uNIT 39 DISCOURSE ANALYSIS STRATEGIES.

OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION.
2. The concept of discourse.
3. The concept of discourse analysis.
4. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS STRATEGIES.
5. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING.
6. CONCLUSION.
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
1. INTRODUCTION.
The main aim of Unit 39 is to examine discourse analysis strategies, that is, the main strategies that come into force in
discourse analysis. Our aim then is to link the notions of discourse, discourse analysis and communicative strategies to its
importance in society, and especially, in the language teaching community
2. The concept of discourse.
The term discourse comes into force when we deal with the highest grammatical level of analysis in the rank scale, that is,
paragraphs and texts in oral or written texts. Cook (1989:6) defines‘discourse’ as ‘language in use, for communication’
and Crystal (1992:25) as ‘a continuous stretch of language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit’.
Main types.
two ma in types of discourse or texts which are represented by spoken and written language and other two further
typology based on formal and informal style. The traditional division of language into the spoken and the written is clearly
and sensibly based on a difference in production and reception. Hence, regarding written communication, we refer to
writer and reader, when they are involved in the productive skill of writing and the receptive skill of reading. Similarly,
we refer to speaker and listener, when they are involved in the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of
listening. Cook (1989) establishes two main differences. The first difference is described in terms of time factor , that is, a
here-and-now production; and the second difference is depicted in terms of degree of reciprocity , that is, one-way
speech or two-way speech.
Formal vs. informal.. Yet as far as discourse structure is concerned, we have to take into account a more fundamental
distinction between formal, planned discourse, which may be either written or spoken, and less formal, unplanned
discourse which (either spoken or written) is usually associated with speech.
3. The concept of discourse analysis .
The term ‘discourse analysis’ can be defined as the study of the relationship between language and the contexts in which
it is used. we may define ‘discourse analysis’ as both a process and a product. The process is realized by the main
language functions, that is, the purpose of communication following pragmatic guidelines (coherence links) whereas the
product is realized by the content involved in that process (cohesive links). At this point it is crucial to relate discourse
analysis to these key concepts (function and form, coherence and cohesion) since they will help us understand the main
core of this study. In fact, the main strategies which are used to analyse discourse are based on the notions of cohesion
and coherence (to be fully developed further on).
Main types of discourse analysis: Among the most relevant types of discourse analysis we may highlight :
(1) Content Analysis, which examines how a text repeats thematic patterns of formations. This type of discourse analysis focuses
on form and, therefore, on linguistic and nonlinguistic devices such as grammar, voculary and pronunciation
(2) Speech Act Analysis, highlights the main functions of language depending on the purpose of the speaker/writer rather
than the content (vocabulary, grammar). So, it emphasizes Gricean’s cooperative principles and the notions of adjacency
pairs and turn- taking.
(3) Frame Analysis, which focuses on the type of activity that the speaker is engaged with when he or she utters a sentence.
(4) Finally, Critical Discourse Analysis gives prominence to the dynamics of power and discourse, that is, it studies the way
social forces are enacted, reproduced and resisted by text and talk in the social context.
The notion of cohesion.
The term ‘cohesion’ concerns the ways in which the components of the surface text (the actual words we hear or see)
are mutually connected within a sequence of utterances (Beaugrande & Dressler, 1988), that is, intra-text linking devices
which are connected to extra-textual reference.
The notion of coherence.
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 The term coherence concerns ‘the ways in which the concepts and relations which underlie the surface text, are mutually
accessible and relevant’ (Beaugrande & Dressler, 1988).
4. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS STRATEGIES.
As stated before, a mention to discourse analysis strategies in our educational curricula is to be found within the
framework of the ‘communicative approach’ to language teaching. Dell Hymes developed the notion of communicative
competence. Hymes was convinced that Chomsky’s notion of competence (1965), defined as a speaker-hearer’s underlying
mental representation of grammatical rules , was far too narrow. Communicative Competence is therefore concerned not
only with what is grammatical but also what is appropriate in a given social situation.
Communicative Competence is divided up into four subcomponents: grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic, and
strategic competence, which are glossed below.
1. Grammatical competence. subsumes all knowledge of lexical items and of rules of morphology, syntax, sentence-
grammar semantics and phonology
2. Sociolinguistic competence refers to the knowledge which the learner has to acquire of the sociocultural rules of
language.
3. Discourse competence.For our purposes, discourse analysis is primarily concerned with the ways in which individual
sentences connect together to form a communicative message.
4. Strategic competence is the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies that may be called into action to
compensate for breakdowns in communication due to performance variables or due to insufficient competence.
Linguistic devices.
Thus, when analysing discourse, we may find common features to all text types which will be reviewed under the
linguistic parameters of cohesion and coherence (Halliday, 1976)
 Cohesion: formal links.
Semantically speaking, the term ‘cohesion’ concerns the ways in which the components of the surface text (the actual
words we hear or see) are mutually connected within a sequence of utterances (Beaugrande & Dress ler, 1988),
1. Grammatical cohesion.Thus the concept of cohesion accounts for the essential semantic relations in a text:
substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and reference.
 The cohesive device of ‘the replacement of one item by another’ so as not to repeat similar ocabulary
 The reference type of grammatical cohesion
 Conjunction is a relevant relationship since connectors establish the necessary links between ideas and
thoughts within the text (coordination: and, but, although, however, in addition).
2. Lexical cohesion.From a lexical approach, we cannot determine specific or technical vocabulary within common types
of texts since they are spontaneous interactions and have open structures (except specific cases) although we do with
literary texts. Hence common texts are namely characterized by the use of a wide range of any grammatical category (i.e.
noun, adjective, verb, adverb, connectors, ) which establish a semantic link and a unity between paragraphs .
 Coherence: contextual links.
Coherence is a purely semantic property of discourse which gives sense and unity to any text, while cohesion is mainly
concerned with morpho-syntactic devices in discourse. A coherent text is a semantically connected, integrated whole,
expressing relations of closeness, time or location between its concepts and sentences. A condition on this continuity
of sense is that the connected concepts are also related in the real world and that the speakers identify these
relations.Hence we may establish two main coherent devices in oral interaction: the interlocutors’ cooperative principles
under the form of four conversational maxims, and the notions of turn-taking and adjacency pairs in conversational
analysis.
1. Grice’s cooperative principles.
The English language philosopher H. Paul Grice communicate participants will implicitly adhere to a set of conventions,
collectively termed the Cooperative Principle or Conversational Maxims, by making their messages conform to four general
rules or maxims where speakers shape their utterances to be understood by hearers. Thus, the maxims are quality,
quantity, relation and manner: first, quality envisages messages to be truthful; quantity , by means of which messages
should be as informative as is required, but not more informative; relation , for messages to be relevant; and manner,
where messages should be clear, brief and orderly.
2. Conversational Analysis and Turn-Taking.
A main feature of conversations is that they tend to follow the convention of turn taking. Simply, this is where one
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 person waits for the other to finish his/her utterance before contributing their own. This is as much a utilitarian convention
as mere manners a conversation, given the aforementioned definition, would logically cease to take place if the agents
involved insisted on speaking even when it was plain that the other was trying to contribute.
3. Conversational Analysis and Adjacency Pairs.
Another fundamental feature of conversation is the idea of adjacency pairs . Posited by Goffman (1976), an example would
be found in a question -answer session. Both conversing parties are aware that a response is required to a question;
moreover, a particular response to a given question. I might invite a friend into my house and ask: “Would you like a
biscuit?” To which the adjacency pair response is expected to be either “Yes” or “No”. My friend may be allergic to
chocolate, however, and place an insertion sequence into the response: “Do you have any ginger snaps?” the reply to
which would cause him to modify his answer accordingly
Nonlinguistic devices.
Conversational speech is often accompanied by gesture , and the relation of these hand movements to the speech are
usually regarded as communicative devices whose function is to amplify or underscore information conveyed in the
accompanying speech.
Concerning facial expression , it deals with an automatic response to an internal state although they can be controlled
voluntarily to a considerable extent, and are used in social situations to convey a variety of kinds of information (smiling and
happiness). Changes in addressees’ facial expressions allows the addressee to express understanding concern,
agreement, or confirmation where expressions such as smiles and head nods as considered as back-channels.
Paralinguistic devices.
The primary medium by which language is expressed, speech, also contains a good deal of information that can be
considered nonverbal. These non-verbal communicative uses of the vocal tract are possible by means of paralanguage, such
as whistling or musical effects. Thus, a speaker’s voice transmits individuating information concerning his or her age, gender,
region of origin, social class, and so on. In addition to this relatively static information, transient changes in vocal quality
provide information about changes in the speaker’s internal state, such as hesitation or interjections.
6.EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING.
The Communicative Approach: a basis for discourse analysis.
Discourse analysis proves effective in communicative language teaching at both the theoretical and practical levels by
providing language teaching and other teaching professionals with proper grounding in discourse analysis. In fact, the
Communicative Approach or simply Communicative Language Teaching was the key to consider language as social behaviour,
seeing the primary goal of language teaching as the development of the learner’s communicative competence.
The verbal part of communicative competence, comprises all the so-called four skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing.
It is important to highlight that language is both productive and receptive. Hymes stated the four competences at work are
as follows: linguistic competence, pragmatic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence, and fluency (Hedge
2000).
1. First, the linguistic competence, as it deals with linguistic and non- linguistic devices in the oral and written interaction
involving all knowledge of lexical items and of rules of morphology, syntax, sentence-grammar semantics and
phonology (Canale and Swain, 1980).
2. Secondly, the pragmatic competence as it also deals with the knowledge the learner has to acquire the sociocultural
rules of language. Regarding the rules of discourse, it is defined in terms of the mastery of how to combine
grammatical forms and meanings (Canale and Swain 1980).
3. Thirdly, the rules of use and usage , proposed by Widdowson (1978) have to do with the discourse competence . Here,
usage refers to the manifestation of the knowledge of a language system and use means the realization of the language
system as meaningful communicative behavior.
4. Finally, we come to the fourth competence at work, the strategic competence. (Canale 1983) where verbal and nonverbal
communication strategies may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to
performance variables or due to insufficient competence. This may be achieved by paraphrase, circumlocution, repetition,
hesistation, avoidanc, guessing as well as shifts in register and style.
there is a need to create classrooms conditions which match those in real life and foster acquisition, encouring reading and
writing (letters, advert isements, filling forms, official papers). The success partly lies in the way the language becomes real
to the users, feeling themselves really in the language. Some of this motivational force is brought about by intervening in
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authentic communicative events. Otherwise, we have to recreate as much as possible the whole cultural environment in
the classroom for us to make the articulation of discourse fluent and effective.
This is to be achieved within the framework of the European Union educational guidelin es through the European Council
(1998) and, in particular, the Spanish Educational System which establish a common reference framework for the teaching of
foreign languages where students are intended to carry out several communication tasks with specific communicative goals
within specific contexts. Thus, foreign language activities are provided within the framework of social interaction, personal,
professional or educational fields.
5. CONCLUSION.
One of the goals of second language teaching is to expose learners to different discourse patterns in different texts and
interactions. One way that teachers can include the study of discourse in the second language classroom is to allow the
students themselves to study language, that is, to make them discourse analysts (Olshtain & Celce-Murcia, 2001) by learning
in context. To sum up, we may say that language is where culture impinges on form and where second language
speakers find their confidence threatened through the diversity of registers, genres and styles that make up the first
language speaker’s day to day interaction. Language represents the deepest manifestation of a culture, and people’s values
systems, including those taken over from the group of which they are part, play a substantial role in the way they use not only
their first language but also subsequently acquired ones.
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
 Beaugrande, R. & Dressler, W. 1988. Introduction to Text Linguistics . London: Longman.
 Canale, M., and M. Swain, 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and
testing. Applied Linguistics 1 (1).

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