EDUC 20290 WEEK 4 INTRODUCTION TO DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

EDUC 20290 WEEK 4: INTRODUCTION TO DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Anticipatory set What can you say about the person wearing these shoes? v Rest of their appearance v Behaviours v Attitudes v Relationships v Beliefs, values and assumptions about the world

Anticipatory set What can you say about the person wearing these shoes? v Rest of their appearance v Behaviours v Attitudes v Relationships v Beliefs, values and assumptions about the world

Anticipatory set What can you say about the person wearing these shoes? v Rest of their appearance v Behaviours v Attitudes v Relationships v Beliefs, values and assumptions about the world

Anticipatory set Could the same person wear all three shoes? Would they?

Aims of lecture • To introduce the concept of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) • To explore some important concepts, especially that of Word-World relationships and Discourse • To introduce the role of grammatical knowledge in CDA

Outline of lecture • • Anticipatory set: shoe exercise Aims and outline What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)? The Word-World relationship Gee’s notion of Discourse The role of grammar in CDA Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)

What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)? Mac. Quarie Dictionary Fourth Edition Critical: adjective 1. inclined to find fault or to judge with severity. 2. occupied with or skilled in criticism. 3. involving skilful judgement as to truth, merit. Discourse: noun. 1. communication of thought by words; talk; conversation. Analysis: noun 1. separation of a whole, whether a material substance or any matter of thought, into its constituent elements (opposed to synthesis). 2. this process, as a method of studying the nature of a thing or of determining its essential features: the grammatical analysis of a sentence.

What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)? So, in a general sense, CDA involves: • pulling something apart • ‘something’: what people say, their conversations • judging these conversations

What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)? Let’s be more technical: Mac. Lure (2003) • ‘Analysis…often involves looking for themes or categories that underlie the surface linguistic disorder of the ‘data’. (p 8) • ‘Partly, this is a matter of learning, or choosing, to ‘read’ educational events and situations as texts. ’ (p 8)

What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)? Mac. Lure (2003) • Allan Luke (1995): ‘one of the main tasks of discourse analysis is to ‘disarticulate’ the texts of everyday life as a way of ‘disrupting common sense’ about the naturalness or inevitability of identities, values and concepts, thus showing the workings of power and material interests in the most seemingly innocent of texts. ’ (p 9)

What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)? STOP

What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)? Mac. Lure (2003) • ‘A discourse-based educational research would set itself the work of taking that which offers itself as common-sensical, obvious, natural, given or unquestionable, and trying to unravel it a bit – to open it up to further questioning. ’ (p 9) By the way…there’s also a Positive Discourse Analysis – more about that next week.

The Word-World relationship Word World

The Word-World relationship Snow Powder Crud Crust Ice

The Word-World relationship Think about the values, beliefs and assumptions that underpin the following uses of language: v Koori, aborigine, boong, native, indigene, first Australian v Slope, Chinese, People of the Middle Kingdom, Han v White Australian, Anglo-Celtic, pakeha, haole, Aussie, whitefella, red haired devil v Terrorist, guerilla, freedom fighter v Migrant, asylum seeker, refugee, political exile, new Australian, boat people, illegals, queue jumper v Exploration and settlement, invasion Word have real effects in and on the world.

The Word-World relationship Another look at naming practices: Sally Morgan (1987) That night, as Jill and I were lying quietly on our beds, looking at a poster of John, Paul, George and Ringo, I said, “Jill…did you know Nan was black? ” “Course I did. ” “I didn’t, I just found out. ” “I know you didn’t. You’re really dumb, sometimes. God, you reckon I’m gullible, some things you just don’t see. ” “Oh…” “You know we’re not Indian, don’t you? ” Jill mumbled.

The Word-World relationship “Mum said we’re Indian. ” “Look at Nan, does she look Indian? ” “I’ve never thought about how she looks. Maybe she comes from some Indian tribe we don’t know about. ” “Ha! That’ll be the day! You know what we are, don’t you? ” “No, what? ” Boongs, we’re boongs!” I could see Jill was unhappy with the idea. It took a few minutes before I summoned up the courage to say, “What’s a boong? ”

The Word-World relationship Nelson Mandela (1984): On the first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name and said that henceforth that was the name we would answer to in school. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. The education I received was a British education, in which British ideas, British culture and British institutions were

The Word-World relationship Africans of my generation – and even today – generally have both a Western and an African name. Whites were either unable or unwilling to pronounce an African name, and considered it uncivilised to have one. That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why she bestowed this particular name upon me I have no idea. Perhaps it had something to do with the great British sea captain Lord Nelson, but that would

The Word-World relationship New Internationalist (June 2002, p 6), claimed that since September 11 human rights were being eroded ‘as internal dissent is opportunistically renamed “terrorism”. According to Amnesty International: ‘Countries are using the attacks of 11 September as an excuse for internment, repression of opposition groups or restrictions of basic human rights. ’’

The Word-World relationship Real effects on real people in the real world.

Gee’s notion of Discourse • From Mac. Lure: ‘Terry Threadgold (2000) observes, the ‘field’ of discourse studies is a particularly contested terrain – not so much a field, in fact, as a ‘global space of migration and hybridisation’. ’ • Yet, we need a definition: – Gee a useful starting point – Read Mac. Lure Appendix 1 (High Use area of library)

Gee’s notion of Discourse In simple terms: An identity kit which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a particular role that others will recognise.

Gee’s notion of Discourse What is the identity kit of Sherlock Holmes? v Costume (clothing) v Language use v Attitudes and beliefs v Allegiance to a certain lifestyle v Ways of interacting with others

Gee’s notion of Discourse Gee continued: ‘Club membership’ – there are ways of displaying (through words, actions, values and beliefs) membership in a particular social group or social network (people who associate with each other around a common set of interests, goals and activities) Sanctions exist of you ‘break’ the rules.

Gee’s notion of Discourse What are the ‘rules’ for belonging to the teaching ‘club’? v Appearance and dress v Language v Behaviours v Values, attitudes and beliefs v Assumptions (about yourself, others) Sanctions for breaking

Gee’s notion of Discourse Wendy Morgan (1996): The characteristic ways a group of people talk and write so that they confirm their shared views of the world and give themselves and others a role and an identity. Affects construction and interpretation of meaning.

Gee’s notion of Discourse Science teacher Property developer Ocean Surfer Poet

The role of grammar in CDA v Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects. v Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. v And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction. v It is wrong to ever split an infinitive. v No sentence fragments. v One should NEVER generalize. v Don’t use no double negatives. Grammar as prescription. But…

The role of grammar in CDA • ‘The function of language is not just (as is often assumed) to communicate information. Language is, in addition, also a device to think and feel with, as well as a device with which to signal and negotiate social identity…’ (Gee, 1990, p 78) • Grammar provides a toolbox, therefore, for unpicking what is going on in a text… description not prescription

The role of grammar in CDA According to Kress and van Leeuwen, grammatical forms are ‘resources for encoding interpretations of experience and forms of social (inter)action. Benjamin Lee Worf argues the point in relation to languages from different cultures. In what we call ‘Standard Average European’ languages, terms like summer, winter, September, morning, noon, sunset are coded as nouns, as though they were things. Hence these languages make it possible to interpret time as something you can count, use, save, etc. In Hopi, a North American Indian language, this is not possible. Time can only be

The role of grammar in CDA ‘…Tony Trew (1976: 107 -7) has described how, when Harare police, in what was in 1975 still Rhodesia, fored into a crowd of unarmed people and shot thirteen of them, the Rhodesia Herald wrote ‘A political clash has led to death and injury’ while the Tanzanian Daily News wrote ‘Rhodesia’s white suprematist police…opened fire and killed thirteen unarmed Africans’. In other words, the political views of newspapers are not only encoded through different vocabularies (of the well-known ‘terrorist’ vs ‘freedom-fighter’ type), but also through different grammatical

The role of grammar in CDA ‘…Grammar goes beyond formal rules of correctness. It is a means of representing patterns of experience…It enables human beings to build a mental picture of reality, to make sense of their experience of what goes on around them and inside of them (Halliday, 1985: 101). ’

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Systems of choice Subject matter Participant Process Circumstance Noun group Roles and relationships Mode and medium Mood Modality Theme and Rheme Cohesion Appraisal

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Process) Process (ask What’s happening? ): The word or group of words in a clause which represent the doing, being, thinking/sensing/feeling and saying. The Process consists (nearly always) of verbs only. Examples (bolded; note: examples in this section are from: Hirsch, Odo. (2009). Darius Bell and the glitter pool. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin. ): Darius shook his head. The gardener gripped the handles of the wheelbarrow. Marguerite rested back on her elbows. Other harvesters picked their fruit one or even two days ll before it got to market. v The last punnet ll that Mr Fisher had added to the stack in Darius’s arms ll was a present. v The fragrant scent of the strawberries wafted up from the punnets ll that he and Marguerite were carrying ll as they headed for the house. v v

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Process) Types of processes Action/Material (doing): walk, give, receive, sneak, do Verbal (saying): talk, speak Perceiving/thinking/feeling: see, think, teach, feel Having/being/relating: have, is

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Participant) Participant (ask Who or what? before and after the Process): A Participant is the element in a clause which acts or is acted upon by elements in the Process. It is the “who” or “what” in the clause and usually consists of noun groups or pronouns (but can be adjectives and clauses). Examples (underlined): Darius shook his head. The gardener gripped the handles of the wheelbarrow. Marguerite rested back on her elbows. Other harvesters picked their fruit one or even two days ll before it got to market. v The last punnet that Mr Fisher had added to the stack in Darius’s arms was a present. v The fragrant scent of the strawberries wafted up from the punnets ll that he and Marguerite were carrying ll as they headed for the house. v v

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Circumstance) Circumstance (ask How, when, where or why? ): The Circumstance provides further information: where, when, how, why, in what manner. It consists of adverbs or prepositional (adverbial) phrases. Examples in red: Darius shook his head. The gardener gripped the handles of the wheelbarrow. Marguerite rested back on her elbows. Other harvesters picked their fruit one or even two days before it got to market. v The last punnet that Mr Fisher had added to the stack in Darius’s arms was a present. v The fragrant scent of the strawberries wafted up from the punnets that he and Marguerite were carrying as they headed for the house. v v

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Noun Group) Nouns and noun groups can function as part of a: – Participant, e. g. “Jason and the other new racers were led into the school’s cavernous entry foyer. ” or – Circumstance, e. g. “Jason and the other new racers were led into the school’s cavernous entry foyer. ”

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Noun Group) While nouns do occur by themselves, they more often appear as part of a group of words – the Noun (or Nominal) group. At the centre of a noun group is a noun. The function played by this noun is the “Thing” – a very technical term: “a shimmering glass-and-steel building that looked like a giant sail” Thing

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Noun Group) On either side of the Thing can be words that modify its meaning, Pre- and Post-modifiers: Premodifier “a shimmering glass-and-steel building that looked like a giant sail” Postmodifier Thing

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Noun Group) Post modifiers are usually: v. Prepositional phrases, e. g. “the cover of some major magazine” or v. A dependent (often relative*) clause, e. g. “a shimmering glass-and-steel building that looked like a giant sail” * Begins with who, whom, which, that (relative pronouns)

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Noun Group) Pre-modifiers can be a: v Deictic (pointer) which answers “Which one? ”, e. g. “the”, “a”, “this”, “Frank’s” v Numerative (number adjective) which answers “How many? ”, e. g. two, many, no v Epithet (quality adjective) which answers “What quality? ”, e. g. beautiful, evil, angry, sad, purple v Classifier (type adjective) which answers “What type? ”, e. g. “wholemeal bread” or “multi-grain bread” as opposed to “white bread” The order above is always the order in English.

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Noun Group) A note on “adjective”: v Generally, an epithet, classifier and numerative, would have also received the general label “adjective” v numerative, epithet and classifier are more precise and useful terms that indicate the function v A noun or verb can also fulfil these functions, e. g. “the world champion” or “the participating students” Again, traditional grammar isn’t wrong, just not adequate by itself.

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Noun Group) Deictic Numerative Epithet Pointer Number Quality word adjective (Which (How many? ) (What one? ) quality? ) a shimmer-- glass and steel ing 14 Jason’s Classifier Type adjective (What type? ) parentless Thing (What? ) building kids earpiece Postmodifier that looked like a giant sail

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Noun Group) v Short, e. g. the trees were felled. v Long, e. g. the five splendid and graceful cedar trees which reached towards the sun like miners coming to the surface after twelve hours spent in the depths of the earth were felled. Note: There can be noun groups within noun groups, e. g. the sun, miners, the surface, twelve hours spent in the depths of the earth, the earth

From a bio-mechanics article Another important consideration in both the design of equipment for resistive exercise and the performance of an athlete or a busy executive is that the human body relies on pre programmed activity by the central nervous system. This control necessitates exact precision in the timing and coordination of both the system of muscle contraction and the segmental sequence of muscular activity. Research has shown that a characteristic pattern of motion is present during any intentional movement of body segments against resistance. This pattern consists of

Noun groups isolated Another important consideration in both the design of equipment for resistive exercise and the performance of an athlete or a busy executive is that the human body relies on pre programmed activity by the central nervous system. This control necessitates exact precision in the timing and coordination of both the system of muscle contraction and the segmental sequence of muscular activity. Research has shown that a characteristic pattern of motion is present during any intentional movement of body segments against resistance. This pattern consists of

Noun groups in book for younger readers Some time after you make camp, the ugly, black clouds that had started to well up in the early afternoon finally burst with a boom of thunder, and the rain pours down so hard that it almost feels as if you are being pelted with gravel. Anything that isn’t under cover, including any firewood you’ve collected, is soaked. The high wind that has got up loosens old branches from some of the trees. Leaves and twigs fall onto your beach. Behind, in the forest, you can hear a creaking then crash as a giant tree topples over.

Developing a metalanguage (Part 1) Subject Matter (Noun Group) Let’s do one first (focusing on the primary noun group)… The five coloured Olympic rings of ancient lineage Have a go: 1. An onion 2. This strange and bitter vegetable 3. The first thin, papery layer 4. The complicated and overwhelming taste of this strange and bitter vegetable

Activity: Grammar survivor Deictic Num. Qualifier An Classifier Thing Postmodifier onion This strange and bitter vegetable The first thin, papery layer The complicated and overwhelming taste of this strange and bitter vegetable

So what? • One of the main ways that we use to pack information into a text • Long noun groups can be used to elaborate and give texts more depth • The ability to use short and long noun groups flexibly for effect is valued in demand writing tasks (NAPLAN, QCS Writing Task)

Conclusion • Tutorial – Questions re assignment – Mapping personal identity and Discourses – Practice with the grammar

References Gee, J. (1990). Social linguistics and literacies: ideology in Discourses. Basingstoke, Hampshire : The Falmer Press. Mac. Lure, M. (2003). Discourse in Educational and Social Research. Buckingham: Open University Press. Mandela, N. (1984). Long walk to freedom. Britain: Abacus. Morgan, W. et. al. (1996). Critical literacy: reading and resources. Norwood, SA: Australian Association for the Teaching of English. Morgan, S. (1987). My place. Western Australia: Freemantle Arts Press. Yallop, C. et. al. (2005). Macquarie dictionary fourth edition. New South Wales: Macquarie University.