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Recommends that language teachers incorporate discourse and pragmatics in their teaching if they wish to implement a communicative approach in their classrooms. The authors show how a discourse perspective can enhance the teaching of traditional areas of linguistic knowledge and language skills.
In this book Michael McCarthy and Ronald Carter describe the discoursal properties of language and demonstrate what insights this approach can offer to the student and teacher of language. The authors examine the relationship between complete texts, both spoken and written, and the social and cultural contexts in which they function. They argue that the functions of language are often best understood in a discoursal environment and that exploring language in context compels us to revise commonly-held understandings about the forms and meanings of language. In so doing, the authors argue the need for language teachers, syllabus planners and curriculum organisers to give greater attention to language as discourse.
How do social situations influence language use, discourse and conversation? This book is a monograph which presents a multidisciplinary theory of context and the way context influences language use and discourse. Unlike in earlier approaches, contexts are not defined as objective social 'variables', such as gender or age. Rather, they are constructs of the participants themselves, that is, 'subjective definitions of the communicative situation' that are made explicit in the sociocognitive notion of context models. These models dynamically control all language use, make sure that discourses are appropriate in the communicative situation and hence are the basis of pragmatics. In this book, context models are studied especially from a (socio) linguistic and cognitive perspective. In another book published by Cambridge University Press, Society and Discourse, Teun A. van Dijk develops the social psychological, sociological and anthropological dimensions of the theory of context.
Featuring internationally renowned academics, this volume provides a snapshot of the field of applied linguistics, and illustrates how linguistics is engaging with the idea of 'context'. The book treats discourse as language in the contexts of its use in and above the level of the sentence and as systems of knowledge and beliefs. In using the term context(s), the book understands this as different situations in which discourse is produced and, on the other, how analysts construe context in their work. The volume is thus concerned with language in its context of use (little d discourse), but at the same time, more specifically, in individual chapters, with particular discourses as they are manifested in particular contexts (big D discourses). Well known discourse analysts contribute chapters focussing on different contexts with which they are familiar, viz. business, education, ethnicity and race, gender and sexuality, history, intercultural contexts, lingua franca contexts, media, place, politics, race, and the virtual world. It brings together researchers from different approaches, but all with a commitment to the study of language in context. The contributors themselves represent different approaches to discourse analysis: conversation analysis, corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, ethnographic discourse analysis, mediated discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, systemic functional linguistics. Readers are invited to compare and contrast these different contexts and approaches.
This volume brings together papers on a wide spectrum of topics within the broad area of language acquisition, stressing the interconnections between applied and theoretical linguistics, as well as language research methodology. These contributions in honor of Professor Jan Majer have been grouped in two sections: language learning, and discourse and communication. The former discusses issues varying from aspects of first, second, and third language acquisition, individual learner differences (i.e. gender, attitudes, learning strategies), and second language research methodology to the analysis of features of learner spoken language, the role of feedback in foreign language instruction, and the position of culture in EFL textbooks. The second part of the volume offers a theoretical counterbalance to the applied nature of the first one. Here, the contributions touch upon spoken and written language analysis, language awareness, and aspects of the English language; also, selected issues of language philosophy are discussed. The wide range of topics covered in the publication, authored by specialists in their respective areas, reflects Professor Majer’s academic interests and corresponds to the complex nature of the general field the volume aims to portray.
Discourse in English Language Education is designed to introduce students to the major concepts and issues in discourse analysis and its applications to language education, drawing on the key research from a range of approaches. This will be essential reading for upper undergraduates and postgraduates with interests in applied linguistics, TESOL and mother tongue language education.
This book explores the use of online and face-to-face interactions in language teacher education (LTE) by assessing the formation and practices of a community of practice (CoP), and evaluating the roles discussions between student teachers and a peer tutor can play in terms of identity formation, articulating narratives, reflective practices, and maintaining affective relationships. The specific context within which this is embedded is a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programme, often known as English Language Teaching (ELT), at a third-level Irish institution. The data drawn on come from student teachers on a master’s (MA) programme who interacted with a peer tutor (the researcher) via a number of modes (face-to-face and online). The approach to data analysis is a corpus-based discourse analytical one, which examines the linguistic features of student teacher and peer tutor talk; the features of CoP practices in the discourse; and how different modes of communication shape the nature of this discourse. Perceptive data from the student teachers is used to outline their reactions to the modes of communication and the activities they participated in.
Written by a leading researcher in the field, this fascinating examination of the relations between grammar, text, and discourse is designed to provoke critical discussion on key issues in discourse analysis which are not always clearly identified and examined. Written by a leading researcher in the field Continues the enquiry into discourse analysis that Zellig Harris initiated 50 years ago, which raised a number of problematic issues that have remained unresolved ever since Introduces the notion of pretext as an additional factor in the general interpretative process Focuses attention specifically on the work of critical discourse analysis (CDA) in light of the issues discussed
The label CLIL stands for classrooms where a foreign language (English) is used as a medium of instruction in content subjects. This book provides a first in-depth analysis of the kind of communicative abilities which are embodied in such CLIL classrooms. It examines teacher and student talk at secondary school level from different discourse-analytic angles, taking into account the interpersonal pragmatics of classroom discourse and how school subjects are talked into being during lessons. The analysis shows how CLIL classroom interaction is strongly shaped by its institutional context, which in turn conditions the ways in which students experience, use and learn the target language. The research presented here suggests that CLIL programmes require more explicit language learning goals in order to fully exploit their potential for furthering the learners’ appropriation of a foreign language as a medium of learning.
This collection showcases cutting-edge developments in co-construction in discourse. Drawing on the pioneering work of Dale A. Koike, the volume contributes new understandings of how speakers jointly negotiate meanings, contexts, identities, and social positions in interaction. The volume is organized around three key themes in co-construction—co-constructed discourse, pragmatics in discourse, and teaching and assessment of discourse—and builds on the introductory chapter that situates the discussion on context and co-construction as fundamental to understanding meaning-making in interaction. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives across strands of linguistics and education, chapters explore both the contextual elements that frame co-construction processes and the distinct dynamics between action and language use across a wide range of interactional contexts, including sports commentary, interviews, everyday conversation, classroom discourse, and digitally mediated settings. Taken together, the book highlights the impact of Koike’s contributions on existing research in pragmatics and discourse and exhibits the potential for her work to frame scholarship on emerging interactional contexts. This volume will be of particular interest to students and researchers in discourse studies, pragmatics, applied linguistics, second language studies, and language education, as well as those interested in interaction across diverse contexts.
