprehensively reviewing previous research, it introduces a more rigorous and empirical approach to metadiscourse studies. Adel presents a new model of metadiscourse based on Jakobson’s functions of language, and other conceptual tools, including explicit features for defining metadiscourse, a taxonomy of the functions it serves, and maps of the boundaries between it and related phenomena. A large-scale study of writing by L1 and L2 university students is presented, in which the L2 speakers’ overuse of metadiscourse strongly marks them as lacking in communicative competence. This work is of interest both to linguists and to educators concerned with writing in English.

Identity as a Variable

Abstract: As scholarly interest in the concept of identity continues to grow, social identities are proving to be crucially important for understanding contemporary life. Despite—or perhaps because of—the sprawl of different treatments of identity in the social sciences, the concept has remained too analytically loose to be as useful a tool as the literature’s early promise had suggested. We propose to solve this longstanding problem by developing the analytical rigor and methodological imagination that will make identity a more useful variable for the social sciences. This article offers more precision by defining collective identity as a social category that varies along two dimensions—content and contestation. Content describes the meaning of a collective identity. The content of social identities may take the form of four non-mutually-exclusive types: constitutive norms; social purposes; relational comparisons with other social categories; and cognitive models. Contestation refers to the degree of agreement within a group over the content of the shared category. Our conceptualization thus enables collective identities to be compared according to the agreement and disagreement about their meanings by the members of the group. The final section of the article looks at the methodology of identity scholarship. Addressing the wide array of methodological options on identity—including discourse analysis, surveys, and content analysis, as well as promising newer methods like experiments, agent-based modeling, and cognitive mapping—we hope to provide the kind of brush clearing that will enable the field to move forward methodologically as well.

Discourse and Identity

Abstract: Numerous disciples across the social sciences and the humanities today take language and linguistic processes as fundamental dimensions for the construction, negotiation and representation of identities. Without attempting to provide a comprehensive overview of research on discourse and identity, Discourse and Identity deals with some of the major issues, concepts and approaches characteristic of contemporary studies on discourse and identity. The chapters in this volume explore a wide range of interactional contexts, speech communities and analytical resources. This volume consists of fifteen chapters organized into four parts. In addition to an overview of the volume and a brief summary of each of the chapters in the book, the general introduction reviews current perspec tives regarding the study of discourse and identity. Given that the volume explores these issues in a highly specialized fashion, the overview will be appreciated by non-expert readers. Four major widely accepted approaches to the study of discourse and identity are outlined: Ÿ Social constructionism, based on theoretical constructs introduced by Berger and Luckmann (1967) or Hall (1996), regards the conception of identities as processes – rather than products – that take shape in the course of specific interactional occasions, in which ‘discursive work’ serves to negotiate the individual with the social.

Massively Multiplayer Online Video Gaming as Participation in a Discourse

Abstract: This article has two primary goals: (a) to illustrate how a closer analysis of language can lead to fruitful insights into the activities that it helps constitute, and (b) to demonstrate the complexity of the practices that make up Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOGaming) through just such an analysis. The first goal is in response to the way we sometimes treat language in studies of activity, despite calls for more nuanced analyses (e.g., Wells, 2002), as a mere conduit for information in which its other (social, identity) functions are overlooked. The second goal is in response to the diatribes against video games in the media and their frequent dismissal as barren play. In this article, I use functional linguistics to unpack how a seemingly inconsequential turn of talk within the game Lineage reveals important aspects of the activity in which it is situated as well as the broader "forms of life" enacted in the game through which members display their allegiance and identity.

The Emergence of Metaphor in Discourse.

Abstract: We show how emergence offers new explanations for the behaviour of metaphorically-used expressions. Analysis of metaphors in two types of natural language data are combined: detailed analysis of continuous discourse, which offers wealth of context and the possibility of monitoring emergent forms as the discourse unfolds, and computer-assisted corpus analysis, which enables the examination of large numbers of examples of specific words and phrases across a range of contexts. We find that non-literal expressions with a relatively fixed form and highly specific semantics and pragmatics are very frequent in our data but are not well accounted for by current cognitive metaphor theory. We term these non-literal expressions ‘metaphoremes’, and argue that they represent the coalescence of linguistic, semantic, affective, and pragmatic forces into attractor states in the discourse system, appearing in discourse as relatively stable bundles of patterns of use. We show a metaphoreme emerging in the course of a discourse event and another which appears to have emerged recently as a result of a changing social environment. We then combine analyses and data types to track the use of as a metaphoreme, showing its patterns of formal, semantic, affective, and pragmatic characteristics.

Evaluation in Media Discourse: Analysis of a Newspaper Corpus

Abstract: Introduction I. Evaluation and newspaper discourse 1. Analysing evaluation in the news 2. The news story in its context 3. Delimiting evaluation 4. A new theory of evaluation II. Evaluation in the press: a corpus-based analysis 5. Evaluation in the press: a corpus-based pragmatic analysis III. Empirical and theoretical issues 6. Evaluation: broadsheets vs. tabloids 7. Implications for a new theory of evaluation References Appendices.

Applications of Rhetorical Structure Theory

Abstract: Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) is a theory of text organization that has led to areas of application beyond discourse analysis and text generation, its original goals. In this article, we review...

Small-Group Reflections: Parallels Between Teacher Discourse and Student Behavior in Peer-Directed Groups

Abstract: Prior research on small-group collaboration identifies several behaviors that significantly predict student learning, such as exchanging explanations and applying help received. Previous reports focus on student behavior to understand why many students do not engage in behaviors predictive of learning, leaving unexplored how teachers may influence small-group interaction. Consequently, this article describes established teacher practices and examines whether and how students reproduce teacher discourse in the context of a semester-long program of cooperative learning in four middle school mathematics classrooms. This article illustrates changes that emerged and factors that made change difficult. The research concludes that student behavior largely mirrored the discourse modeled by and the expectations communicated by teachers. Teachers tended to give unlabeled calculations, procedures, or answers instead of labeled explanations. Teachers often instructed using a recitation approach in which they assumed ...

Collaboration Between ESL and Content Teachers: How Do We Know When We Are Doing It Right?

Abstract: Partnership and the integration of language and content teaching in English-medium schools have long been active areas of research and inquiry in applied linguistics and TESOL. However, most researchers have tended to focus on methods and techniques to use in the classroom or on the analysis of the linguistic demands of the content areas. Much less attention has been paid to researching the process of coplanning and co-teaching and to supporting the evolution of the partnership between ESL and content teachers. This paper draws on questionnaire and interview data collected as part of a school-based professional development initiative in an English-medium school in Asia that focused on developing more collaborative relationships between ESL and content/classroom teachers in a large culturally and linguistically diverse elementary school. The paper begins with an analysis of some of the underlying assumptions in current conceptualisations of effective collaboration between ESL and mainstream/content-area teachers, then presents an emerging framework that draws on teacher talk and critical discourse analysis to describe and evaluate the stages of collaboration and the different levels of its effectiveness. The implications of this research for evaluating approaches to partnership and for setting realistic goals for professional development and institutional change will also be explored. doi: 10.2167/beb339.0

Talk, talk, talk: teaching and learning in whole class discourse

Abstract: UK national initiatives in education, such as the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies, have been implemented to improve learning and raise standards These initiatives place considerable significance on whole class interactive teaching, and political rhetoric makes great play of this pedagogic strategy Teachers have been encouraged to use up to 15 minutes of whole class teaching in literacy and numeracy as a key focus for developing pupil learning This paper reports on a two‐and‐a‐half‐year research study which investigated the nature and quality of these discourse episodes through analysing how teachers use talk in these whole class teaching episodes to develop and build on pupils’ learning The study explored how teachers use questions, how they capitalize on pupils’ prior knowledge and how they help pupils become independent learners A particular focus of the paper is to illustrate how teacher discourse can variously support or impede pupil learning, and how cognitive or conceptual connections

The Utility of Discourse Analysis to Heritage Studies: The Burra Charter and Social Inclusion

Abstract: This paper reviews the methodological utility of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in heritage studies. Using the Burra Charter as a case study we argue that the way we talk, write and otherwise represent heritage both constitutes and is constituted by the operation of a dominant discourse. In identifying the discursive construction of heritage, the paper argues we may reveal competing and conflicting discourses and the power relations that underpin the power/knowledge relations between expertise and community interests. This identification presents an opportunity for the resolution of conflicts and ambiguities in the pursuit of equitable dialogues and social inclusion.

Approaches to discourse particles

Abstract: Towards an Understanding of the Spectrum of Approaches to Discourse Particles: Introduction to the Volume, K. Fischer Part I: Polysemy-Based Approaches A Dynamic Polysemy Approach to the Lexical Semantics of Discourse Markers (with an Exemplary Analysis of French Toujours), M-B. Mosegaard Hansen Discourse Markers in English: a Discourse-Pragmatic View, D.M. Lewis The Rise of Discourse Markers in Italian: a Specific Type of Language Change, R. Waltereit A Functional Approach to the Study of Discourse Markers, S. Pons Borderia Pragmatic Markers in Translation: a Methodological Proposal, K. Aijmer, et al. The Description of Text Relation Markers in the Geneva Model of Discourse Organization, E. Roulet A Dynamic Approach to Discourse Particles, H. Zeevat Part II: Monosemy-Based Approaches A Relevance-Theoretic Approach to Discourse Particles in Singapore English, Ler Soon Lay Vivien From Procedural Meaning to Processing Requirement, T. Nyan Towards a Theory of Discourse Markers, B. Fraser What are Particles Good For?, H. Weydt The Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach to Discourse Markers, C.E. Travis Epistemic Modalities and the Discourse Particles of Singapore, A.F. Gupta Integrating Prosodic and Contextual Cues in the Interpretation of Discourse Markers, Li-Chiung Yang Formal Properties of a Subset of Discourse Markers: Connectives, C. Rossari Discourse Marker Research and Theory: Revisiting and, D. Schiffrin Discourse Markers as Attentional Cues at Discourse Transitions, G. Redeker A Dynamic-Interactional Approach to Discourse Markers, B. Frank-Job Discourse Particles as Morphemes and as Constructions, F. Nemo Discourse Particles and Modal Particles as Grammatical Elements, G. Diewald Frames, Constructions, and Invariant Meanings: the Functional Polysemy of Discourse Particles, K. Fischer Discourse Markers in Italian: Towards a "Compositional" Meaning, C. Bazzanella

Qualitative research methods for psychologists : introduction through empirical studies

Abstract: Part I: CLINICAL PRACTICES L. Honos-Webb, W.B. Stiles, L.S. Greenberg, and R. Goldman, An Assimilation Analysis of Psychotherapy: Responsibility for "Being There" A. Madill, Exploring Psychotherapy with Discourse Analysis: Chipping away at the Mortar D.L. Rennie, The Grounded Theory Method: Application of a Variant of its Procedure of Constant Comparative Analysis to Psychotherapy Research S. Churchill, Phenomenological Analysis: Clinical Impression Formation during a Psychodiagnostic Interview J. Goicoechea, Diagnostic Discourse in Patient-Staff Interactions: A Conversation Analysis Clarified by Participant Interviews Part II: AFFECTIVE AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES S.L. Morrow, Honor and Respect: Feminist Collaborative Research with Sexually Abused Women B. Robbins, An Empirical, Phenomenological Study: Being Joyful J. de Rivera, Conceptual Encounter: The Experience of Anger S. Halling, M. Leifer and J.O. Rowe, Emergence of the Dialogal Approach: Forgiving Another H.R. Pollio and M.J. Ursiak, A Thematic Analysis of Written Accounts: Thinking about Thought Part III: LIFE SITUATIONS V. Esbjorn-Hargens and R. Anderson, Intuitive Inquiry: An Exploration of Embodiment among Contemporary Female Mystics A. Collen, An Application of Experiential Method in Psychology: What Is It Like to Be a Stranger in a Foreign Land L. Levers, Focus Groups and Related Rapid Assessment Methods: Identifying Psychoeducational HIV/AIDS Interventions in Botswana

Children’s Agency and Educational Norms: A tensed negotiation

Abstract: ‘Children as social actors’ and ‘children’s participation’ are key concepts in present-day discourse and form a significant paradigm shift for the educational sciences, inspired by sociology of childhood. Some critical comments can however be made on how these concepts are transcribed into practice. A historical perspective, connecting the micro and the macro level, investigates how the new paradigm may be linked to discursive fields related to neoliberalism and its specific shifts in governmentality. These critical comments are inspired by a historical research into 150 years of governing children and families in Belgium. The discussion is necessary in order to evaluate whether and how the inclusive discourse on children can in turn exclude specific groups of children and adults in late modernity.

The development of e-mail literacy: from writing to peers to writing to authority figures

Abstract: Though e-mail has become a common interpersonal communication medium, it does not mean that this medium is used without difficulty. While people can write e-mails to peers in any manner they like, writing e-mails to authority figures requires higher pragmatic competence and critical language awareness of how discourse shapes and reflects power asymmetry in an institutional context. For L2 learners, the challenge of composing this type of e-mail can be greater due not only to their limited linguistic ability but also their unfamiliarity with the target culture's norms and values. To provide a deeper understanding of how an L2 learner develops email literacy in the target language environment, this paper presents a longitudinal case study of a Taiwanese graduate student’s e-mail practice in English during her studies at a U.S. university for two and a half years. Using a critical discourse analysis approach, the study reveals the complexity of an L2 learner’s evolving e-mail practice and struggle for appropriateness, particularly in her e-mail communication with professors. Her development of e-mail literacy is discussed in relation to her evolving understanding of the e-mail medium, changing performance of student identity, increasing knowledge of student-professor interaction and realization of culture-specific politeness.

Discourse and Identity: Group identity, narrative and self-representations

Abstract: Introduction The last decade has seen a growing interdisciplinary interest in the formation, negotiation, and development of identities. This new focus on identity is, at least partially, the product of the intensified contact between different communities brought about in post-modern societies by such social processes as globalization and massive migrations. The multiplication of the occasions for contact with the other has brought with it a problematization of the concept of identity itself and an effort to understand the relationship between people's sense of membership in a community, the beliefs and social practices that define that sense of membership, and its expression and manifestation in social behavior. For discourse analysts and sociolinguists the challenge has been to show not only the centrality of the role of language in the construction and transmission of identities, but also the concrete forms in which and through which language practices index such identities. In this chapter, I focus on how group identity is represented and negotiated in narratives. I argue that narrators build shared representations about who they are by creating story-worlds in which identities are characterized in common ways and routinely related to specific actions or reactions. The analysis of how narrators build relationships between identities and actions affords us knowledge on the nature of group self-representations, because it allows the investigation of traits that are seen as salient in descriptions of self and others and of the consequences that category membership has for social action.

Lifelong learning and the knowledge economy: those that know and those that do not—the discourse of the European Union

Abstract: This article is based on a textual analysis of European Commission documents that, from 1993 to 2006, construct the discourses of lifelong learning and the knowledge economy. Exploring an apparent conceptual laxity, it finds absolute consistency in the construction of two categories of learner: the high knowledge‐skilled learner (graduate/postgraduate) for the knowledge economy, and the low knowledge‐skilled learner located in (or beyond) the knowledge society. The low knowledge‐skilled learners are not only those at risk, they are increasingly constructed as the risk. The analysis suggests that the binary classification is initially classed and raced—and only then is it gendered. In contrast, labour market studies of the knowledge economy, providing either gendered or national data, obscure the vital cross‐cutting matrix of social class, ‘race’ and age. The article advocates further studies of lifelong learning practices and labour market data based on finely‐crossed analyses of social class, poverty, ag...

Investigating Media Discourse

Abstract: Investigating Media Discourse explores spoken interactions in the media, drawing on contemporary sources from the English speaking world including chat shows, radio phone-ins and political interviews with leaders such as Tony Blair and George WBush The main theoretical framework used in this work is influenced by Goffman, where each media encounter is viewed as a three-way participation framework involving the broadcaster, interviewee and audience, all of whom shape the interaction The spoken media interactions are analysed from this viewpoint to illustrate how they are managed, how pseudo-relationships are established and maintained and how 'others' are created O'Keefe brings together methodologies of discourse analysis, conversation analysis and corpus linguistics allowing the media extracts to be explored from different perspectives whilst providing multiple insights Investigating Media Discourse will appeal to students and researchers of applied linguistics, english language and media Anne O'Keeffe is Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the Department of English Language and Literature, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland

Students assessing their own collaborative knowledge building

Abstract: We describe the design of a knowledge-building environment and examine the role of knowledge-building portfolios in characterizing and scaffolding collaborative inquiry. Our goal is to examine collaborative knowledge building in the context of exploring the alignment of learning, collaboration, and assessment in computer forums. The key design principle involved turning over epistemic agency to students; guided by several knowledge-building principles, they were asked to identify clusters of computer notes that indicated knowledge-building episodes in the computer discourse. Three classes of 9th grade students in Hong Kong used Knowledge Forum in several conditions: Knowledge Forum only, Knowledge Forum with portfolios, and Knowledge Forum with portfolios and principles. Results showed: (1) Students working on portfolios guided knowledge-building principles showed deeper inquiry and more conceptual understanding than their counterpart (2) Students' knowledge-building discourse, reflected in portfolio scores, contributed to their domain understanding; and (3) Knowledge-building portfolios helped to assess and foster collective knowledge advances: A portfolio with multiple contributions from students is a group accomplishment that captures the distributed and progressive nature of knowledge building. Students extended their collective understanding by analyzing the discourse, and the portfolio scaffolded the complex interactions between individual and collective knowledge advancements.

Morphosyntactic persistence in spoken English: a corpus study at the intersection of variationist sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and discourse analysis

Abstract: Language users are creatures of habit with a tendency to re-use linguistic material that they have produced or heard before. In other words, linguistic patterns and tokens, once used, persist in spoken discourse. The book explores the determinants of this persistence in corpus data of spoken English, drawing on regression analyses of a variety of functional, discourse-functional, cognitive, psycholinguistic, and external factors. In providing a variationist-probabilistic framework for examining the ways in which different internal and external factors influence speakers' linguistic choices, the study ultimately contributes to a theory of how spoken language works.