Language As Discourse: Macmillan English Dictionary
Language As Discourse: Macmillan English Dictionary
Language As Discourse: Macmillan English Dictionary
The word discourse comes from the Latin word discursus, which means “running to
and fro.” The definition of discourse thus comes from this physical act of transferring
information “to and fro,” the way a runner might.Discourse can be define as written or
spoken communication.It can also be described as the expression of thought through
language. While discourse can refer to the smallest act of communication, the analysis
can be quite complex. Several scholars in many different disciplines have theorized
about the different types and functions of discourse.
Types of Discourse
While every act of communication can count as an example of discourse, some
scholars have broken discourse down into four primary types: argument, narration,
description, and exposition.Many acts of communicate include more than one of these
types in quick succession.
Argument: A form of communication meant to convince an audience that the writer
or speaker is correct, using evidence and reason.
Narration: This form of communication tells a story, often with emotion and
empathy involved.
Description: A form of communication that relies on the five senses to help the
audience visualize something.
Exposition: Exposition is used to inform the audience of something with relatively
neutral language.
Other literary scholars have divided types of discourse into three categories:
expressive, poetic, and transactional.
Expressive: Expressive discourse comprises those acts of literary writing that is
creative, yet non-fiction. This could include memoirs, letters, or online blogs.
Poetic: Poetic discourse comprises creative, fictional writing. Poetic discourse
includes novels, poems, and drama. These types of work often prioritize emotion,
imagery, theme, and character development, as well as the use of literary devices like
metaphor and symbolism.
Transactional: Transactional discourse is used to propel something into action, such
as advertising motivating a customer to buy, or showing a customer how to use a
product via a manual. This type of discourse generally does not rely so much on
literary devices.
One problem with abandoning the sentence as the core unit for teaching and moving
instead towards notions such as discourse marking and responding or following up is
that, in the traditional, teacher-led classroom, it is teachers who get to use markers
like Anyway, Right!and Now then! and responses/follow-ups such as Good! and That
great! while students may get little or no opportunity to use them because of their
limited, less powerful discourse roles. This is the kind of challenge we face in moving
from language as discourse. It is only one of many challenges, but it represents a
prime example of what happens when we break free from seeing the sentence as the
principal unit of communication. If markers and response tokens are common and
central to the organisation of discourse, how can we create the conditions in the
classroom where students themselves can take on roles where the use of markers and
other discourse features traditionally the province of the teacher (e.g. initiating, using
follow-up moves) become natural for them to use?
Walsh (2006) refers to his four modes of classroom talk under the umbrella label of
SETT (Self-Evaluation of Teacher Talk).In here teacher is seen as centrally
responsible for the maintenance and monitoring of appropriate discourse in the
classroom. It is important to acknowledge that English language teachers are faced
with a unique teaching context, where language is both the medium and intended
outcome of instruction. Language teachers, in common with all teachers, strive to
become experts in their field of teaching. Therefore, not everything in language
teaching needs to be about the classroom; aspects of language teacher education, such
as the understanding of language as discourse, should also be concerned with teachers
becoming experts in their stock and trade, language. If our goal truly is to move from
system to discourse, teacher education has to support teachers professional
development in not only gaining knowledge of discourse.
In sum up,we can say that analysing language as discourse is a critical and
fundamental part of any teacher education programme. However, teachers need to feel
that time spent on fostering natural discourse is not time wasted and will pay
dividends in greater fluency and higher achievement in assessment contexts, as well
as increased student motivation and satisfaction.
References
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S. and Finegan E. (1999) Longman
Grammar of Spoken and Written English, London: Longman.
Blum-Kulka, S. (1997) Dinner Talk: Cultural Patterns of Sociability and Socialization
in Family Discourse, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hymes, D.H. (1967). Models of the interaction of language and social setting. Journal
of Social Issues, 23(2), 8–38.
Carter, R.A. and McCarthy, M.J. (2006) Cambridge Grammar of English, Cambridge:
Language Awarness:Discourse(http://www.macmillandictionaries.com)