DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Discourse Analysis

Discourse Analysis

Introduction

Discourse Analysis (DA) is the analysis of language in use (Brown and Yule 1983). It also examines how stretches of language, considered in their full textual, social, and psychological context, become meaningful and unified for their users. It provides insight into the problems and processes of language use and language learning, and is therefore of great importance to language teachers (Cook 1989).

Reading

The two competing models of language processing, the bottom-up view and the top-down view, have also had a central place in the debate on the nature of reading comprehension. Until recently, the bottom-up approach was the basis of the vast majority of reading schemes. As in the case of listening, there is a general agreement that efficient readers use top-down and bottom-up processing simultaneously. The best reading materials will encourage an engagement with larger textual forms, through problem solving exercises, but not neglect the role of individual words, phrases and grammatical devices in guiding the reader around the text.

Reading Task 1:

Level: Adult Students

Course: Upper Intermediate English Course for ESL students

Number of students: 15 students

Activity: Reading exercise (See attached Text 1) - Time limit: 50 minutes.

Aim of the activity: To explore the problems students may be having with discourse type recognition and the obstacles this may pose for comprehension.

Procedure: I will ask the students to carry out the following sequence of activities with reading comprehension:

- Predicting: students will look at the title of the passage in pairs and discuss their expectations of the contents based on the title before reading the passage; they will then write down five to ten words they expect to find; they will then read the passage and see if their words appear;

- Extensive reading: skimming ('to identify important ideas'); scanning ('to pick out points of detail');

- Information retrieval: the students, in small groups, will be guided to extract the main ideas that gives the most accurate summary of the passage as a whole; they will decide how the race has affected people's lives; they will then read the passage again and make notes on how it will affect their lives;

- Evaluation: each student is asked to express his/her opinion, and then compare the passage with others;

- Follow-up: they will be asked to come up with a new similar challenging activity to make use of and extend their information.

- Dealing with unfamiliar words: students will look for words and phrases which are defined in the passage and new to some of them at least. Also, will indicate whether the listed words from the passage have a positive or negative meanings;

- Linking ideas: students identify the meaning of selected cohesive devices in the passage; they then answer factual questions about the passage;

- Exercises: students, in small groups, will list, discuss, and tell each other what are the qualities to win the race; in what ways life is faster now than in the past;

- Attitudes: I would ask the students about their attitudes to time and speed in which Time-bandits are ...