Application of Discourse Analysis to EnglishTeaching and Learning.docx

Application of Discourse Analysis to EnglishTeaching and Learning.docx

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ApplicationofDiscourseAnalysistoEnglishTeachingandLearning

ApplicationofDiscourseAnalysistoEnglish

TeachingandLearning

.Introduction

Duetotheinfluenceoftraditionalgrammar-translationteachingmethod,teachersdonotlaunchonteachingfromthehierarchy,structureandinternalmeaningbutstillputemphasisontheanalysisofthedifficultpointsofgrammarandvocabularyteaching.Thiskindofteachingmethodhasnotmadefundamentalbreakthroughoftraditionalgrammar-translationteachingmethod.Therefore,studentscannotgettheproperthinkingmethodsandskillsthatstudentsshouldobtain.Discourseanalysis,asayoungbranchoflearningsprungupin1990s,hasundergoneatremendousdevelopment,likeanystudyofmulti-disciplinaryissues,itwasdeniedandignoredbysomescholarsforalongtime,butnowadaysitbecomesaprosperoussubjectthatdealswiththestudyandapplicationofapproachestoanalyzewritten,spokenorsignedlanguage.Contrarytomuchoftraditionallinguistics,discourseanalystsnotonlystudylanguageusebeyondthelexical,phraseandsentenceboundary,butalsoprefertoanalyze“naturallyoccurring”languageuse.

Thispaper,ingeneral,isanintroductiontodiscourseanddiscourseanalysis,whichisdividedintotwoparts:

theoreticalpartandpracticalpart.Theformerwhichpresentsascholarlysetofideas,andthelaterisdevotedtotheaccountofthestudyinordertosupporttheideaspresentedinthefirstchapter.theformerpartissubdividedintothreechapters.Thefirstchapterprovidesathoroughdescriptionoftheterm‘discourse’itself,includingexamplesofvarioustypesandfeatures.Thesecondonepresentstheoriginsanddevelopmentofdiscourseanalysis.AndthelastchapteroftheoreticalpartprovidesthewaysofapplyingthetheorytoteachingandlearningvariousaspectsofEnglishlanguage,suchasgrammar,textreadingandcomprehension,andtheemphasisisputontheinterpretationofwrittentext.

ThepracticalpartofthispaperdescribesthestudyconductedonagroupofpolishlearnersofEnglish.Thiscomponentfocusesonfindinglexicalchainsintexts.Despitethefactthatthestudyaimstochecktheperceptionandimplementationoflexicalchainsinwrittentexts,itisalsousefulinunderstandinglongspeeches,thenewlydevelopeddiscourseanalysisisaneffectivemethodusedinEnglishteachingandlearning,whichhasmaximizedteachingeffectsandlearningachievementsofEnglishteaching.

.Definitionofdiscourse

Theword‘discourse’originatedfromLatin'discursus'whichdenoted'conversation,speech’.However,discoursereferstoatoowideareaofhumanlife.Inthisthesis,onlyfromthevantagepointoflinguisticsisdiscourseexplained.

Thereisnoagreementamonglinguistswhenitcomestotheuseoftheterm‘discourse’,becausesomeuseitinreferencetotexts,whileothersclaimthatDiscourseisacontinuousstretchof（especiallyspoken）languagelargerthanasentence,oftenconstitutingacoherentunitsuchasasermon,argument,joke,ornarrative.WhileDakowskanoticesthatthedifferencesbetweenvarietyofdiscoursesindicatestheunityofcommunicativeintentionsasavitalelementofeachofthem.Andshesuggestsusingterms'text'and'discourse'almostinterchangeablybetokeningtheformerreferstothelinguisticproduct,whilethelatterimpliestheentiredynamicsoftheprocesses（Dakowska2001:

81）.AccordingtoCook（1990:

7）,novels,aswellasshortconversationsorgroansmightbeequallyrightfullynameddiscourses.

Beaugrande（1981）hassuggestedsevencriteriawhichhavetobefulfilledtoqualifyeitherawrittenoraspokentextasadiscourse.Theseinclude:

Cohesion-grammaticalrelationshipbetweenpartsofasentenceessentialforitsinterpretation;

Coherence-theorderofstatementsrelatesoneanotherbysense.

Intentionality-themessagehastobeconveyeddeliberatelyandconsciously;

Acceptability-indicatesthatthecommunicativeproductneedstobesatisfactoryinthattheaudienceapprovesit;

Informativeness-somenewinformationhastobeincludedinthediscourse;

Situationality-circumstancesinwhichtheremarkismadeareimportant;

Intertextuality-referencetotheworldoutsidethetextortheinterpreters'schemata;

Nowadays,however,notalloftheabovementionedcriteriaareperceivedasequallyimportantindiscoursestudies,thereforesomeofthemarevalidonlyincertainmethodsoftheresearch.

2.1Featuresofdiscourseanalysis

Asitisdifficulttounambiguouslyclarifywhatadiscourseis,itseemsreasonabletodescribefeatureswhicharemutualtoallitlinks.Todoitthoroughly,Saussuredistinguishedthelanguagecompetenceofthespeakerandtheactualphenomenaordataoflinguistics（utterance）aslangueandparole（Saussure:

1959:

13-14）.Followingthisdivision,discourserelatesmoretoparole,foritconstitutestheimmediatelyaccessibledata,thelinguist’sproperobjectisthelangueofeachcommunity,thelexicon,grammar,andphonologyimplantedineachindividualbyhisupbringinginsocietyandonthebasisofwhichhespeaksandunderstandshislanguage,whilelangueisabstract.Herearesomeadditionaltraits:

discourseisalwaysproducedbysomebodywhoseidentity,aswellastheidentityoftheinterpreter,issignificantfortheproperunderstandingofthemessage.Whilelangueismoreimpersonal.Furthermore,langueisasetofconventionthatmembersofaspeechcommunityseemtoabideby,whileparoleistheconcreteuseofconventionnotspokenbyanyone.Consequently,onlydiscoursemayconveymessagesthankstolanguewhichisitsframework.

2.2Typesofdiscourse

Atypeofdiscoursemightbecharacterizedasaclassofeitherwrittenorspokentext,whichisfrequentlycasuallyspecified,recognitionofwhichaidsitsperception,andconsequentlyproductionofpotentialresponse（Cook1990:

156）.TheOrganonmodelisoneofsuchdivisions,whichdistinguishesthreetypesofdiscourse:

informativetypeofdiscourse,narrativediscourse,argumentativediscourse.Thisdistinctionisduetoitssuitabilityforwrittencommunicativeproductsmorethanforspokenones.Whilesteger’sanalysisliesoutsidethedomainofwrittencommunicativeproductsandleadstotheemergenceofanew,moredetailedclassificationofkindsofspokentexts.Andstegerexaminedfeaturesofvarioussituationsanddivideddiscourseintosixtypes:

presentation,message,report,publicdebate,conversationandinterview.However,itisworthmentioningthatoraldiscoursemightalteritscharacter,forexample,inthecaseofpresentingalecturewhenstudentsstarttoaskquestionsthetypechangesintoaninterview,orevenaconversation.

Thepossibledivisionofdiscoursetypesmentionedabovedonotexhaustotherdivisionsdidbythetypologies,nowadaysashiftofinterestinthisfieldpresentlyfocusesonsimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenwrittenandspokendiscourse（Renkema2004:

64）.

2.3Writtenandspokendiscourse

Therearealsootherdistinctionsbetweenthem.Exceptforobviousdifferencesbetweenspeechandwritinglikethefactthatwritingincludessomemediumwhichkeepsrecordoftheconveyedmessagewhilespeechisconnectedonlytoair.Itisimpossibleforaconversationinwhicheverysentenceistoberephrased.Buttalkingisspontaneous,whichcausesmistakes,repetition,sometimeslesscoherentsentenceswhereevengrunts,stuttersorpausesmightbemeaningful.Thisisbecausethespeakerusuallyknowsthefactthatheisbeinglistenedto,whichenableshimtoadjusttheregister.Anotherfeatureoforaldiscourseisthatnonsensevocabulary,slangandcontractedforms（l’ve,they’re）areused.

Incontrast,theauthorofatextdoesnotoftenknowwhoisgoingtoreadthetext,thushecannotadjusttoreaders'specificexpectations.Thewriterfrequentlyhasalmostunlimitedperiodoftimetoconsiderthecontentofhisworksoastomakeitmorecoherent,byusingcomplexsyntax.Henceneatmessageorganization,divisiontoparagraphs,layoutareofvitalimportancetomakecomprehensioneasier.Additionally,theorganizationoftables,formulas,orchartswhichcanbeportrayedonlyinwrittenformbutneverinoraldiscourse,owingtothelackofcontextexpressionsuchas'now'and'here'areomitted,sincetheywouldbeambiguousastextsmightbereadatdifferenttimesandplaces.

Thiskindofdivisionisquitestraightforward,anditispossibletocombinethetwointhecaseofalesson,whenateacherexplainssomethingwrittenontheblackboard,orwhenaspeakerpreparesdetailednotestobereadoutduringhisspeech.

.DISCOURSEANALYSIS-ITSORIGINSANDDEVELOPMEN

Discourseanalysisisageneraltermforanumberofapproachestoanalyzingtheuseofwrittenandspokenlanguage.Theobjectsofdiscourseanalysisarevariouslydefinedintermsofcoherentsequencesofsentences,propositions,speechesandsoon.Discourseanalysishasbeentakenupinavarietyofsocialsciencedisciplines,includinglinguistics,sociology,anthropology,cognitivepsychology,communicationstudiesandtranslationstudies,eachofwhichissubjecttoitownassumption,dimensionsofanalysis,andmethodology.

3.1Startingpointofdiscourseanalysis

Thetermdiscourseanalysisfirstcameintogeneralusefollowingthepublicationofaseriesofpapersbyzellingharrisbeginningin1952andreportingonworkfromwhichhedevelopedtransformationalgrammarinthelate1930s.However,becausehehadnotworkedoutacomprehensivemodel,itwasnottreatedasaseparatebranchofstudy.ItisRobertE.Longacre,oneofKennethL.Pike’sstudents,thatwasabletodisseminateitinadissertation.Inthelate1960sand1970s,an