Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Listening
- Chapter 2 Speaking
- Chapter 3 Reading
- Chapter 4 Writing
- Chapter 5 Grammar
- Chapter 6 Vocabulary
- Chapter 7 Discourse
- Chapter 8 Pronunciation
- Chapter 9 Materials development
- Chapter 10 Second language teacher education
- Chapter 11 Psycholinguistics
- Chapter 12 Second language acquisition
- Chapter 13 Bilingualism
- Chapter 14 Sociolinguistics
- Chapter 15 Computer-assisted language learning
- Chapter 16 Observation
- Chapter 17 Classroom interaction
- Chapter 18 English for academic purposes
- Chapter 19 English for specific purposes
- Chapter 20 Assessment
- Chapter 21 Evaluation
- Chapter 22 Syllabus design
- Chapter 23 Language awareness
- Chapter 24 Language learning strategies
- Chapter 25 Task-based language learning
- Chapter 26 Literature in the language classroom
- Chapter 27 Genre
- Chapter 28 Programme management
- Chapter 29 Intercultural communication
- Chapter 30 On-line communication
- Postscript: The ideology of TESOL
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Chapter 7 - Discourse
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Listening
- Chapter 2 Speaking
- Chapter 3 Reading
- Chapter 4 Writing
- Chapter 5 Grammar
- Chapter 6 Vocabulary
- Chapter 7 Discourse
- Chapter 8 Pronunciation
- Chapter 9 Materials development
- Chapter 10 Second language teacher education
- Chapter 11 Psycholinguistics
- Chapter 12 Second language acquisition
- Chapter 13 Bilingualism
- Chapter 14 Sociolinguistics
- Chapter 15 Computer-assisted language learning
- Chapter 16 Observation
- Chapter 17 Classroom interaction
- Chapter 18 English for academic purposes
- Chapter 19 English for specific purposes
- Chapter 20 Assessment
- Chapter 21 Evaluation
- Chapter 22 Syllabus design
- Chapter 23 Language awareness
- Chapter 24 Language learning strategies
- Chapter 25 Task-based language learning
- Chapter 26 Literature in the language classroom
- Chapter 27 Genre
- Chapter 28 Programme management
- Chapter 29 Intercultural communication
- Chapter 30 On-line communication
- Postscript: The ideology of TESOL
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The study of discourse is the study of language independently of the notion of the sentence. This usually involves studying longer (spoken and written) texts but, above all, it involves examining the relationship between a text and the situation in which it occurs. So, even a short notice saying No Bicycles can be studied as discourse. A discourse analyst would be interested in the following questions about the notice:
Who wrote the notice and to whom is it addressed (e.g. a person in authority, addressing it to a general public? This might explain what appears to be a rather abrupt, ellipted imperative: ‘Don't ride/park your bicycle here!’).
How do we know what it means? In fact, in the situation it was taken from (the window of a bicycle-hire shop), it meant ‘We have no more bicycles left to hire out’. The notice was displayed at the high season for bicycle hire, and the most plausible interpretation was that the shop was informing potential customers that it had run out of bicycles. So the grammar was not an imperative, but a statement. What factors enable us to interpret this? They are clearly not ‘in’ the text, but are an interpretation based on the text in its context.
Grammatical (syntactic) analysis of sentences has no such constraints on it. Sentences can be studied in isolation, as blocks of language, illustrating well- or ill-formed grammar.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001
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