Discourse Analysis

Implications for Pedagogy 1

1. "Language practitioners" can know how
discourse is structured in a given context.
Clarifies what "genres" are.

2. Teachers can present models of the relevant

genres to students and "explain the
underlying features of the text types"

McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 67.
 Discourse Analysis
Implications for Pedagogy 2
3. Familiarity with models such as the IRF
technique in "traditional teacher-fronted
classrooms" can raise the awareness of new
(and experienced) teachers and help them
see this technique probably will not give them
what they want in terms of language
acquisition.

McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 67.
 Discourse Analysis
Implications for Pedagogy 3
4. Teachers can use DA to inform their
evaluations of their learners' performance in
terms of how close they fit with "real-world
discourse".

5. Teachers can teach the systematic features

of discourse: openings, closings, discourse
markers, common adjacency pairs.
McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 67.
 Discourse Analysis
Implications for Pedagogy 4
6. Producers of pedagogical grammars,
learners dictionaries, [and textbooks] can
make materials more representative of real
language use.

McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 67.
 Discourse Analysts'
Questions: 1
1. Who are the participants in the discourse?
a. What is their relationship?
Are they equals?
b. Are there differences in power or
knowledge?
c. What are their goals?

McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 54.
 Discourse Analysts'
Questions: 2
2. How do we know what writers/speakers
mean?
a. What does text mean in this context?
b. What factors help us interpret text?
c. What do we need to know about
context?
d. What textual clues are present?
McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 54.
 Discourse Analysts'
Questions: 3
3. How is this discourse structured/organized?
a. Does this discourse represent a specific
(typical) genre?
b. In what order are ideas presented?
c. How is coherence maintained?
d. What cohesive devices are used?
 Written vs. Spoken Discourse
Features [AND FORMALITY]
1. Detachment or distancing of writer from reader
Use of impersonal pronouns
Use of passive voice (more than usual)
Absence of 'you' and 'I'
Avoidance of "affective/emotional vocabulary"
2. Formality of vocabulary
3. Lexical density
 Formality Continuum:
Spoken and Written Discourse

Informal spoken English Formal written English

Casual conversation: Letter to an Job interview Written academic

cosy chat with a acquaintance article
close friend
E-mail to a friend Conversation with Public speech
manager at work
McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 55.
 Disciplines and Approaches to
Discourse Analysis
1. Sociology
Conversation Analysis
2. Sociolinguistics
Ethnography
Variation Theory
3. Linguistics
Birmingham School
Systemic Functional Linguistics
Critical Discourse Analysis
McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 56-63.
 Conversation Analysis
1. How do people take turns in conversation?
2. How do people open and close conversations?
3. How do people launch new topics, close old
ones, shift topic, etc?
4. How is it that conversation generally
progresses satisfactorily from one utterance
to the next?
McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 58.
 Turn-Yielding Signals
1. A drop of pitch.
2. A drawl on the final syllable or final stressed
syllable of a final clause.
3. The termination of hand gestures.
4. The use of stereotyped expressions such as
you know, or something, and but uh.
5. A drop in loudness.
6. Completion of a grammatical clause.
Carroll, David W. 2008. Psychology of Language, 5th edition. Singapore: Thomson
Wadsworth, p. 230.
 Expected Sequences
(How do you respond?)
Preferred Sequences:
 Greeting
 Compliment (US / Traditional Chinese)
 Apology
 Invitation—acceptance (or decline)

Dispreferred Sequences:
 Declining an offer
 Hymes's (1972)
SPEAKING Model
S setting / scene
P participants
E ends
A act sequence
K key
I instrumentalities
N norms
G genre
McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, p. 60.
 Sinclair-Coulthard or 'Birmingham'
Model of Spoken Interaction
(Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975)

TRANSACTION

EXCHANGE

MOVE

ACT
McCarthy, Michael. 1991. Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, p.22.
Sinclair, J. McH. & R. M Coulthard. 1975. Towards an Analysis of Discourse. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
 Explicitness:
Written vs. Spoken Discourse
Spoken Discourse:
"…is usually so tied to its immediate
context…, speakers usually have even
less need to [explicitly] refer [verbally] to
everything that is in the context and can
take for granted that listeners will know
what is being referred to [because of
linguistic context and non-linguistic
(environmental) clues]".
McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, pp. 63-64.
 Explicitness:
Written vs. Spoken Discourse
Written Texts:
"…are often produced at one time and
place to be read at another" [and so
explicit references may be necessary]". .

McCarthy, Michael, Christian Matthiessen, & Diana Slade. 2010. Discourse Analysis. In
Norbert Schmitt, editor An Introduction to Applied Linguistics, 2nd edition, Chapter 4,
pp. 53-69. London: Hodder Education, pp. 63-64.