DISCOURSE ANALYSIS - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

AND

VOCABULARYSlide2

Bring

a

discourse

dimention

to

teach

vocabulary

Not

abandoning

vocabulary

teaching

,

instead

offering

a

supplement

to

conventional

vocabulary

teaching

Using

traditional

and

recent

,

more

communicative

approaches

in

vocabulary

teaching

and

activitiesSlide3

Lexical

Cohesion

Repetiton

of

words

and

the

role

played

by

certain

basic

semantic

relations

between

words

in

creating

textuality

.

Reiteration

:

either

restating

an

item

in a

later

part

of

the

discourse

by

direct

repetition

or

else

reasserting

its

meaning

by

exploiting

lexial

relations

.

Hyponymy

(

rose-flower

/

chair-furniture

)

Synonymy

(

commence-begin

)Slide4

Reiteration

Is

extremely

common

in English

discourse

,

Adds

new

dimensions

and

nuances

to

meaning

,

Serves

to

build

up

increasingly

complex

content

.Slide5

Implications

for

language

pedagogy

Disturbing

the

lexical

patterns

of

texts

may

lead

to

unnaturalness

and

inauthenticity

at

the

discourse

level

.

Simplification

may

mean

unnatural

amount

of

repetition

.

Observing

lexical

links

in a

text

could

be

useful

for

language

learners

in

various

ways

.

Lexical

reiteration

supplies

learners

with

meaningful

,

controlled

practice

and

chances

to

improve

their

text-creating

and

decoding

abilities

by

providing

more

varied

contexts

for

using

and

practising

vocabulary

. Slide6

Lexis

in talk

Lexical

relations

can be

applied

to

spoken

data as

well

.

Relexicalisation

:

speakers

reiterate

their

own

and

take

up

one

another’s

vocabulary

selections

in

one

form

or

another

from

turn

to

turn

and

develop

and

expand

in

doing

so

. Slide7

The

connection

between

development

and

modification

and

reworking

of

lexical

items

used

before

makes

the

conversation

develop

coherently

.

In

this

way

,

neither

side

is dominant in

the

conversation

,

which

makes

the

conversation

a

joint

activity

(

ethnometodological

approach

to

D.A.).

Relexicalisation

of

some

elements

provides

aggrement

and

contribution

to

relevance

. Slide8

Conversation

classes

where

topics

are

pre

-set

may

be

very

suitable

for

this

kind

of

development

.

As

the

transition

from

superordinates

to

hyponyms

and

from

synonyms

to

antonyms

is a

common

feature

of

conversation

,

students

can be

equipped

to

use

this

skill

by

regular

practice

.

As

soon

as

the

necessary

vocabulary

is met,

language

learners

can be

encouraged

to

use

communicative

value

of

these

lexical

items

at an

early

stage

. Slide9

Textual

aspects

of

lexical

competence

Sometimes

our

expectations

as

to

how

words

are

conventionally

used

are

disturbed

when

the

writers

arrange

usual

lexical

relations

for

particular

purposes

of

the

text

.

The

depressing

feature

of

Allen’s

documents

is

the

picture

which

emerges

of

smart

but

stupid

military

planners

,

the

equivalent

of

America’s

madder

fundamentalists

,

happily

playing

the

fool

with

the

future

of

the

planet.

(

The

Guardian

, 13

November

1987: 15)Slide10

There

are

other

readjustments of

lexical

items

which

are

valid

in

particular

texts

only

.

Their

interpretations

may

not

correspond

to

dictionary

definitions

.

The

good

listener

/

reader

has

to

decide

when

words

are

being

used

as

synonymous

or

when

these

same

words

are

used

to

stress

the

difference

in

meaning-potential

. Slide11

Discourse-specific

lexical

relations

can be

called

instantial

relations

(J.

Ellis

, 1966).

Although

these

relations

frequently

found

in

texts

in

all

languages

,

the

problems

learners

encounter

with

such

uses

are

usually

psychologically-generated

.

Because

they

come

to

texts

with

the

expectations

that

the

words

have

fixed

relationships

with

one

another

. Slide12

Instantial

relations often

present

important

stylistic

features

in

text

:

Creative

lexical

usage

,

Devices

of

evaluation

or

irony

,

Particular

focus

.

By

definition

,

each

case

has

to

interpreted

individually

.

Theachers

should

raise

an

awareness

that

such

uses

of

typical

vocabulary

are

often

readjusted

in

individual

texts

. Slide13

Vocabulary

and

Organisation

of textSlide14

Here I

want

to

spend

some

time

examining

this

issue

. First I

propose

to

look

briefly

at

the

history

of

interest

in

the

problem

,

then

spend

some

time on

its

origins

and

magnitude

before

turning

to

an

assessment

of

the

present

situation

and

approaches

to

its

solution

.

Finally

, I

want

to

have

a

short

peek

at

the

possible

future

prospects

.

These

words

stand

in a

place

of

segments

of

text

.

They

are

called

discourse

organising

words

because

they

organise

and

structure

the

argument

.

These

words

build

up

expectations

about

the

whole

discourse

.

They

operate

predictively

and

retrospectively

. Slide15

The Characteristics of Some Discourse-organizing Words in the

Passage

Above

this

 preceding text check-up

issue

 anticipating problem-solving processes

problem

 seeking for solutions

assessment

 performing evaluation of the problem and providing solutions

solution

 fulfillment of taskSlide16

How

many

such

words

are

there

in a

language

like

English?

Winter

(1977-78)

vocabulary

3

Francis (1986)

anaphoric

nouns

Jordan (1984)

vocabulary

index

Slide17

Signalling

larger

textual

patterns

Besides

representing

segments

of

text

and

parcelling

up

phrases

,

discourse

organising

words

signal

to

reader

what

larger

textual

patterns

are

being

reliased

.

E.g

.

Problem-

solution

pattern

Claim-counterclaim

pattern

(

Hypothetical-real

)

Slide18

Headline

TV

Violence

: No Simple

Solution

Opening

sentence

There

is

no

doubt

that

one

of

the

major

concerns

of both viewers and broadcasters is the amount and nature of violence on out television screens. (main text)Closing sentenceThe chief ‘lesson’ of all our viewing, reading and discussion is that there is no simple solution to the problem of violence on television.

The

words

in

yellow

predict

(

solution

in

the

headline

,

concern

)

and

reinforce

(

solution

, problem)

the

problem-

solution

pattern

. Slide19

Discourse

organising

words

for

problem-

solution

pattern

Problem

Concern

,

difficulty

, dilemma,

drawback

,

hamper

,

hind

(er/

ance

),

obstacle, problem, snagResponseChange, combat, come up with, develop, find, measure, respo(d/se)Solution/resultAnswer, consequence, effect, outcome, result, solution, (re)solveEvaluation(in)effective, manage, overcome, succed, (un)successful, viable, workSee Jordan’s (1984) word list for claim-counterclaim pattern

p. 80Slide20

Register

and

signalling

vocabulary

Register

is

closely

related

with

lexical

selection

.

Lexical

choice

depends

on

Context (textbook, magazine, news report)Audience (cultured, educated, readers of popular press)Written or spoken styleIdioms are good metaphors for textual segments. Slide21

The Employment of Idioms

Restriction of idiom application:

 It is not always easy to find natural

contexts in which to present idioms or

idiomatic expressions.

Characteristics of idiom application:

 Idioms or idiomatic phrases are applied to (1) organize discourse, and

(2) signal evaluation.Slide22

Modality

Modality

is

generally

thought

to

belong

to

closed

class

of

modal

verbs

(

must

,

may, can, will, etc.) and treated as part of the grammar. However, there are a lot of words (nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives)having the same or similar meaninings with the modal verbs. E.g. Appear, assume, doubt, look as if, actually, certainly, possibly and nouns and adjectives related to them. Slide23

Means of Making Modality in English

Modal Verbs

Adjectivals

Participials

Nominal Modal Expressions

(

be able to, be going to…

)

Modal-like Adjectives

(

necessary, probable, certain, advisable…

)

Modal-like Adverbs

(

necessarily, probably, certainly, perhaps, maybe…

)

Parentheticals

(

I think, I believe, I’m sure…

)Slide24

Comparison of Neutral and

Modalized

Sentences

I suppose it’s possible the cat just may have sat on the mat.

The cat sat on the mat.Slide25

These

modality

words

carry

important

information

and

are

concerned

with

assertion

,

tentativeness

,

commitment

,

detachment and other important aspects of interpersonal meaning. Discourse analysts have presented that modality is crucial in the creation of discourse. Holmes (1988) shows that the larger vocabulary of modal lexical items is often under-presented in the teaching materials. Slide26

Tasks for Teachers and Learners

Is it possible to delimit procedural vocabulary?

What happens if the most common signaling words are not known by learners?

If all languages have text-organizing vocabulary, can the teaching/learning process capitalize on transfer in some ways?