Application of Discourse Analysis to EnglishTeaching and LearningWord文档格式.docx
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Duetotheinfluenceoftraditionalgrammar-translationteachingmethod,teachersdonotlaunchonteachingfromthehierarchy,structureandinternalmeaningbutstillputemphasisontheanalysisofthedifficultpointsofgrammarandvocabularyteaching.Thiskindofteachingmethodhasnotmadefundamentalbreakthroughoftraditionalgrammar-translationteachingmethod.Therefore,studentscannotgettheproperthinkingmethodsandskillsthatstudentsshouldobtain.Discourseanalysis,asayoungbranchoflearningsprungupin1990s,hasundergoneatremendousdevelopment,likeanystudyofmulti-disciplinaryissues,itwasdeniedandignoredbysomescholarsforalongtime,butnowadaysitbecomesaprosperoussubjectthatdealswiththestudyandapplicationofapproachestoanalyzewritten,spokenorsignedlanguage.Contrarytomuchoftraditionallinguistics,discourseanalystsnotonlystudylanguageusebeyondthelexical,phraseandsentenceboundary,butalsoprefertoanalyze“naturallyoccurring”languageuse.
Thispaper,ingeneral,isanintroductiontodiscourseanddiscourseanalysis,whichisdividedintotwoparts:
theoreticalpartandpracticalpart.Theformerwhichpresentsascholarlysetofideas,andthelaterisdevotedtotheaccountofthestudyinordertosupporttheideaspresentedinthefirstchapter.theformerpartissubdividedintothreechapters.Thefirstchapterprovidesathoroughdescriptionoftheterm‘discourse’itself,includingexamplesofvarioustypesandfeatures.Thesecondonepresentstheoriginsanddevelopmentofdiscourseanalysis.AndthelastchapteroftheoreticalpartprovidesthewaysofapplyingthetheorytoteachingandlearningvariousaspectsofEnglishlanguage,suchasgrammar,textreadingandcomprehension,andtheemphasisisputontheinterpretationofwrittentext.
ThepracticalpartofthispaperdescribesthestudyconductedonagroupofpolishlearnersofEnglish.Thiscomponentfocusesonfindinglexicalchainsintexts.Despitethefactthatthestudyaimstochecktheperceptionandimplementationoflexicalchainsinwrittentexts,itisalsousefulinunderstandinglongspeeches,thenewlydevelopeddiscourseanalysisisaneffectivemethodusedinEnglishteachingandlearning,whichhasmaximizedteachingeffectsandlearningachievementsofEnglishteaching.
.Definitionofdiscourse
Theword‘discourse’originatedfromLatin'
discursus'
whichdenoted'
conversation,speech’.However,discoursereferstoatoowideareaofhumanlife.Inthisthesis,onlyfromthevantagepointoflinguisticsisdiscourseexplained.
Thereisnoagreementamonglinguistswhenitcomestotheuseoftheterm‘discourse’,becausesomeuseitinreferencetotexts,whileothersclaimthatDiscourseisacontinuousstretchof(especiallyspoken)languagelargerthanasentence,oftenconstitutingacoherentunitsuchasasermon,argument,joke,ornarrative.WhileDakowskanoticesthatthedifferencesbetweenvarietyofdiscoursesindicatestheunityofcommunicativeintentionsasavitalelementofeachofthem.Andshesuggestsusingterms'
text'
and'
discourse'
almostinterchangeablybetokeningtheformerreferstothelinguisticproduct,whilethelatterimpliestheentiredynamicsoftheprocesses(Dakowska2001:
81).AccordingtoCook(1990:
7),novels,aswellasshortconversationsorgroansmightbeequallyrightfullynameddiscourses.
Beaugrande(1981)hassuggestedsevencriteriawhichhavetobefulfilledtoqualifyeitherawrittenoraspokentextasadiscourse.Theseinclude:
Cohesion-grammaticalrelationshipbetweenpartsofasentenceessentialforitsinterpretation;
Coherence-theorderofstatementsrelatesoneanotherbysense.
Intentionality-themessagehastobeconveyeddeliberatelyandconsciously;
Acceptability-indicatesthatthecommunicativeproductneedstobesatisfactoryinthattheaudienceapprovesit;
Informativeness-somenewinformationhastobeincludedinthediscourse;
Situationality-circumstancesinwhichtheremarkismadeareimportant;
Intertextuality-referencetotheworldoutsidethetextortheinterpreters'
schemata;
Nowadays,however,notalloftheabovementionedcriteriaareperceivedasequallyimportantindiscoursestudies,thereforesomeofthemarevalidonlyincertainmethodsoftheresearch.
2.1Featuresofdiscourseanalysis
Asitisdifficulttounambiguouslyclarifywhatadiscourseis,itseemsreasonabletodescribefeatureswhicharemutualtoallitlinks.Todoitthoroughly,Saussuredistinguishedthelanguagecompetenceofthespeakerandtheactualphenomenaordataoflinguistics(utterance)aslangueandparole(Saussure:
1959:
13-14).Followingthisdivision,discourserelatesmoretoparole,foritconstitutestheimmediatelyaccessibledata,thelinguist’sproperobjectisthelangueofeachcommunity,thelexicon,grammar,andphonologyimplantedineachindividualbyhisupbringinginsocietyandonthebasisofwhichhespeaksandunderstandshislanguage,whilelangueisabstract.Herearesomeadditionaltraits:
discourseisalwaysproducedbysomebodywhoseidentity,aswellastheidentityoftheinterpreter,issignificantfortheproperunderstandingofthemessage.Whilelangueismoreimpersonal.Furthermore,langueisasetofconventionthatmembersofaspeechcommunityseemtoabideby,whileparoleistheconcreteuseofconventionnotspokenbyanyone.Consequently,onlydiscoursemayconveymessagesthankstolanguewhichisitsframework.
2.2Typesofdiscourse
Atypeofdiscoursemightbecharacterizedasaclassofeitherwrittenorspokentext,whichisfrequentlycasuallyspecified,recognitionofwhichaidsitsperception,andconsequentlyproductionofpotentialresponse(Cook1990:
156).TheOrganonmodelisoneofsuchdivisions,whichdistinguishesthreetypesofdiscourse:
informativetypeofdiscourse,narrativediscourse,argumentativediscourse.Thisdistinctionisduetoitssuitabilityforwrittencommunicativeproductsmorethanforspokenones.Whilesteger’sanalysisliesoutsidethedomainofwrittencommunicativeproductsandleadstotheemergenceofanew,moredetailedclassificationofkindsofspokentexts.Andstegerexaminedfeaturesofvarioussituationsanddivideddiscourseintosixtypes:
presentation,message,report,publicdebate,conversationandinterview.However,itisworthmentioningthatoraldiscoursemightalteritscharacter,forexample,inthecaseofpresentingalecturewhenstudentsstarttoaskquestionsthetypechangesintoaninterview,orevenaconversation.
Thepossibledivisionofdiscoursetypesmentionedabovedonotexhaustotherdivisionsdidbythetypologies,nowadaysashiftofinterestinthisfieldpresentlyfocusesonsimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenwrittenandspokendiscourse(Renkema2004:
64).
2.3Writtenandspokendiscourse
Therearealsootherdistinctionsbetweenthem.Exceptforobviousdifferencesbetweenspeechandwritinglikethefactthatwritingincludessomemediumwhichkeepsrecordoftheconveyedmessagewhilespeechisconnectedonlytoair.Itisimpossibleforaconversationinwhicheverysentenceistoberephrased.Buttalkingisspontaneous,whichcausesmistakes,repetition,sometimeslesscoherentsentenceswhereevengrunts,stuttersorpausesmightbemeaningful.Thisisbecausethespeakerusuallyknowsthefactthatheisbeinglistenedto,whichenableshimtoadjusttheregister.Anotherfeatureoforaldiscourseisthatnonsensevocabulary,slangandcontractedforms(l’ve,they’re)areused.
Incontrast,theauthorofatextdoesnotoftenknowwhoisgoingtoreadthetext,thushecannotadjusttoreaders'
specificexpectations.Thewriterfrequentlyhasalmostunlimitedperiodoftimetoconsiderthecontentofhisworksoastomakeitmorecoherent,byusingcomplexsyntax.Henceneatmessageorganization,divisiontoparagraphs,layoutareofvitalimportancetomakecomprehensioneasier.Additionally,theorganizationoftables,formulas,orchartswhichcanbeportrayedonlyinwrittenformbutneverinoraldiscourse,owingtothelackofcontextexpressionsuchas'
now'
here'
areomitted,sincetheywouldbeambiguousastextsmightbereadatdifferenttimesandplaces.
Thiskindofdivisionisquitestraightforward,anditispossibletocombinethetwointhecaseofalesson,whenateacherexplainssomethingwrittenontheblackboard,orwhenaspeakerpreparesdetailednotestobereadoutduringhisspeech.
.DISCOURSEANALYSIS-ITSORIGINSANDDEVELOPMEN
Discourseanalysisisageneraltermforanumberofapproachestoanalyzingtheuseofwrittenandspokenlanguage.Theobjectsofdiscourseanalysisarevariouslydefinedintermsofcoherentsequencesofsentences,propositions,speechesandsoon.Discourseanalysishasbeentakenupinavarietyofsocialsciencedisciplines,includinglinguistics,sociology,anthropology,cognitivepsychology,communicationstudiesandtranslationstudies,eachofwhichissubjecttoitownassumption,dimensionsofanalysis,andmethodology.
3.1Startingpointofdiscourseanalysis
Thetermdiscourseanalysisfirstcameintogeneralusefollowingthepublicationofaseriesofpapersbyzellingharrisbeginningin1952andreportingonworkfromwhichhedevelopedtransformationalgrammarinthelate1930s.However,becausehehadnotworkedoutacomprehensivemodel,itwasnottreatedasaseparatebranchofstudy.ItisRobertE.Longacre,oneofKennethL.Pike’sstudents,thatwasabletodisseminateitinadissertation.Inthelate1960sand1970s,an