DOING DISCOURSE

ANALYSIS
Feel free to take
notes,grab snacks &
drinks as this
presentation goes :)
 10.1
Developing a
discourse analysis
project
● Key to any good research project = well-
focused research question.

● One important characteristic of a good

research project is that it contains a ‘good
idea’, something that is worth finding out
about (Cameron, 2001)
 Criteria for developing a
discourse analysis project
Johnstone ( 2000 ) lists a number of criteria that
contribute to the development of a good and
workable research topic. These include:
● a well-focused idea about spoken or written
discourse that is phrased as a question or a set of
closely related questions;
● an understanding of how discourse analytic
techniques can be used to answer the research
question(s) you are asking;
● being competent in the method(s) of analysis
required for the project.
● an understanding of why your question(s) about
spoken or written discourse are important in a
wider context
● familiarity with and access to the location where
your discourse analysis project will be carried out;
● ability to get the discourse data that is needed for
the research project;
● the time it will realistically take to carry out the
discourse analysis project, analyze the results and
write up the results of the project;
● being comfortable with and competent in the ways
of collecting the discourse data required by the
project;
 10.2
Choosing a
research question
 ● Good ideas for research do not ‘just spring from the researcher’s
imagination, they are suggested by previous research’ (Cameron,
2001 : 183)
● Read widely to see what previous research has said about the topic
you are interested in, including what questions can be asked and
answered from a discourse perspective.

Research question vs. research topic

● A research topic is your general area of interest,
● research question is the particular thing you want to find out and which
grows out of your research topic (Sunderland 2010 ).
 10.3
Focusing a
research topic
● Often aspiring researchers start
off with a project that is overly
large and ambitious
● ‘Wiser heads’ know that a good
research project is ‘narrow and
deep’;‘even the simplest idea can
mushroom into an uncontrollably
large project’(Stevens and
Asmar, 1999 : 15)
● Starting off by getting immersed in
the literature and reading broadly and
widely to find a number of potential
research topics. (making heavy use of
the library as well as by reading the
abstracts of recent theses and
dissertations)
● Write a few lines on each topic and
use this as the basis to talk to other
people about the research
 10.4
Turning the topic into a
research question
 A contrastive study
of letters to the
editor in Chinese
and English.
(1) In what ways are Chinese and English
letters to the editor similar or different?

(2) Can we use genre theory and

What are the differences between letters intercultural rhetoric to understand these
to the editor in Chinese and English? similarities and differences?
 10.5
Connecting data collection,
analysis and research
questions
Sunderland (2010)
 Example
In what ways are Chinese and English letters to the editor similar or
different?

Data Needed:

1. Chinese letters to editor

2. English letters to editor

3. Chinese idioms and phrases

 10.6
Kinds of Discourse
Analysis
Using Different Discourse
Data but the Same
Methodology
Yang (1997)
He used 80 Chinese telephone
conversations compared his
research with previous study which
used American telephone
conversation
Analyzing Existing Data
from a Discourse Analysis
Perspective
Chanell (1997)
He used different purposes, perspective,
and aims by determining way the
speakers expressed love and desire, what
the effect of the telephone was on their
talk and what features of the
conversation mark.
Analyzing Discourse Data
from a Different Perspective
Orr (1996)
He used conversation analysis as the
perspective used and compared the
results of his research with previous
study which used a frame semantics
perspective conducted by Lee (1997).
Considering the Validity of a
Previous Claim
Liu (2008)
He used the validity of previous claim which
was claimed by his own research in the past,
which is Liu (2004) which focused on the
typical Chinese rhetorical structure of Qi-
cheng-zhuan-he would influence his students'
expository writing in English.
Focusing on Unanalysed
Genres
Ooi (2001)
He used internet dating sites in the United
States and Singapore as a new genre, indicating
a new trend and technology as well as sites
coming up within times in progress. He used
keywords which were on trend: 'personal ads',
'personal advertisements' and 'personal
classifieds’ and focused on lexical analysis in
the texts.
Combining research
techniques
Cresswell (2003), Cresswell and Plano
Clark (2007) and Ivankova and
Cresswell (2009)
They used mixed-methods which are the
combination of quantitative and qualitative
research methods. There are combination of
techniques as well as data collecting in the field
of discourse research studies by using survey
and interview as data collection techniques or
using readers and writers as participants
 10.7
Two sample discourse
studies
Methodological
Triangulation
(Denzin 1970)
 10.8
A spoken discourse
project
Silence in Japanese students’ tutorial
interactions in English.
By. Nakane
Summary of the study

Aim of the study

Methodology

Results of the study

Commentary

Further research
 10.9
A Written Discourse
Project
 A contrastive analysis of letters to the editor in
Chinese and English
by Wang

● Summary of the study

● Aim of the study
● Methodology
● Results of the study
● Commentary
● Further research
 10.10
Combining Discourse
and Other Research
Perspectives
● If you want to combine perspective, it is important to understand the basis of the
perspectives being drawn on to appreciate what this placing together implies and,
indeed, if it is possible to do this.

● A researcher can, then, combine an approach to discourse analysis with a non-

discourse analytic perspective on the research.
 10.11
Evaluating A Discourse
Analysis Project
 Reliability
3 key issues to the consistency of the results
consider obtained in the project.

Replicability
the extent to which another
researcher could reproduce the
study.
Discourse
analysis.
Validity
the truth or the accuracy of the
generalizations being made by the
researcher.
Summary

From this chapter, we can see

the suggestions for planning
and carrying out a discourse
analysis project.
Thank You!
Any
ns
questio