According to (Mills, 2009), discourse is verbal communication or a formal treatment of a subject in speech or writing. This sense in the general use of discourse as having to do with conversation and holding forth on a specific subject has been partly due to the various meanings of the word.(Mills, 2009) also further proposes that Discourse analysis focuses on the structure of naturally occurring spoken language, as commonly found in commentaries, interviews, speeches and conversations. In particular discourse analysis and text can be used in a much broader sense to include all language units with definable communicative function whether written or spoken. The essay below will assess how a researcher can assess discourse analysis through a …show more content…
The defining factor of this multicultural re-orientation of discourse analysis is that it breaks out of the limits of the cultural imperialism on the other hand and maintains multicultural dynamics on the other.
The Cultural nature of Discourse Studies
Discourse analysis is verily influenced by culture in a number of ways. For research to be done certain aspects have an influence in the way research is done. Certain discursive characteristics and tendencies have been identified notably and proposed by (Xu, 2006):
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) - is modelled upon language as conceptualised in structural linguistics. Language is understood as unfolding and evolving because of many interactions across the world. Many elements are being dialectically interconnected because of discourse.
More recently, Critical Discourse analysis stresses the point of multi- disciplinary approach to discourse as a way of incorporating other disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, political science and many more as the apparatus of acquiring more
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Culturally inappropriate frameworks of research may lead not to just misleading conclusions but also counterproductive to what the research is supposed to achieve. Four aspects of using multicultural paradigms are noted below as suggested by (Gee and Handford 2012).
The first important proposed principle is to be culturally conscious, specifically to be multicultural in the selection and application of theory and methods. This basically means that the researcher will stress cultural pluralism anddiversity and oppose cultural imperialism. In analysing the discourse of any culture, the researcher must not be contended with a cultural singular lens but can also draw from other diverse cultural resources.
Secondly, the researcher should strive to be holistic in theorising discourses of human cultures. This is important because one should take into account not only the present but the past as well as the future and further what to also consider through intercultural connections. This stresses the importance that the historical and intellectual dialects of discourses must be recognised at the highest
In her text, “Cognition, Convention and Certainty,” Patricia Bizzell describes the writing process through both inner-directed and outer-directed theories in order to illustrate that the writing process is infirmed by both student’s natural thought processes and their discourse community She uses her text to explain both theories, and to argue for the implementation of a new pedagogy focused on discourse analysis. First, Bizzell introduces the inner –directed theory, which seeks to discover the writing processes through the universal and fundamental structure of language. Conversely, she explains that the outer-directed theory instead argues that the individual’s discourse community does not teach a generalized form of language but rather the
Fat acceptance: A basic primer Critique essay Cynara Geissler’s article “Fat Acceptance: A Basic Primer” was first published in Geez Magazine in 2013. Geissler addresses a lot of issues about fat acceptance and how it is affecting our society and people’s attitudes towards over-weight people. One of the reasons why Geissler thinks that is because many health industries now days have a slogan “Thinner is better” and that makes over-weight people seem lazy or just not willing to put the effort to become better. Most importantly Geissler mentions that health industries and causing people to make a negative attitude towards overweight people which can be seen.
Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and author, once stated, “The well-being of a community of people working together will be the greater, the less the individual claims for himself the proceeds of his work, the more of these proceeds he makes over to his fellow-workers, the more his own needs are satisfied, not out of his own work but out of the work done by others” (“Recording of Society”). This quote represents the true meaning of a discourse community. A discourse community is a group of social individuals that work together to reach a common goal, understand the same basic values and assumptions, and use a unique kind of communication to reach their set goal or purpose. A good example of a discourse community is the organization
A time that I felt out of place was my first few days at college. My parents had just left and I knew no one. I was in a strange environment and didn't know what to do. I felt this way because I was used to my same routine for almost 18 years. To feel comfortable in this new environment, I had to find a place where I could be myself but also find a new routine.
Every day we use our culture. Whether it be to argue claims, express opinions, or make decisions, culture plays a part in each area. Culture is who we are, one’s identity, its extent is enormous over our views and actions. A person grows up surrounded with culture at a young age. This can affect how they learn and what they learn.
We communicate in many ways, either by email, telephone, text, face to face, social media or letters and the language we use allows us to get things done, nonetheless the language and communication method in which we chose to use can vary depending on the discourse community. Much like John Swales suggests a discourse community involves a group of people who share the same common public goals, such as shared interests, rules, structure, and vocabulary. When thinking about the several discourse communities I am evolved in, which include family, coaching football, college student, and a few friends. These discourse communities have influenced me, given me insight of where I come from and tell who I am as a person. I also believe much like Swales,
Grant-Davie describes thoroughly the term rhetorical situation and how the development of the definition and its constituents has contributed to the discovery of the motives and responses behind any discourse. The analysis of rhetorical situations could determine the outer or inner influences of the rhetors, the audience, and their particular constraints. Grant Davie supports his claims by using the earlier definitions of scholars and teachers as his foundation. He also addresses his own analysis drawn by life experienced discourses which it also helps the reader understand the causes of rhetorical situations. This is important because it teaches any writer or reader to analyze a situation and think about the options and paths it could lead
The way communication changes when talking to an audience or talking to fellow people in the field is something that occurs in each. Though each of these discourse communities use different sets of jargon. The idea of making an idea easier for an audience of common people is something that happens with both communities. Another important aspect that is the same among the discourse communities is the cost. Though the cost comes from different areas, the bottom line the cost is great.
It can be difficult to understand what it means to be a discourse or what communities fall under that category, and that is why I feel like John Swales’ definition of a discourse community is the the one that makes the most sense and the one that almost anybody can apply to communities they are part of and determine if they are discourses or not. Even though Gee and Porter had good points regarding discourses and good arguments, one almost had to be a linguist to fully understand what they were saying. They did help Swales get his point across more clearly in some instances though. Thanks to Swales I now know for a fact that my English 1113 class is a discourse community and I achieved that by following the six rules Swales presented as necessary to be a discourse community. Gee, James P. “Literary, Discourse, and Linguistics.”
Rhetorical Precis #4: “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan Amy Tan’s purpose in her article “Mother Tongue” is to show the influence of her mother’s style of english. She also relates this to a more broad topic of the idea that there are many different types of english that people speak that are tailored to whoever they are speaking to. She begins this piece by stating plainly that she is not an english scholar. Instead of decreasing her credibility it actually increases it and paints this piece as a more personal set of observations rather than a bland overview of the entire language.
The rhetorical and cultural perspectives are always at play in interactions. The rhetorical perspectives describes the strategic choices in an interaction. The cultural perspective recognizes that the choices one makes in communication are deeply rooted in one's culture. In this interaction I strategically chose to provide accounts of Dee’s promises in order to demand actions for her to take. There is not enough evidence to interpret how/if Dee is using the rhetorical perspective in the interaction.
John Swales developed a theory that a discourse community has six distinct traits. Destiny has attributed a lot to the band. Destiny said “Band has helped me to develop new relationships at The University of Oklahoma and improve my soft skills.” The lessons learned in band can translate to other aspects of one’s life. The band becomes such a tight community due to the fact that it consumes a lot of time with group and individual practice.
A Discourse community is a group of people who contribute a selective intrest and use a certain type of language to communicate with each member in the community. A register is another type of way in which something is explained or written and can be very important the meaning of the message. We interact with each other in many various ways , such as texting, e- mailing , talking , in person , social medias or even letters which allows us to get the messages as fast as we can and get things done .
The main advantages of the experimental method is the ability to control what each participant experiences and this allows researchers to test precise and accurate hypotheses and draw conclusions about how one variable affects another. The main disadvantage of is that it cannot replicate or reproduce the complexity of real life and it can miss social rules and other factors that could establish whether a bystander intervenes or not. The discourse analysis, on the other hand can capture a richer and more varied picture of people’s experiences and looks at people’s actual experiences. However, it cannot provide general rules about human behaviour that could be applied to more than one
Based on Stuart Hall’s (2006) discussion of Foucault’s theory of discourse, a discourse is generally consisting of a group of statements that together offer a way of talking about a par-ticular knowledge on a certain topic. Many individuals can produce it together, in different institutional settings. The discourse thereby enables the construction of a topic in a specific way which at the same time limits other constructions of the same topic. A discourse is made up not only from one but a multiplicity of statements that all share the same style to talk about the same topic. However, it is not a closed off system, it draws statements from and into other discourses.