This module is designed to introduce students to the principles, aims and fundamental approaches involved in the analysis of spoken and written discourse, by which is meant the study of language within its contexts of use. Traditionally, for language teachers language analysis has primarily meant structural grammar. Over the last two decades, however, there has been a fundamental shift in the study of language, away from looking at decontextualised structures in isolated sentences and towards looking at language functioning as communication. This has been reflected in foreign language teaching in the rise of communicative teaching approaches. The main aim of this course is to introduce participants to those aspects of spoken and written discourse which are particularly relevant for the teaching of English as a foreign language, and to equip them with some of the tools and techniques needed to investigate naturally-occurring English texts. The module further aims to encourage student s to consider the implications of discourse analysis for the teaching of English language.

(LO1) Students will gain an overview of key issues and concepts in the field of discourse analysis, which they can then go on to develop in greater depth in later taught modules which deal with discourse analysis and language teaching.

(LO2) Be able to perform analyses of important discourse features in naturally occurring spoken and written texts.

(LO3) Develop a solid understanding of how language works at the level of whole texts and within different contexts.

(LO4) Be able to reflect on how this understanding can be applied for the teaching of English as a foreign language.

(S1) Knowledge and understanding of core theories of discourse analysis.

(S2) Ability to apply core theories of discourse analysis.

(S3) Effective academic writing and referencing.

(S4) Effective, targeted linguistic research.

(S5) Communication (oral, written and visual) - Negotiation skills

A typical course outline:
Introductions: key concepts and issues,
Spoken & written discourse,
Textual organisation 1 (connection and repeitition),                                                 
Textual organisation 2 (theme and rheme; culturally popular patterns of textual organisation),
The role of context and discourse processing (register and genre)

Individual study week

Interaction in texts 1 (personal pronouns, questions, commands),
Interaction in texts 2 (modality and evaluation),
Critical Discourse Analysis,
Analysing EFL texts,
Round-up & review

Teaching Method 1 - Seminar
Description:
Attendance Recorded: Not yet decided
Notes: Seminars include a mixture of mini-lectures, discussions (based around prior reading), and discourse analytical tasks.