1 | A s s i g n m e n t s f o r C r i ti c a l D i s c o u r s e A n a l y s i s

ASSIGNMENTS

CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Last Date of Submission: Sunday, May 31, 2020.

1. Textual Analysis: Thematic Progression in the Novel Things Fall Apart

Textually analyze the first two paragraphs of any chapter from the novel Things Fall Apart by
Chuinua Achebe or from any novel of your own choice and identify and describe the thematic
progression patterns in those two paragraphs from the selected chapter. Also discuss that which
type of thematic progression pattern is most frequently used in the chapter and how does the
overall thematic progression contribute to the maintenance of cohesion and coherence in
paragraphs of the selected chapter. Keep in mind that thematic progression includes (i) Constant
Thematic Progression, (ii) Simple Linear Thematic Progression and (iii) Split/Multiple Thematic
Progression.

Note: Two students must not select the same chapter from a similar novel for this very task.

2. Textual Analysis: Thematic Progression in Newspaper Discourse

Pick an editorial or article written in the year 2020 related to the present-day situations such as
Covid-19, Kashmir or any other national or international issue from any Pakistani English
newspaper, preferably The Dawn or The Frontier Post, and identify and discuss the thematic
progression patterns used in it. Also discuss that which type of thematic progression pattern is
most frequently used in the article/editorial and how does the overall thematic progression
contribute to the maintenance of cohesion and coherence in it. Keep in mind that thematic
progression patterns include (i) Constant Thematic Progression, (ii) Simple Linear Thematic
Progression and (iii) Split/Multiple Thematic Progression.

Note: Two students must not select the same article/editorial for this very task.

Some links for the editorials & articles are:

https://www.dawn.com/authors/2677/editorial

https://thefrontierpost.com/category/editorial/

Assigned By: Sulaiman Ahmad, Department of English, NUML (Peshawar)

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https://thefrontierpost.com/#article

3. Textual Analysis: Cohesion in the Novel Things Fall Apart

Textually analyze the first two pages of any chapter from the novel Things Fall Apart by
Chuinua Achebe or from any novel of your own choice and identify and describe the various
Cohesive Devices in those two pages from the selected chapter. Also discuss that which
Cohesive Device is most frequently used in the chapter and how does the overall use of the
cohesive devices contribute to the maintenance of linguistic connectivity in pages of the selected
chapter. Keep in mind that the most well-known cohesive devices include (i) Conjunctions, (ii)
Lexical Repetition, (iii) Synonyms & Antonyms, (iv) Ellipsis and (v) Substitution. (Optional
additional task: Better if you could identify the following three types of conjunction also: (a)
additive conjunction, (b) adversative conjunction and (c) temporal conjunction.)

Note: Two students must not select the same chapter from a similar novel for this very task.

4. Textual Analysis: Cohesion in Newspaper Discourse

Pick an editorial or article written in the year 2020 related to the present-day situations such as
Covid-19, Kashmir or any other national or international issue from any Pakistani English
newspaper, preferably The Dawn or The Frontier Post, and identify and discuss the various
Cohesive Devices used in it. Also discuss that which Cohesive Device is most frequently used in
the article/editorial and how does the overall use of the cohesive devices contribute to the
maintenance of linguistic connectivity in it. Keep in mind that the most well-known and
frequently cohesive devices include (i) Conjunctions, (ii) Lexical Repetition, either partial or
complete, (iii) Synonyms & Antonyms, (iv) Ellipsis and (v) Substitution. (Optional additional
task: Better if you could identify the following three types of conjunction also: (a) additive
conjunction, (b) adversative conjunction and (c) temporal conjunction.)

Note: Two students must not select the same article/editorial for this very task.

Some links for the editorials & articles are:

https://www.dawn.com/authors/2677/editorial

https://thefrontierpost.com/category/editorial/

https://thefrontierpost.com/#article

Assigned By: Sulaiman Ahmad, Department of English, NUML (Peshawar)

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5. Conversational Analysis: Features of Conversation in Play

Select any five pages from Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot or Henrik Ibsen’s play A
Doll's House or from any English play of your own choice and explain how some of the features
of conversation are manifested in the conversations of the play. The features of Conversational
include: (i) Turn-Taking & Turn-Allocation, (ii) Adjacency Pairs, (iii) Insertion Sequences (iv)
Error & Repair and (v) Simultaneous Speech, etc.

Note: No two students should select the same pages from a similar play for this very task.

6. Pragmatic Analysis: Speech Act Theory and Classroom Discourse

Imagine you are to teach a class for about 30 minutes. Construct a classroom discourse that
contains the five speech acts proposed by John Searle, including declarations, representatives,
expressives, directives, and commissive. The constructed discourse should contain teacher-
student conversation as well as student-student conversation.

7. Pragmatic Analysis: Speech Acts in Plays

Select any five pages from Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot or Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll's
House or from any English play of your own choice and identify and explain the various speech acts used
by the characters in the play. During the analysis, the focus should be given to: (i) Locutionary,
Illocutionary & Perlocutionary Acts and (ii) Direct & Indirect Speech Acts. (Optional additional task:
Also discuss if you can prove one character(s) dominant and another subordinate by analyzing the Direct
& Indirect Speech Acts used by the characters).

Note: No two students should select the same pages from a similar play for this very task.

8. Pragmatic Analysis: Paul Grice’s Co-Operative Principle in Plays

Select any five pages from Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot or Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll's
House or from any English play of your own choice and identify and explain the Non-Observance
(flouting or violating) of the four Maxims of Paul Grice’s Cooperative Principle by the characters in the
play. Also discuss that when a character flouts a maxim, what is the implied meaning (implicature) and
when a character violates a maxim, how does he/she deceive the other character(s). The structure of each
example may possibly look like the following:

Assigned By: Sulaiman Ahmad, Department of English, NUML (Peshawar)

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Example No.01: (Write the conversational exchange/adjacency pair/utterances of the speakers here.)

Maxim Violated/Flouted: (Here the maxim(s) which are violated in example no.1 should be written)

Implicature/Deceiving Point: (Here, the implied meaning/implicature or the way a character deceives
others in that particular utterance should be written and explained).

Note: No two students should select the same pages from a similar play for this very task.

9. Pragmatic Analysis: Paul Grice’s Co-Operative Principle in Movies

Select a conversation/dialogue/scene of fifteen (15) minutes from an English movie of your own choice,
preferably a movie with subtitles, and identify and explain the Non-Observance (flouting or violating) of
the four Maxims of Paul Grice’s Cooperative Principle by the actors in the movie. Also discuss that when
an actor flouts a maxim, what is the implied meaning (implicature) and when an actor violates a maxim,
how does he/she deceive the other actor(s). The structure of each example may possibly look like the
following:

Example No.01: (Write the conversational exchange/adjacency pair/utterances of the speakers here.)

Maxim Violated/Flouted: (Here the maxim(s) which are violated in example no.1 should be written)

Implicature/Deceiving Point: (Here, the implied meaning/implicature or the way an actor deceives others
in that particular utterance should be written and explained).

Note: No two students should select the same scene/dialogue from a similar movie for this very task.

10. Pragmatic Analysis: Politeness Strategies in Movies

Select a conversation/dialogue/scene of fifteen (15) minutes from an English movie of your own choice,
preferably a movie with subtitles, and observe how the actors in the movie observe or disregard politeness
principle and strategies in their conversation. The focus here should be on (i) Face-Saving Acts including
(a) Positive face-saving act & (b) Negative face-saving act and (ii) Face-Threating Acts including (a)
Positive face threating act & (b) Negative-face threating act.

Note: No two students should select the same scene/dialogue from a similar movie for this very task.

11. Critical Discourse Analysis: Ideological and Print Media (Newspaper)

Select twenty newspaper headlines from Pakistani and India English newspapers, ten headlines from
each country’s newspaper (preferably on a similar issue/theme such as Kashmir) and identify and discuss
how the Pakistani and Indian newspaper differ in their reflection of the ideological stands of the writers.
During the analysis, the should primarily be given to the vocabulary items (nouns, verbs, adverbs and

Assigned By: Sulaiman Ahmad, Department of English, NUML (Peshawar)

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adjectives) used in the newspapers; positive words for their own country and negative words for the other
country.

Note: Two students must not select the same headlines for this very task.

Links for some Pakistani newspapers are:

i. Pakistani The Dawn: https://epaper.dawn.com/?page=21_04_2020_001

ii. Pakistani The Frontier post: https://thefrontierpost.com/epaper-3/
iii. Indian The Hindu: https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/
iv. Indian The Hindu: https://www.thehindu.com/
v. Indian The New Indian Express: https://www.newindianexpress.com/
vi. Indian The Statesman: https://epaper.thestatesman.com/

Assigned By: Sulaiman Ahmad, Department of English, NUML (Peshawar)