Approaches to analysing discourse

Approaches to analysing discourse

Instructions:

LX661 Approaches to Analysing Discourse
Assignment brief
Learning outcomes
As explained in the module handbook, the learning activities in this module are designed to help you achieve the learning outcomes, which means that by the end of the module you should be able to:

1. demonstrate in-depth knowledge of theoretical material in relation to discourse analysis
2. explain why particular theoretical material is appropriate for a chosen analytic task
3. apply relevant theoretical material in the analysis of spoken and/or written discourse
4. critically evaluate the theoretical material that you have used.
Assessment

There is a single assignment, due in on 15 January. The assignment instruction is:

A 4,000 word written assignment which is an analysis of spoken or written discourse using appropriate theoretical material.

The essay word count (+/- 10%) includes quotes from the text(s) that you choose for analysis. These may be, for example, newspaper reports, transcriptions of broadcast interviews or chat shows, political speeches or pamphlets. Your text(s) can be either spoken or written and must not exceed 1500 words. In case you wish to analyse a sample of spoken language, 1500 words will correspond to roughly 10 minutes of continuous speech. Any sample of spoken language that you wish to analyse (e.g. a conversation, an interview or a speech) needs to be transcribed, and a transcription key needs to be provided.)

You should submit your text(s) as an appendix in the same file (the appendix does not count towards the essay’s 4,000 words). You must not use texts that are provided for you in lectures or seminars. Scan in any printed material in order to include it in your appendix. Scanners are available in library computer poolrooms.

You must submit a plan for your assignment, using the proforma which will be available on Student Central in ‘Assignments’ (a copy is also attached to this assignment brief). The proforma will not count towards your mark for the assignment. Its purpose is to enable us to plan the best tutorial support for each of you. You must upload your completed proforma onto Student Central by Wednesday 5 December. If you do not hand in the proforma, we will not be able to allocate you a supervisor.

You are, of course, welcome to discuss your choice of text(s) and your approach to the analysis with a module tutor before you submit your proforma.

Assessment criteria
Assessment criteria are used to assess all student work. They reflect the learning outcomes. You will get credit for demonstrating:

1. in-depth knowledge of theoretical material related to discourse analysis
2. the ability to explain the appropriacy of chosen theoretical material for the discourse analytic task
3. the ability to apply relevant theoretical material in the analysis of spoken and/or written discourse
4. the ability to critically evaluate the theoretical material used
Structure of your essay

The ‘Structuring your assignment’ handout for last year’s LX554 Researching Variation in English project gives useful tips on how to structure an academic essay. Some parts of this handout which are also relevant for this assignment will be quoted below:

Your essay should contain the following:

1. A title
This may but need not necessarily take the form of a question. However, you should have a question in mind that you wish to answer.

2. An introduction
Typically, an introduction gives a little background to the project and tells the reader what to expect in the rest of the document.

In order to achieve this you should:
• Present the issue you are going to explore and the question you aim to answer
• Describe why this may be an important / interesting area to investigate
• Define any key terms that are important (and that are not discussed at length elsewhere)
• Show how your essay / project is going to achieve its aims (‘signposting’)

You may want to think of this of your way of showing your reader the ‘journey’ they’re about to go on, or the ‘story’ you are going to tell them.’
(From the ‘Structuring your assignment’ handout)
3. A short overview of the chosen framework(s),
including a definition/explanation/ discussion of all the key terms you will be using. Don’t write at length about concepts that you are not going to apply. The purpose here is
‘to place your work within a theoretical framework and show that you understand the concepts that you are dealing with. In this section you need to show that you have read and understood relevant published work in this area’.
(From the ‘Structuring your assignment’ handout)

Please note this is not a Literature review in the sense that you need to summarise or discuss a large number of related studies to your own but, obviously, you have to read up on the framework(s) and carefully reference all the sources. The important point is to give concise definitions/explanations of the concepts that you are going to apply.

You may choose one or two frameworks for your analysis. E.g. SFL and CDA go well together, and if you look at spoken discourse, then you might consider using both Conversation Analysis and Politeness Theory. There are also approaches that try to combine CDA and Conversation Analysis, i.e. do Conversation Analysis from ‘critical’ perspective. However, whether you apply one or more frameworks depends entirely on what you want to achieve. There are no ‘extra points’ for dealing with more than one framework.

4. A rationale for the text(s) you have chosen,
including a short summary of the text(s).

(For further information on the text sample, see point 8. below.)

5. The analysis/application of the framework(s)
Here you apply the framework(s) you have chosen. In other words, you break down the text you have chosen in its constituent parts and discuss them in turn, using the categories that you have earlier defined/explained. The first important step here is to know your text/data well – read the text or listen to the recording several times and note down any impressions that you have. This might help you with the next step:

For your analysis to be effective, it needs a clear purpose or focus. This means that you should not approach the assignment as a tick-box exercise but with a guiding question in mind. Break this down into sub-questions which you will answer in turn. Your questions might change the better you get to know your data/text, and you might need to rewrite your overview of the frameworks in the light of this. Make sure that all the concepts you use/apply are properly defined.

The final step in this section is drawing it all together – what is the significance of what you have found out, what does it mean? What new insights can be gained from the analysis of this text?

6. A conclusion
‘This is where you show your reader how you have developed your understanding of your topic and ‘answer’ your question by reminding your reader of the main points discussed in your paper.

The conclusion should summarise what you have done and draw everything together, so that the reader is left with a clear understanding of the journey they have just completed.

In it you should
• draw together the key points
• state your general conclusions
• show how the aims identified in the introduction have been fulfilled
• indicate any limitations to your study and therefore to your conclusions
• show what you have learned and what you would do differently in the future / if you repeated the study
• identify possible areas for further research
o Any academic study aims to show that it has contributed to the understanding of a given topic, but you will probably discover in the course of your study that many issues require further investigation. Indicate in your conclusion topics or questions where you think further investigation is required and say why.’
(From the ‘Structuring your assignment’ handout)

7. A reference list
which gives fu

 
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