DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Year	No.	Offer	Mode	Description			Cred. Pts
96	33005 	S1  	X 	DISCOURSE ANALYSIS        	1.00

Contents

• Staffing
• Rationale
• Synopsis
• Objectives
• Topics
• Texts
• Recommended References
• Student Workload
• Assessment Details
• Other Requirements

STAFFING:

RATIONALE:

To know how language works, a student of second language learning needs to understand the systematic nature of the language of communication by analysing discourse. The unit emphasises how to describe discourse patterns in context for a range of language situations. It aims to show how communication events occur in both spoken and written forms, and how listeners and readers interpret the messages they receive in a social, cognitive and linguistic context.

SYNOPSIS:

This   unit  looks  at  the  nature  of  discourse  from  a  pragmatic
perspective  taking  account of social, psychological  and  linguistic
aspects  of  discourse.   Conversations and oral  interaction  between
native  and non-native speakers of English in classroom and  community
contexts   will  be  analysed  as  part  of  looking   at   goals   of
communication.  The role of schema theory in the effective  processing
of  text  and  writing  coherent  text  will  be  examined  to  better
understand the nature of written and spoken discourse.  Students  will
have  the  opportunity  to study orality and literacy  in  a  specific
cultural setting or language community.

OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this unit students will demonstrate:

1. knowledge of system constraints on communication;
2. awareness of the cultural and social influence on communication in relation to discourse constraints;
3. analysis of speech acts such as requests, and speech events such as offering advice in the context of communication;
4. ability to analyse discourse markers in oral and written texts and to examine the structure of information in discourse;
5. ability to identify elements of classroom or community discourse from "script" samples, and design a project to examine an aspect of discourse in community or classroom interaction;
6. knowledge of the impact on ESL learners of schema theory applied to reading texts and using a genre-based analysis of discourse;
7. knowledge of the role of code-switching and interlanguage in non- native speakers approach to creating oral and written text;

TOPICS:

 Description                                                    Weighting(%)

System constraints on communication                                   10.00

Cultural constraints on communication                                 10.00

Speech acts and speech events in context                              15.00

Coherence in speech and writing                                       15.00

Community language and classroom discourse                            16.00

Text Analysis: rhetorical properties of discourse                     14.00

Code-switching and interlanguage                                      10.00

Cross-cultural communication                                          10.00

TEXT and MATERIALS to be PURCHASED:

RECOMMENDED REFERENCE MATERIALS:

Discourse Analysis, G Brown and G Yule, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1981.

Literacy, Language and Learning, D Olson, N Torrance, A Hildyard (eds.)
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Language and Literacy: The Sociolinguistics of reading and writing. M
Stubbs, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980.

Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers, M. McCarthy, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1991. (Cambridge Language Teaching Library).

STUDENT WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS:

	ACTIVITY				HOURS
Directed Study                                	44
Private Study                                 	44
Examinations                                  	3
Assessments                                   	28
Telephone Tutorials                           	2

ASSESSMENT DETAILS:

No	*F/S	Marks		Due		Description					Wtg(%)		LBL
1 	S 	10.00   	WK 5    	ONE PASSAGE OF TEXT ANALYSIS            	10.00   	Y
2 	S 	10.00   	WK 9    	ONE 1200 WORD ESSAY ASSIGNMENT          	10.00   	Y
3 	S 	20.00   	WK 14   	ONE 2500 WORD PROJECT REPORT            	20.00   	Y
4 	S 	10.00   	PASSIM  	JOURNAL KEEPING                         	10.00   	N
5 	S 	50.00   	END S1  	EXAMINATION                             	50.00   	N

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

1    Over   the  three  assignments and journal keeping, students
     will  be   expectd to achieve at least half the marks.
2    Students  must submit all three assignments as well  as  the
     journal.
3    To pass, students must achieve an overall mark of 60%.