discourse analysis essay example

What Is a Discourse Analysis Essay: Example & Guide

Discourse is the way people talk about any specific topic. It’s also the way in which language is used to convey social and historical meanings. Discourse analysis is the process that helps to understand the underlying message of what is being said. Sounds interesting? Keep reading to learn more. 

This in this article, our custom writing team will:

• define discourse and its analysis; 
• explain how to write a discourse analysis essay step by step; 
• provide an essay sample.
• 🤔 Discourse Analysis Definition
• 🔬 Types & Approaches
• 👣 Step-by-Step Guide
• 📑 Discourse Analysis Example

🔍 References

🤔 what is a discourse analysis.

To write a good discourse analysis, it’s essential to understand its key concepts. This section of the article will focus on the definition of discourse itself and then move on to its analysis.

Discourse: Definition

Discourse is verbal or written communication that has unity, meaning, and purpose. In linguistics, discourse refers to a unit of language that is longer than a sentence. When you analyze discourse, you examine how the language is used to construct connected and meaningful texts. 

One crucial thing that can’t be neglected when it comes to discourse is the context. In linguistics, there are different ways to classify contexts. Here is one such classification:

• Linguistic context. The relationship between the words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. For instance, the participants must know where they are in time and space. It affects the expressions they use and the way they are interpreted.
• Situational context. The relationship between the participants, the environment, time, and place in which the discourse occurs. Situational context is usually approached through the concept of register, which focuses on the interrelationship of language and context.
• Cultural context. The culture and customs of epoch in language communities in which the speakers participate. Language is closely connected to the social structure and value system of society. Therefore, it’s influenced by such factors as social role and status, sex, age, etc.

The knowledge of context is crucial for discourse analysis, as it helps interpret the text’s meaning. For that reason, it’s essential to keep the context in mind while analyzing the discourse. No context simply means no discourse.  

Discourse vs Syntax: Difference

• Syntax is one of discourse’s dimensions. It encompasses rules for composing grammatical sentences. Unlike discourse, syntax can also be applied to non-verbal instances such as music or any other code.
• Discourse is one level above syntax. It studies how the sets of sentences following syntactic parameters work together and convey the meaning.

Spoken Discourse vs Written Discourse

Discourse itself can be classified as written and spoken (or oral.) One of the main differences is that spoken discourse uses spoken words to transfer information, while written one uses written words. There are also some other differences:

• Spoken discourse needs to be understood immediately. It also usually contains discourse markers— words that create pause or separation of ideas such as “you know,” “like,” or “well.” 
• Written discourse can be referred to several times. For the written discourse to happen, the participants need to know how to write and read, requiring specific skills. It’s also often tied to the genre or structure of the language it uses to imply the purpose or context of the text. 

Discourse Analysis Definition

Discourse analysis is a technique that arose in the late 20th century from the growing interest in qualitative research. The main purpose of discourse analysis is to understand the message and its implications. It can be done by studying the text’s parts and the factors that influence people’s understanding of it.

Discourse analysis is deeply connected with linguistics, anthropology, sociology, socio-psychology, philosophy, communications studies, and literature. It challenges the idea that we should take language for granted and instead encourages more interpretative and qualitative approaches. That’s why it is used in various fields to:

• describe organizational change;
• read between the lines while analyzing policy texts;
• provide greater depth to qualitative accounting research;
• use multiple fields to synthesize information. 

Content Analysis vs. Discourse Analysis

Content analysis and discourse analysis are research techniques used in various disciplines. However, there are several differences between the two:

• Content analysis is quantitative. It focuses on studying and retrieving meaningful information from documents.
• Discourse analysis is qualitative. It focuses on how language is used in texts and contexts.

🔬 Preparing to Write a Discourse Analysis Essay

Now let’s talk about writing a discourse analysis essay. Before you start to work on your paper, it’s best to decide what type of discourse analysis you plan to do and choose the correct approach. It will influence your topic choice and writing techniques. Besides, it will make the whole process easier.

Types of Discourse Analysis: How to Choose

Critical Discourse Analysis Characteristics

Critical discourse analysis or CDA is a cross-disciplinary methodological and theoretical approach. It focuses on the issues of power and inequalities in linguistic interactions between individuals and groups. It’s closely related to applied linguistics, cultural and social studies, anthropology, intercultural communication, and critical pedagogy.

Choose a critical discourse analysis if you want to do the following:

• Study meaning and context of the verbal interaction or a text.
• Focus on the topics of identity and power.
• Examine the potential for a change in an area.
• Explore the connections between power and ideology.

Cultural Discourse Analysis Characteristics

Cultural discourse analysis or CuDA is a method of studying culturally distinctive communication practices in our world. In the communication field, CuDA is most often used by scholars of Language and Social Interaction.

Choose a cultural discourse analysis if you’re interested in:

• Studying culturally-specific means of communication in various local contexts.
• Seeing how people talk about identity, relations, actions, and feelings.
• Proving that the differences should be acknowledged, embraced, and celebrated in intercultural dialogue.

Political Discourse Analysis Characteristics

Political discourse analysis or PDA focuses on the use of language in politics, political texts, and documents. It also includes the recipients of communicative political events, such as the citizens and the general public. Therefore, it can be said the discourse is located in both political and public spheres.

Choose a political discourse analysis if you want to do the following:

• Deal with the concepts of political power, power   abuse ,  or domination.
• Examine the discursive conditions and consequences of social and political inequality.
• Analyze the words and actions of politicians.

Multimodal Discourse Analysis Characteristics

Multimodal discourse analysis is a technique that implies looking at multiple modes of communication such as text, color, and images. It studies how they interact with one another to create semiotic meaning.

Each mode of communication plays a specific role in the analysis. A picture, for instance, can easily depict something that takes too long to describe in words. Colors are mainly used to highlight specific aspects of the general message.

Choose a multimodal discourse analysis if you plan to:

• Look at several modes of communication at once.
• Conduct a nuanced and complex analysis of visual media.
• Work with online sources and platforms. 

Approaches to Discourse Analysis: How to Choose

Now that you’ve chosen the type of discourse analysis, it’s time to choose a suitable approach. There are two approaches to discourse analysis: language -in-use and socio-political discourse analysis .

• The language-in-use approach mainly focuses on the regular use of language in communication. It pays attention to sentence structure, phonology, and grammar. This approach is very descriptive and is mainly used in linguistics or literature.
• The socio-political approach focuses on how a language influences the social and political context and vice versa. One of the main socio-political approaches is Critical Discourse Analysis, born out of Michel Foucault’s work Discipline and Punish . It identifies two types of power: normalized and repressive (you can read about in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s entry on Foucault .) 

The language-in-use framework involves identifying the technicalities of language and investigating how the features are used in a particular social context. 

the English language usually uses affixes and suffixes but not infixes. If an English speaker says something similar to “that’s un-flipping-believable,” the questions for this approach would be “What role does the infix play?” or “What is the goal of using such an infix?” 

Now let’s see an example of a socio-political approach. We’ll take the power dynamic between a teacher and a student as an illustration.

A teacher threatening a student with detention if they don’t stop speaking in class can be classified as a repressive power. Normalized power, in contrast, isn’t actively asserted. It’s the power that makes students not want to talk in class. It’s manifested in the subtle clues from our environment that tell students how to behave.

👣 How to Do Discourse Analysis Step by Step

Now you are finally ready to start writing your discourse analysis. Follow our step-by-step guide, and you’ll excel at it.

Step #1: Choose the research question and select the content of the analysis.

Coming up with a clearly defined research question is crucial. There’s no universal set of criteria for a good research question. However, try to make sure that you research question:

• clearly states the purpose of the work;
• is not too broad or too narrow;
• can be investigated and has enough sources to rely on;
• allows you to conduct an analysis;
• is not too difficult to answer.

Step #2: Gather information.

Go through interviews, speeches, discussions, blogs, etc., to collect all the necessary information. Make sure to gather factual details of when and where the content you will use was created, who the author is, and who published it.

Step #3: Study the context.

This step involves a close examination of various elements of the gathered material.

• Take a closer look at the words used in the source text, its sentences, paragraphs, and overall structure.
• Consider 3 constructs of context: participants, setting, and purpose . These 3 characteristics reflect information about the individual, their emotional state, and their identity as members of a societal group.

Step #4: Review the results.

Once you’ve researched and examined all the sources, it’s time to reflect on your results and place your analysis in a broader context.

• To establish a broader context, you may consider what events have impacted the topic you are writing about and the consequences.  
• Finally, draw conclusions that answer your research question. 

Step #5: Make an outline.

Before you are all set with your discourse analysis, one last step is to write an outline. Usually, a discourse analysis essay consists of six parts:

📑 Example of Discourse Analysis Essay

Now that you know all about discourse analysis, we will introduce an example of a discourse analysis essay. From this sample, you can see what the layout of this kind of essay usually looks like. 

• Introduction. My project explores the problem of sexual violence, which continues to be a social issue, and the positive impact the #MeToo movement has made to solve it. #MeToo is a social movement that openly discusses the problem of violence and speaks up against sexual abuse and harassment.
• Aim and research questions. The guiding research question for my analysis is:   what is the most significant positive change that came from the #MeToo movement?
• The model of analysis. My approach includes an analysis of tweets and the #metoo hashtag, as they help trace the movement’s development and reflect people’s honest opinions on it.   I started with the essential tools: a laptop and a Twitter account. From there, I used the search bar to type in the hashtag #MeToo, and then I randomly selected a sample of 50 tweets. I coded the data based on the categories I produced while also being mindful that one tweet can fall into several categories. For that reason, all the tweets are coded with the appropriate numbers.
• Raising awareness, 
• Victims getting financial restitution,
• Introducing protection/laws protecting workers,
• Banning nondisclosure agreements.
• Results. The conducted research provided me with all the necessary information to illustrate the answer to my question. The conversations about sexual harassment and violence worldwide are being spread through the use of the hashtag #MeToo. This was shared through many news stories, events related to the topic of sexual harassment, and information referencing facts.
• Conclusion. In conclusion, a critical discourse analysis of 50 tweets illustrates the significant positive change that came from the #MeToo movement. This sample illustrates that thanks to the campaign, people’s awareness of the crimes of sexual assault has risen, as most tweets were coded as such. The sharing of this discourse is powerful in preventing the worldwide spread of sexual violence. It keeps the conversations going and raises awareness.

You might also want to check out the discourse analysis samples below.

• Dysphemism in Political Discourse Examples
• Historical Memory Discourse in Public Diplomacy
• Lincoln’s and Dickinson’s Rhetorical Discourses

Discourse Analysis Essay Topics

• Terrorism theories and media discourse
• The benefits of infographics in social media advertising
• Do better communication skills lead to the development of the social self?
• How can you make social media advertising successful?
• Possible causes of the Mayan civilization’s political collapse
• Commission of Education and Communication’s worldwide contribution
• Coach and athletes’ communication strategy
• Celebrities’ impact on politics
• Social media marketing for brand promotion
• What makes listening the most effective communication technique?
• Excessive social media usage and its consequences
• Web-based organizational discourses: climate change
• Media as a tool to cause intense emotions
• Verbal and nonverbal communication skills for presentations
• New media technologies and the development of relationships and communication
• Features and issues of the American political system
• Association between social media use and FOMO
• Communication issues between stakeholders
• Why is political opportunity theory essential for social movement studies?
• How do social media and the Internet connect people?
• How can communication be used for self-presentation?
• Does social media limit personal freedom?
• Hamlet’s universality and contemporary cultural discourse
• Is it possible to apply Goffman’s theory of the presentation of self in digital communication?
• The Democratic and Republican party’s position on the issue of terrorism
• How does social media affect families?
• How communication affects the individual’s development
• Characteristics of a political issue
• Ageism in media and society
• Possible mobile communication technologies of the future
• How does social media technology improve democratic processes?
• Persuasion and public communication
• The signs of social media addiction
• Psychometric approach and discourse analysis in the psychology of laughter
• The role of media in a political system
• Cultural differences in nonverbal communication
• The politically socialized vision of the world
• The negative effects of digital media platforms on the lives of young people
• Core beliefs of different political ideologies
• Approaches to overcome miscommunications in the workplace
• The effectiveness of social media tools for educational purposes
• Is technology a threat to face-to-face communication?
• What issues come with using electronic media ?
• Difficulties connected with the development of communication technologies

Thanks for reading till the end! We hope you’ve enjoyed the article and found lots of helpful information. If you did, feel free to share it with your friends. We wish you good luck with the discourse analysis essay!

Further reading

• How to Write a Discursive Essay: Tips to Succeed & Examples
• Case Study Analysis: Examples + How-to Guide & Writing Tips
• How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay Step by Step
• How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Outline, Steps, & Examples

❓ Discourse Analysis FAQs  

What is literary discourse analysis.

Literary discourse analysis is a type of discourse analysis that deals with literature and is viewed as a relatively new approach to it. It integrates the analysis of literature and non-literary genres in an innovative study of discourse.

What Is a Rhetorical Discourse?

Rhetoric uses language to appeal to emotions to persuade, inform, or motivate the audience. Rhetorical discourse is used to study texts aimed at specific audiences. Such texts often try to convince or persuade people by using particular language and arguments.

How Do You Write a Discourse Community Analysis?

To write a discourse analysis of any community, you need to examine and understand it. Ask yourself these questions and try to identify the patterns:

• What ideas or concerns keep the community together?
• What kind of language does it use?
• Does it produce any written documents?
• Discourse: The University of Chicago
• Definition and Examples of Discourse: ThoughtCo
• Discourse: British Council: BBC
• Use Discourse Analysis: Emerald Publishing
• Discourse Analysis—What Speakers Do in Conversation: Linguistic Society of America
• Critical Discourse Analysis and Information and Communication Technology in Education: Oxford Research Encyclopedias
• Political Discourse Analysis: Exploring the Language of Politics and the Politics of Language: Research Gate
• Discourse Analysis and Everything You Need to Know: Voxco
• Multimodal Discourse Analysis: Diggit Magazine
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21 Great Examples of Discourse Analysis

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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Discourse analysis is an approach to the study of language that demonstrates how language shapes reality. It usually takes the form of a textual or content analysis .

Discourse is understood as a way of perceiving, framing, and viewing the world.

For example:

• A dominant discourse of gender often positions women as gentle and men as active heroes.
• A dominant discourse of race often positions whiteness as the norm and colored bodies as ‘others’ (see: social construction of race )

Through discourse analysis, scholars look at texts and examine how those texts shape discourse.

In other words, it involves the examination of how the ‘ways of speaking about things’ normalizes and privileges some frames of thinking about things while marginalizing others.

As a simple example, if movies consistently frame the ideal female as passive, silent, and submissive, then society comes to think that this is how women should behave and makes us think that this is normal , so women who don’t fit this mold are abnormal .

Instead of seeing this as just the way things are, discourse analysts know that norms are produced in language and are not necessarily as natural as we may have assumed.

Examples of Discourse Analysis

1. language choice in policy texts.

A study of policy texts can reveal ideological frameworks and viewpoints of the writers of the policy. These sorts of studies often demonstrate how policy texts often categorize people in ways that construct social hierarchies and restrict people’s agency .

Examples include:

2. Newspaper Bias

Conducting a critical discourse analysis of newspapers involves gathering together a quorum of newspaper articles based on a pre-defined range and scope (e.g. newspapers from a particular set of publishers within a set date range).

Then, the researcher conducts a close examination of the texts to examine how they frame subjects (i.e. people, groups of people, etc.) from a particular ideological, political, or cultural perspective.

3. Language in Interviews

Discourse analysis can also be utilized to analyze interview transcripts. While coding methods to identify themes are the most common methods for analyzing interviews, discourse analysis is a valuable approach when looking at power relations and the framing of subjects through speech.

4. Television Analysis

Discourse analysis is commonly used to explore ideologies and framing devices in television shows and advertisements.

Due to the fact advertising is not just textual but rather multimodal , scholars often mix a discourse analytic methodology (i.e. exploring how television constructs dominant ways of thinking) with semiotic methods (i.e. exploration of how color, movement, font choice, and so on create meaning).

I did this, for example, in my PhD (listed below).

5. Film Critique

Scholars can explore discourse in film in a very similar way to how they study discourse in television shows. This can include the framing of sexuality gender, race, nationalism, and social class in films.

A common example is the study of Disney films and how they construct idealized feminine and masculine identities that children should aspire toward.

6. Analysis of Political Speech

Political speeches have also been subject to a significant amount of discourse analysis. These studies generally explore how influential politicians indicate a shift in policy and frame those policy shifts in the context of underlying ideological assumptions.

9. Examining Marketing Texts

Advertising is more present than ever in the context of neoliberal capitalism. As a result, it has an outsized role in shaping public discourse. Critical discourse analyses of advertising texts tend to explore how advertisements, and the capitalist context that underpins their proliferation, normalize gendered, racialized, and class-based discourses.

11. Analyzing Lesson Plans

As written texts, lesson plans can be analyzed for how they construct discourses around education as well as student and teacher identities. These texts tend to examine how teachers and governing bodies in education prioritize certain ideologies around what and how to learn. These texts can enter into discussions around the ‘history wars’ (what and whose history should be taught) as well as ideological approaches to religious and language learning.

12. Looking at Graffiti

One of my favorite creative uses of discourse analysis is in the study of graffiti. By looking at graffiti, researchers can identify how youth countercultures and counter discourses are spread through subversive means. These counterdiscourses offer ruptures where dominant discourses can be unsettled and displaced.

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The Origins of Discourse Analysis

1. foucault.

French philosopher Michel Foucault is a central thinker who shaped discourse analysis. His work in studies like Madness and Civilization and The History of Sexuality demonstrate how our ideas about insanity and sexuality have been shaped through language.

The ways the church speaks about sex, for example, shapes people’s thoughts and feelings about it.

The church didn’t simply make sex a silent taboo. Rather, it actively worked to teach people that desire was a thing of evil, forcing them to suppress their desires.

Over time, society at large developed a suppressed normative approach to the concept of sex that is not necessarily normal except for the fact that the church reiterates that this is the only acceptable way of thinking about the topic.

Similarly, in Madness and Civilization , a discourse around insanity was examined. Medical discourse pathologized behaviors that were ‘abnormal’ as signs of insanity. Were the dominant medical discourse to change, it’s possible that abnormal people would no longer be seen as insane.

One clear example of this is homosexuality. Up until the 1990s, being gay was seen in medical discourse as an illness. Today, most of Western society sees that this way of looking at homosexuality was extremely damaging and exclusionary, and yet at the time, because it was the dominant discourse, people didn’t question it.

2. Norman Fairclough

Fairclough (2013), inspired by Foucault, created some key methodological frameworks for conducting discourse analysis.

Fairclough was one of the first scholars to articulate some frameworks around exploring ‘text as discourse’ and provided key tools for scholars to conduct analyses of newspaper and policy texts.

Today, most methodology chapters in dissertations that use discourse analysis will have extensive discussions of Fairclough’s methods.

Discourse analysis is a popular primary research method in media studies, cultural studies, education studies, and communication studies. It helps scholars to show how texts and language have the power to shape people’s perceptions of reality and, over time, shift dominant ways of framing thought. It also helps us to see how power flows thought texts, creating ‘in-groups’ and ‘out-groups’ in society.

Key examples of discourse analysis include the study of television, film, newspaper, advertising, political speeches, and interviews.

Al Kharusi, R. (2017). Ideologies of Arab media and politics: a CDA of Al Jazeera debates on the Yemeni revolution. PhD Dissertation: University of Hertfordshire.

Alaazi, D. A., Ahola, A. N., Okeke-Ihejirika, P., Yohani, S., Vallianatos, H., & Salami, B. (2021). Immigrants and the Western media: a CDA of newspaper framings of African immigrant parenting in Canada. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies , 47 (19), 4478-4496. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1798746

Al-Khawaldeh, N. N., Khawaldeh, I., Bani-Khair, B., & Al-Khawaldeh, A. (2017). An exploration of graffiti on university’s walls: A corpus-based discourse analysis study. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics , 7 (1), 29-42. Doi: https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i1.6856

Alsaraireh, M. Y., Singh, M. K. S., & Hajimia, H. (2020). Critical DA of gender representation of male and female characters in the animation movie, Frozen. Linguistica Antverpiensia , 104-121.

Baig, F. Z., Khan, K., & Aslam, M. J. (2021). Child Rearing and Gender Socialisation: A Feminist CDA of Kids’ Popular Fictional Movies. Journal of Educational Research and Social Sciences Review (JERSSR) , 1 (3), 36-46.

Barker, M. E. (2021). Exploring Canadian Integration through CDA of English Language Lesson Plans for Immigrant Learners. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique appliquée , 24 (1), 75-91. Doi: https://doi.org/10.37213/cjal.2021.28959

Coleman, B. (2017). An Ideological Unveiling: Using Critical Narrative and Discourse Analysis to Examine Discursive White Teacher Identity. AERA Online Paper Repository .

Drew, C. (2013). Soak up the goodness: Discourses of Australian childhoods on television advertisements, 2006-2012. PhD Dissertation: Australian Catholic University. Doi: https://doi.org/10.4226/66/5a9780223babd

Fairclough, N. (2013). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language . London: Routledge.

Foucault, M. (1990). The history of sexuality: An introduction . London: Vintage.

Foucault, M. (2003). Madness and civilization . New York: Routledge.

Hahn, A. D. (2018). Uncovering the ideologies of internationalization in lesson plans through CDA. The New English Teacher , 12 (1), 121-121.

Isti’anah, A. (2018). Rohingya in media: CDA of Myanmar and Bangladesh newspaper headlines. Language in the Online and Offline World , 6 , 18-23. Doi: http://repository.usd.ac.id/id/eprint/25962

Khan, M. H., Adnan, H. M., Kaur, S., Qazalbash, F., & Ismail, I. N. (2020). A CDA of anti-Muslim rhetoric in Donald Trump’s historic 2016 AIPAC policy speech. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs , 40 (4), 543-558. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2020.1828507

Louise Cooper, K., Luck, L., Chang, E., & Dixon, K. (2021). What is the practice of spiritual care? A CDA of registered nurses’ understanding of spirituality. Nursing Inquiry , 28 (2), e12385. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12385

Mohammadi, D., Momeni, S., & Labafi, S. (2021). Representation of Iranians family’s life style in TV advertising (Case study: food ads). Religion & Communication , 27 (58), 333-379.

Munro, M. (2018) House price inflation in the news: a CDA of newspaper coverage in the UK. Housing Studies, 33(7), pp. 1085-1105. doi: 10.1080/02673037.2017.1421911

Ravn, I. M., Frederiksen, K., & Beedholm, K. (2016). The chronic responsibility: a CDA of Danish chronic care policies. Qualitative Health Research , 26 (4), 545-554. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1049732315570133

Sengul, K. (2019). Critical discourse analysis in political communication research: a case study of right-wing populist discourse in Australia. Communication Research and Practice , 5 (4), 376-392. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2019.1695082

Serafis, D., Kitis, E. D., & Archakis, A. (2018). Graffiti slogans and the construction of collective identity: evidence from the anti-austerity protests in Greece. Text & Talk , 38 (6), 775-797. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2018-0023

Suphaborwornrat, W., & Punkasirikul, P. (2022). A Multimodal CDA of Online Soft Drink Advertisements. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network , 15 (1), 627-653.

Symes, C., & Drew, C. (2017). Education on the rails: a textual ethnography of university advertising in mobile contexts. Critical Studies in Education , 58 (2), 205-223. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2016.1252783

Thomas, S. (2005). The construction of teacher identities in educational policy documents: A critical discourse analysis. Critical Studies in Education , 46 (2), 25-44. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17508480509556423

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Home » Discourse Analysis – Methods, Types and Examples

Discourse Analysis – Methods, Types and Examples

Table of Contents

Discourse Analysis

Definition:

Discourse Analysis is a method of studying how people use language in different situations to understand what they really mean and what messages they are sending. It helps us understand how language is used to create social relationships and cultural norms.

It examines language use in various forms of communication such as spoken, written, visual or multi-modal texts, and focuses on how language is used to construct social meaning and relationships, and how it reflects and reinforces power dynamics, ideologies, and cultural norms.

Types of Discourse Analysis

Some of the most common types of discourse analysis are:

Conversation Analysis

This type of discourse analysis focuses on analyzing the structure of talk and how participants in a conversation make meaning through their interaction. It is often used to study face-to-face interactions, such as interviews or everyday conversations.

Critical discourse Analysis

This approach focuses on the ways in which language use reflects and reinforces power relations, social hierarchies, and ideologies. It is often used to analyze media texts or political speeches, with the aim of uncovering the hidden meanings and assumptions that are embedded in these texts.

Discursive Psychology

This type of discourse analysis focuses on the ways in which language use is related to psychological processes such as identity construction and attribution of motives. It is often used to study narratives or personal accounts, with the aim of understanding how individuals make sense of their experiences.

Multimodal Discourse Analysis

This approach focuses on analyzing not only language use, but also other modes of communication, such as images, gestures, and layout. It is often used to study digital or visual media, with the aim of understanding how different modes of communication work together to create meaning.

Corpus-based Discourse Analysis

This type of discourse analysis uses large collections of texts, or corpora, to analyze patterns of language use across different genres or contexts. It is often used to study language use in specific domains, such as academic writing or legal discourse.

Descriptive Discourse

This type of discourse analysis aims to describe the features and characteristics of language use, without making any value judgments or interpretations. It is often used in linguistic studies to describe grammatical structures or phonetic features of language.

Narrative Discourse

This approach focuses on analyzing the structure and content of stories or narratives, with the aim of understanding how they are constructed and how they shape our understanding of the world. It is often used to study personal narratives or cultural myths.

Expository Discourse

This type of discourse analysis is used to study texts that explain or describe a concept, process, or idea. It aims to understand how information is organized and presented in such texts and how it influences the reader’s understanding of the topic.

Argumentative Discourse

This approach focuses on analyzing texts that present an argument or attempt to persuade the reader or listener. It aims to understand how the argument is constructed, what strategies are used to persuade, and how the audience is likely to respond to the argument.

Discourse Analysis Conducting Guide

Here is a step-by-step guide for conducting discourse analysis:

• What are you trying to understand about the language use in a particular context?
• What are the key concepts or themes that you want to explore?
• Select the data: Decide on the type of data that you will analyze, such as written texts, spoken conversations, or media content. Consider the source of the data, such as news articles, interviews, or social media posts, and how this might affect your analysis.
• Transcribe or collect the data: If you are analyzing spoken language, you will need to transcribe the data into written form. If you are using written texts, make sure that you have access to the full text and that it is in a format that can be easily analyzed.
• Read and re-read the data: Read through the data carefully, paying attention to key themes, patterns, and discursive features. Take notes on what stands out to you and make preliminary observations about the language use.
• Develop a coding scheme : Develop a coding scheme that will allow you to categorize and organize different types of language use. This might include categories such as metaphors, narratives, or persuasive strategies, depending on your research question.
• Code the data: Use your coding scheme to analyze the data, coding different sections of text or spoken language according to the categories that you have developed. This can be a time-consuming process, so consider using software tools to assist with coding and analysis.
• Analyze the data: Once you have coded the data, analyze it to identify patterns and themes that emerge. Look for similarities and differences across different parts of the data, and consider how different categories of language use are related to your research question.
• Interpret the findings: Draw conclusions from your analysis and interpret the findings in relation to your research question. Consider how the language use in your data sheds light on broader cultural or social issues, and what implications it might have for understanding language use in other contexts.
• Write up the results: Write up your findings in a clear and concise way, using examples from the data to support your arguments. Consider how your research contributes to the broader field of discourse analysis and what implications it might have for future research.

Applications of Discourse Analysis

Here are some of the key areas where discourse analysis is commonly used:

• Political discourse: Discourse analysis can be used to analyze political speeches, debates, and media coverage of political events. By examining the language used in these contexts, researchers can gain insight into the political ideologies, values, and agendas that underpin different political positions.
• Media analysis: Discourse analysis is frequently used to analyze media content, including news reports, television shows, and social media posts. By examining the language used in media content, researchers can understand how media narratives are constructed and how they influence public opinion.
• Education : Discourse analysis can be used to examine classroom discourse, student-teacher interactions, and educational policies. By analyzing the language used in these contexts, researchers can gain insight into the social and cultural factors that shape educational outcomes.
• Healthcare : Discourse analysis is used in healthcare to examine the language used by healthcare professionals and patients in medical consultations. This can help to identify communication barriers, cultural differences, and other factors that may impact the quality of healthcare.
• Marketing and advertising: Discourse analysis can be used to analyze marketing and advertising messages, including the language used in product descriptions, slogans, and commercials. By examining these messages, researchers can gain insight into the cultural values and beliefs that underpin consumer behavior.

When to use Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis is a valuable research methodology that can be used in a variety of contexts. Here are some situations where discourse analysis may be particularly useful:

• When studying language use in a particular context: Discourse analysis can be used to examine how language is used in a specific context, such as political speeches, media coverage, or healthcare interactions. By analyzing language use in these contexts, researchers can gain insight into the social and cultural factors that shape communication.
• When exploring the meaning of language: Discourse analysis can be used to examine how language is used to construct meaning and shape social reality. This can be particularly useful in fields such as sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies.
• When examining power relations: Discourse analysis can be used to examine how language is used to reinforce or challenge power relations in society. By analyzing language use in contexts such as political discourse, media coverage, or workplace interactions, researchers can gain insight into how power is negotiated and maintained.
• When conducting qualitative research: Discourse analysis can be used as a qualitative research method, allowing researchers to explore complex social phenomena in depth. By analyzing language use in a particular context, researchers can gain rich and nuanced insights into the social and cultural factors that shape communication.

Examples of Discourse Analysis

Here are some examples of discourse analysis in action:

• A study of media coverage of climate change: This study analyzed media coverage of climate change to examine how language was used to construct the issue. The researchers found that media coverage tended to frame climate change as a matter of scientific debate rather than a pressing environmental issue, thereby undermining public support for action on climate change.
• A study of political speeches: This study analyzed political speeches to examine how language was used to construct political identity. The researchers found that politicians used language strategically to construct themselves as trustworthy and competent leaders, while painting their opponents as untrustworthy and incompetent.
• A study of medical consultations: This study analyzed medical consultations to examine how language was used to negotiate power and authority between doctors and patients. The researchers found that doctors used language to assert their authority and control over medical decisions, while patients used language to negotiate their own preferences and concerns.
• A study of workplace interactions: This study analyzed workplace interactions to examine how language was used to construct social identity and maintain power relations. The researchers found that language was used to construct a hierarchy of power and status within the workplace, with those in positions of authority using language to assert their dominance over subordinates.

Purpose of Discourse Analysis

The purpose of discourse analysis is to examine the ways in which language is used to construct social meaning, relationships, and power relations. By analyzing language use in a systematic and rigorous way, discourse analysis can provide valuable insights into the social and cultural factors that shape communication and interaction.

The specific purposes of discourse analysis may vary depending on the research context, but some common goals include:

• To understand how language constructs social reality: Discourse analysis can help researchers understand how language is used to construct meaning and shape social reality. By analyzing language use in a particular context, researchers can gain insight into the cultural and social factors that shape communication.
• To identify power relations: Discourse analysis can be used to examine how language use reinforces or challenges power relations in society. By analyzing language use in contexts such as political discourse, media coverage, or workplace interactions, researchers can gain insight into how power is negotiated and maintained.
• To explore social and cultural norms: Discourse analysis can help researchers understand how social and cultural norms are constructed and maintained through language use. By analyzing language use in different contexts, researchers can gain insight into how social and cultural norms are reproduced and challenged.
• To provide insights for social change: Discourse analysis can provide insights that can be used to promote social change. By identifying problematic language use or power imbalances, researchers can provide insights that can be used to challenge social norms and promote more equitable and inclusive communication.

Characteristics of Discourse Analysis

Here are some key characteristics of discourse analysis:

• Focus on language use: Discourse analysis is centered on language use and how it constructs social meaning, relationships, and power relations.
• Multidisciplinary approach: Discourse analysis draws on theories and methodologies from a range of disciplines, including linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and psychology.
• Systematic and rigorous methodology: Discourse analysis employs a systematic and rigorous methodology, often involving transcription and coding of language data, in order to identify patterns and themes in language use.
• Contextual analysis : Discourse analysis emphasizes the importance of context in shaping language use, and takes into account the social and cultural factors that shape communication.
• Focus on power relations: Discourse analysis often examines power relations and how language use reinforces or challenges power imbalances in society.
• Interpretive approach: Discourse analysis is an interpretive approach, meaning that it seeks to understand the meaning and significance of language use from the perspective of the participants in a particular discourse.
• Emphasis on reflexivity: Discourse analysis emphasizes the importance of reflexivity, or self-awareness, in the research process. Researchers are encouraged to reflect on their own positionality and how it may shape their interpretation of language use.

Advantages of Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis has several advantages as a methodological approach. Here are some of the main advantages:

• Provides a detailed understanding of language use: Discourse analysis allows for a detailed and nuanced understanding of language use in specific social contexts. It enables researchers to identify patterns and themes in language use, and to understand how language constructs social reality.
• Emphasizes the importance of context : Discourse analysis emphasizes the importance of context in shaping language use. By taking into account the social and cultural factors that shape communication, discourse analysis provides a more complete understanding of language use than other approaches.
• Allows for an examination of power relations: Discourse analysis enables researchers to examine power relations and how language use reinforces or challenges power imbalances in society. By identifying problematic language use, discourse analysis can contribute to efforts to promote social justice and equality.
• Provides insights for social change: Discourse analysis can provide insights that can be used to promote social change. By identifying problematic language use or power imbalances, researchers can provide insights that can be used to challenge social norms and promote more equitable and inclusive communication.
• Multidisciplinary approach: Discourse analysis draws on theories and methodologies from a range of disciplines, including linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. This multidisciplinary approach allows for a more holistic understanding of language use in social contexts.

Limitations of Discourse Analysis

Some Limitations of Discourse Analysis are as follows:

• Time-consuming and resource-intensive: Discourse analysis can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. Collecting and transcribing language data can be a time-consuming task, and analyzing the data requires careful attention to detail and a significant investment of time and resources.
• Limited generalizability: Discourse analysis is often focused on a particular social context or community, and therefore the findings may not be easily generalized to other contexts or populations. This means that the insights gained from discourse analysis may have limited applicability beyond the specific context being studied.
• Interpretive nature: Discourse analysis is an interpretive approach, meaning that it relies on the interpretation of the researcher to identify patterns and themes in language use. This subjectivity can be a limitation, as different researchers may interpret language data differently.
• Limited quantitative analysis: Discourse analysis tends to focus on qualitative analysis of language data, which can limit the ability to draw statistical conclusions or make quantitative comparisons across different language uses or contexts.
• Ethical considerations: Discourse analysis may involve the collection and analysis of sensitive language data, such as language related to trauma or marginalization. Researchers must carefully consider the ethical implications of collecting and analyzing this type of data, and ensure that the privacy and confidentiality of participants is protected.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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What (Exactly) Is Discourse Analysis?

By: Jenna Crosley (PhD). Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2021

Overview: Discourse Analysis Basics

In this post, we’ll explain in plain, straightforward language :

• What discourse analysis is
• When to use discourse analysis
• The main approaches to discourse analysis
• How to conduct discourse analysis

What is discourse analysis?

Let’s start with the word “discourse”.

In its simplest form, discourse is verbal or written communication between people that goes beyond a single sentence . Importantly, discourse is more than just language. The term “language” can include all forms of linguistic and symbolic units (even things such as road signs), and language studies can focus on the individual meanings of words. Discourse goes beyond this and looks at the overall meanings conveyed by language in context .  “Context” here refers to the social, cultural, political, and historical background of the discourse, and it is important to take this into account to understand underlying meanings expressed through language.

A popular way of viewing discourse is as language used in specific social contexts, and as such language serves as a means of prompting some form of social change or meeting some form of goal.

Now that we’ve defined discourse, let’s look at discourse analysis .

Discourse analysis uses the language presented in a corpus or body of data to draw meaning . This body of data could include a set of interviews or focus group discussion transcripts. While some forms of discourse analysis center in on the specifics of language (such as sounds or grammar), other forms focus on how this language is used to achieve its aims. We’ll dig deeper into these two above-mentioned approaches later.

As Wodak and Krzyżanowski (2008) put it: “discourse analysis provides a general framework to problem-oriented social research”. Basically, discourse analysis is used to conduct research on the use of language in context in a wide variety of social problems (i.e., issues in society that affect individuals negatively).

For example, discourse analysis could be used to assess how language is used to express differing viewpoints on financial inequality and would look at how the topic should or shouldn’t be addressed or resolved, and whether this so-called inequality is perceived as such by participants.

What makes discourse analysis unique is that it posits that social reality is socially constructed , or that our experience of the world is understood from a subjective standpoint. Discourse analysis goes beyond the literal meaning of words and languages

For example, people in countries that make use of a lot of censorship will likely have their knowledge, and thus views, limited by this, and will thus have a different subjective reality to those within countries with more lax laws on censorship.

When should you use discourse analysis?

There are many ways to analyze qualitative data (such as content analysis , narrative analysis , and thematic analysis ), so why should you choose discourse analysis? Well, as with all analysis methods, the nature of your research aims, objectives and research questions (i.e. the purpose of your research) will heavily influence the right choice of analysis method.

The purpose of discourse analysis is to investigate the functions of language (i.e., what language is used for) and how meaning is constructed in different contexts, which, to recap, include the social, cultural, political, and historical backgrounds of the discourse.

For example, if you were to study a politician’s speeches, you would need to situate these speeches in their context, which would involve looking at the politician’s background and views, the reasons for presenting the speech, the history or context of the audience, and the country’s social and political history (just to name a few – there are always multiple contextual factors).

Discourse analysis can also tell you a lot about power and power imbalances , including how this is developed and maintained, how this plays out in real life (for example, inequalities because of this power), and how language can be used to maintain it. For example, you could look at the way that someone with more power (for example, a CEO) speaks to someone with less power (for example, a lower-level employee).

Therefore, you may consider discourse analysis if you are researching:

• Some form of power or inequality (for example, how affluent individuals interact with those who are less wealthy
• How people communicate in a specific context (such as in a social situation with colleagues versus a board meeting)
• Ideology and how ideas (such as values and beliefs) are shared using language (like in political speeches)
• How communication is used to achieve social goals (such as maintaining a friendship or navigating conflict)

As you can see, discourse analysis can be a powerful tool for assessing social issues , as well as power and power imbalances . So, if your research aims and objectives are oriented around these types of issues, discourse analysis could be a good fit for you.

Discourse Analysis: The main approaches

There are two main approaches to discourse analysis. These are the language-in-use (also referred to as socially situated text and talk ) approaches and the socio-political approaches (most commonly Critical Discourse Analysis ). Let’s take a look at each of these.

Approach #1: Language-in-use

Language-in-use approaches focus on the finer details of language used within discourse, such as sentence structures (grammar) and phonology (sounds). This approach is very descriptive and is seldom seen outside of studies focusing on literature and/or linguistics.

Because of its formalist roots, language-in-use pays attention to different rules of communication, such as grammaticality (i.e., when something “sounds okay” to a native speaker of a language). Analyzing discourse through a language-in-use framework involves identifying key technicalities of language used in discourse and investigating how the features are used within a particular social context.

For example, English makes use of affixes (for example, “un” in “unbelievable”) and suffixes (“able” in “unbelievable”) but doesn’t typically make use of infixes (units that can be placed within other words to alter their meaning). However, an English speaker may say something along the lines of, “that’s un-flipping-believable”. From a language-in-use perspective, the infix “flipping” could be investigated by assessing how rare the phenomenon is in English, and then answering questions such as, “What role does the infix play?” or “What is the goal of using such an infix?”

Need a helping hand?

Approach #2: Socio-political

Socio-political approaches to discourse analysis look beyond the technicalities of language and instead focus on the influence that language has in social context , and vice versa. One of the main socio-political approaches is Critical Discourse Analysis , which focuses on power structures (for example, the power dynamic between a teacher and a student) and how discourse is influenced by society and culture. Critical Discourse Analysis is born out of Michel Foucault’s early work on power, which focuses on power structures through the analysis of normalized power .

Normalized power is ingrained and relatively allusive. It’s what makes us exist within society (and within the underlying norms of society, as accepted in a specific social context) and do the things that we need to do. Contrasted to this, a more obvious form of power is repressive power , which is power that is actively asserted.

Sounds a bit fluffy? Let’s look at an example.

Consider a situation where a teacher threatens a student with detention if they don’t stop speaking in class. This would be an example of repressive power (i.e. it was actively asserted).

Normalized power, on the other hand, is what makes us not want to talk in class . It’s the subtle clues we’re given from our environment that tell us how to behave, and this form of power is so normal to us that we don’t even realize that our beliefs, desires, and decisions are being shaped by it.

In the view of Critical Discourse Analysis, language is power and, if we want to understand power dynamics and structures in society, we must look to language for answers. In other words, analyzing the use of language can help us understand the social context, especially the power dynamics.

While the above-mentioned approaches are the two most popular approaches to discourse analysis, other forms of analysis exist. For example, ethnography-based discourse analysis and multimodal analysis. Ethnography-based discourse analysis aims to gain an insider understanding of culture , customs, and habits through participant observation (i.e. directly observing participants, rather than focusing on pre-existing texts).

On the other hand, multimodal analysis focuses on a variety of texts that are both verbal and nonverbal (such as a combination of political speeches and written press releases). So, if you’re considering using discourse analysis, familiarize yourself with the various approaches available so that you can make a well-informed decision.

How to “do” discourse analysis

As every study is different, it’s challenging to outline exactly what steps need to be taken to complete your research. However, the following steps can be used as a guideline if you choose to adopt discourse analysis for your research.

Step 1: Decide on your discourse analysis approach

The first step of the process is to decide on which approach you will take in terms. For example, the language in use approach or a socio-political approach such as critical discourse analysis. To do this, you need to consider your research aims, objectives and research questions . Of course, this means that you need to have these components clearly defined. If you’re still a bit uncertain about these, check out our video post covering topic development here.

While discourse analysis can be exploratory (as in, used to find out about a topic that hasn’t really been touched on yet), it is still vital to have a set of clearly defined research questions to guide your analysis. Without these, you may find that you lack direction when you get to your analysis. Since discourse analysis places such a focus on context, it is also vital that your research questions are linked to studying language within context.

Based on your research aims, objectives and research questions, you need to assess which discourse analysis would best suit your needs. Importantly, you  need to adopt an approach that aligns with your study’s purpose . So, think carefully about what you are investigating and what you want to achieve, and then consider the various options available within discourse analysis.

It’s vital to determine your discourse analysis approach from the get-go , so that you don’t waste time randomly analyzing your data without any specific plan.

Step 2: Design your collection method and gather your data

Once you’ve got determined your overarching approach, you can start looking at how to collect your data. Data in discourse analysis is drawn from different forms of “talk” and “text” , which means that it can consist of interviews , ethnographies, discussions, case studies, blog posts.

The type of data you collect will largely depend on your research questions (and broader research aims and objectives). So, when you’re gathering your data, make sure that you keep in mind the “what”, “who” and “why” of your study, so that you don’t end up with a corpus full of irrelevant data. Discourse analysis can be very time-consuming, so you want to ensure that you’re not wasting time on information that doesn’t directly pertain to your research questions.

When considering potential collection methods, you should also consider the practicalities . What type of data can you access in reality? How many participants do you have access to and how much time do you have available to collect data and make sense of it? These are important factors, as you’ll run into problems if your chosen methods are impractical in light of your constraints.

Once you’ve determined your data collection method, you can get to work with the collection.

Step 3: Investigate the context

A key part of discourse analysis is context and understanding meaning in context. For this reason, it is vital that you thoroughly and systematically investigate the context of your discourse. Make sure that you can answer (at least the majority) of the following questions:

• What is the discourse?
• Why does the discourse exist? What is the purpose and what are the aims of the discourse?
• When did the discourse take place?
• Where did it happen?
• Who participated in the discourse? Who created it and who consumed it?
• What does the discourse say about society in general?
• How is meaning being conveyed in the context of the discourse?

Make sure that you include all aspects of the discourse context in your analysis to eliminate any confounding factors. For example, are there any social, political, or historical reasons as to why the discourse would exist as it does? What other factors could contribute to the existence of the discourse? Discourse can be influenced by many factors, so it is vital that you take as many of them into account as possible.

Once you’ve investigated the context of your data, you’ll have a much better idea of what you’re working with, and you’ll be far more familiar with your content. It’s then time to begin your analysis.

Step 4: Analyze your data

When performing a discourse analysis, you’ll need to look for themes and patterns .  To do this, you’ll start by looking at codes , which are specific topics within your data. You can find more information about the qualitative data coding process here.

Next, you’ll take these codes and identify themes. Themes are patterns of language (such as specific words or sentences) that pop up repeatedly in your data, and that can tell you something about the discourse. For example, if you’re wanting to know about women’s perspectives of living in a certain area, potential themes may be “safety” or “convenience”.

In discourse analysis, it is important to reach what is called data saturation . This refers to when you’ve investigated your topic and analyzed your data to the point where no new information can be found. To achieve this, you need to work your way through your data set multiple times, developing greater depth and insight each time. This can be quite time consuming and even a bit boring at times, but it’s essential.

Once you’ve reached the point of saturation, you should have an almost-complete analysis and you’re ready to move onto the next step – final review.

Step 5: Review your work

Hey, you’re nearly there. Good job! Now it’s time to review your work.

This final step requires you to return to your research questions and compile your answers to them, based on the analysis. Make sure that you can answer your research questions thoroughly, and also substantiate your responses with evidence from your data.

Usually, discourse analysis studies make use of appendices, which are referenced within your thesis or dissertation. This makes it easier for reviewers or markers to jump between your analysis (and findings) and your corpus (your evidence) so that it’s easier for them to assess your work.

When answering your research questions, make you should also revisit your research aims and objectives , and assess your answers against these. This process will help you zoom out a little and give you a bigger picture view. With your newfound insights from the analysis, you may find, for example, that it makes sense to expand the research question set a little to achieve a more comprehensive view of the topic.

Let’s recap…

In this article, we’ve covered quite a bit of ground. The key takeaways are:

• Discourse analysis is a qualitative analysis method used to draw meaning from language in context.
• You should consider using discourse analysis when you wish to analyze the functions and underlying meanings of language in context.
• The two overarching approaches to discourse analysis are language-in-use and socio-political approaches.
• The main steps involved in undertaking discourse analysis are deciding on your analysis approach (based on your research questions), choosing a data collection method, collecting your data, investigating the context of your data, analyzing your data, and reviewing your work.

If you have any questions about discourse analysis, feel free to leave a comment below. If you’d like 1-on-1 help with your analysis, book an initial consultation with a friendly Grad Coach to see how we can help.

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35 Comments

This was really helpful to me

I would like to know the importance of discourse analysis analysis to academic writing

In academic writing coherence and cohesion are very important. DA will assist us to decide cohesiveness of the continuum of discourse that are used in it. We can judge it well.

Thank you so much for this piece, can you please direct how I can use Discourse Analysis to investigate politics of ethnicity in a particular society

I would like to get more practical examples, also to know how can the discourse analysis help us in our academic studies.

Fantastically helpful! Could you write on how discourse analysis can be done using computer aided technique? Many thanks

I would like to know if I can use discourse analysis to research on electoral integrity deviation and when election are considered free & fair

I also to know the importance of discourse analysis and it’s purpose and characteristics

This is helpful. It is highly informative. Thank you. Is it possible to use more one analysis technique? I would to book for personal assistance. I am doing my Methodology chapter for a PhD Thesis.

Thanks, we are doing discourse analysis as a subject this year and this helped a lot!

Please can you help explain and answer this question? With illustrations,Hymes’ Acronym SPEAKING, as a feature of Discourse Analysis.

What are the three objectives of discourse analysis especially on the topic how people communicate between doctor and patient

Very useful Thank you for your work and information

thank you so much , I wanna know more about discourse analysis tools , such as , latent analysis , active powers analysis, proof paths analysis, image analysis, rhetorical analysis, propositions analysis, and so on, I wish I can get references about it , thanks in advance

Its beyond my expectations. It made me clear everything which I was struggling since last 4 months. 👏 👏 👏 👏

Thank you so much … It is clear and helpful

Thanks for sharing this material. My question is related to the online newspaper articles on COVID -19 pandemic the way this new normal is constructed as a social reality. How discourse analysis is an appropriate approach to examine theese articles?

This very helpful and interesting information

This was incredible! And massively helpful.

I’m seeking further assistance if you don’t mind.

Found it worth consuming!

What are the four types of discourse analysis?

very helpful. And I’d like to know more about Ethnography-based discourse analysis as I’m studying arts and humanities, I’d like to know how can I use it in my study.

Amazing info. Very happy to read this helpful piece of documentation. Thank you.

is discourse analysis can take data from medias like TV, Radio…?

I need to know what is general discourse analysis

Direct to the point, simple and deep explanation. this is helpful indeed.

Thank you so much was really helpful

really impressive

Thank you very much, for the clear explanations and examples.

It is really awesome. Anybody within just in 5 minutes understand this critical topic so easily. Thank you so much.

Thank you for enriching my knowledge on Discourse Analysis . Very helpful thanks again

This was extremely helpful. I feel less anxious now. Thank you so much.

Extremely helpful, I am going to be working on CDA about animal rights, particularly stray dogs using social media content, and I was so lost, thank you for clearly illustrating how the research should go forward, thank you

This is helpful. It is highly informative. Thank you. Is it possible to use more than one analysis technique in a single study? I would like to book for personal assistance. I am doing my Methodology chapter for a PhD Thesis.

This is very helpful. Thanks a lot!

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Critical Discourse Analysis Compare & Contrast Essay

Introduction, defining discourse analysis, defining critical discourse analysis, the difference between critical discourse analysis and discourse analysis.

Language may be used in different contexts and texts to create different meanings. To understand the sign, vocal, or even written language, a form of analysis is crucial in establishing both the intended and implied meanings.

This paper discusses discourse examination and critical discourse analysis (CDA) as two important approaches to analysing language use in vocal, sign, and written forms. Its main concern is to demonstrate the difference between the perspectives of language use in written and text forms.

Discourse analysis (DA) is a general term that is applied to various paradigms that are deployed in the study of the sign, vocal, written, and any other language semiotics. Objects that are used in the analysis under this approach are defined in terms of an individual’s consistency in the application of prepositions, use of sentences, tongue, and even turns-at-talk (Ross & Nightingale 2003).

Opposed to traditional approaches to linguistic analysis, discourse analysis focuses on studying not only the usage of language outside the limits of sentences use, but also analysing language in its conventional usage, rather than utilising invented examples.

This claim suggests a close relationship between discourse analysis and text analysis. However, the two concepts are different since discourse analysis also objects to identify various socio-psychological traits of people, rather than just the structure of the texts (Keller 2011).

As Bryman (2008) confirms, discourse analysis may find application in various social sciences among them being linguistics, social work, cultural studies, and communications disciplines. However, in each of the disciplines, its application is subject to assumptions, methodologies of studies, and analysis approaches that guide it. Discourse analysis covers a variety of topics that are of interest to different analysts.

They include sounds, language syntax, rhetoric, meanings, gesture, interaction, and acts of speech among others. It can take different genres, including business, politics, and science among others. Discourse analysts are interested in topics such as the relationship between context and texts, discourse and power, and interaction and the discourse.

From the above discussions, the term discourse analysis simply means studies on different ways in which languages are deployed in different texts and contexts.

In a more interactive definition, as Blommaert (2005, p.97) informs, ‘it concerns itself with the use of language in a running discourse, continued over a number of sentences, and involving the interaction of a speaker, writer, auditor, or a reader in a specific situational context, and within a framework of social cultural conventions’. Indeed, it is not just concerned with the methodology.

Its studies include the nature of usage of language and its relationship with key issues that scholars encounter in social science studies (Ritchie & Lewis 2003).

In particular, discourse analysis relates to the gathering of different perspectives of discourse. Such approaches relate to both data collection practices and theoretical assumptions together with meta-theoretical postulations that guide research approaches (Wood & Kroger 2000).

Discourse analysis differs from the grammatical analysis. Grammatical data involves one sentence or a collection of many sentences that demonstrate a given aspect of the language under study. In the process of analysis, a grammatical analyst will compile different sentences that he or she deploys as examples.

This approach differs from discourse analysis. Its primary interest is on the morphological productivity of different people as opposed to the forecaster. Discourse analysis data is adopted from recordings or written texts. Such data is hardly derived from one sentence.

Discourse analysis interconnects with rhetoric studies. Indeed, Eisenhart and Barbara (2008) reveal how discourse researches are interrelated classes of oratory, symphony, and practical morphology. Studies on speech making have been expanding. They comprise rhetoric of politics, popular culture, and informal arguments. A new pedagogy has been established concerning personal identity rhetoric.

These changes call for the expansion traditional approaches to language analysis and talks and texts in new mechanisms that reflect material and socio-cultural discourse contexts. This observation suggests that the discipline of rhetoric studies is now closely interlinked with discourse analysis.

Consequently, as Gee (2005) reveals, discourse analysis is a means of engaging in an incredibly crucial human task, which entails thinking deeply on meanings that are attached to words that people utter for the world to become a humane living place.

Critical discourse analysis is a sub-discipline of discourse analysis. It approaches discourses from a political motive. Conversely compared to campaigners and or politicians, decisive dissertation examination extends past grave matters. Analysts in critical discourses have a structural understanding and knowledge, which supersedes general insights on politically motivated issues (Renkema 2004).

They examine basic sources, the circumstances, and even the consequences of different concerns. Hence, as opposed to political scientists, critical discourse analysts have an interest in arriving at a scholarly sound contribution, which includes an in-depth insight into specific pressing politicised issues in the society.

The critical dissertation is perhaps the hardest test that discourse forecasters encounter. It demands a multidisciplinary understanding together with intricate understanding of relationships that occur in texts, power, culture, talks, and even the society. Indeed, its criterion for adequacy does not merely depend on descriptive, explanatory, or observational skills (Renkema 2004).

Success in the critical discourse analysis rests on the platform of the relevance and effectiveness of the contribution of analysis in creating change.

This situation requires modesty. Indeed, under critical discourses, educational involvement may be trivial in times of transformation, particularly if individuals who are closely engaged with reference to their conduct are successful transformation agents. This position is perhaps well evidenced by the transformation procedures that involve liberalisation, feminist campaigns, the battle for public privileges, and class campaigns.

One of the most significant concerns of critical discourse analysis involves developing an understanding of the relationship between languages, dominance, and social power. Such an understanding helps in predicting the contribution of discourse on the reproduction of various power differences.

While discussing social power, critical discourse analysis ignores powers that individuals portray, unless under circumstances in which the powers contribute to the development of productive relationships between different social groups.

Social power may be manifested in the form of accessibility to various valuable resources in social platforms, including wealth, education, skills, knowledge, and even status. Under critical discourse analysis, accessibility to different forms of power from the context of communication and discourse is a crucial resource of power.

In critical discourse analysis, political motive forms its basic tenet, which involves power struggles. Authority is a means of being in charge of one assembly of people over members of another assembly. It limits people’s cognition and actions. Hence, it influences people’s minds and their freedom of action.

Power is enacted through acts of persuasion, manipulation through talks, and dissimulation. The goal is to alter people’s cognitions and thinking processes in an effort to align them with those of the influential social groups. To this extent, critical discourse analysis helps in the management of other people’s minds via texts and talks.

Critical discourse analysts garner different topics that require analysis before proceeding to collect large amounts of texts. However, the corpus of texts does not comprise the only methodology for critical discourse analysis.

Different researchers grant the right to apply all methods that permit the generation of insights to ideologies that the discourses promote. The critical discourse analysis investigates different text echelons that range from micro, macro, and meso levels of text to identify political motives in them.

Critical discourse analysis involves the utilisation of different techniques of studying language and texts as a cultural and social practice (Seale 2004). It draws its tenets from the poststructuralist pedagogy that investigates the functions of all institutional sites.

It also contends that language and texts play important roles in the development of human ideologies and identities (Eisenhart & Barbara 2008). Similar to the concerns of Bourdieu’s sociology, critical discourse analysis holds that texts and/or interactions with them utilise embodied approaches that operate in different social fields (Seale 2004).

Critical discourse also draws some of its facets from the ideologies of the neo-Marxist theory of culture, which assumes that discourses are created and utilised in the political economy. This observation perhaps explains its particular focus on political motives. Thus, it is different from discourse analysis to the extent that it has specific areas of interest.

Discourse analysis focuses on a variety of genres, including phonology, pragmatics, communication ethnography, conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, rhetoric, text linguistics, and functional grammar amongst others (Bromley 2001; Crang & Cook 2007). Hence, critical discourse analysis is a genre of discourse analysis.

Considering that discourse analysis has a variety of genres, including critical discourse analysis, the difference between the two concepts is clear with reference to the structures and the main concerns of the critical discourse analysis. Practice techniques that are deployed in critical discourse analysis are borrowed from interdisciplinary fields.

For example, just like in the case of pragmatics, the theory of speech acts, and narratology, which are advanced in discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis holds that texts comprise a complex mechanism for social actions, which take place in sophisticated contexts on a social platform (Gee 2005).

Functional linguistics studies depict the manner in which language forms can relate to achieve ideological functions. The theory is used in the critical discourse analysis as an analytic tool for establishing the relations between culture, politics, gender, and social classes.

Critical discourse analysis acknowledges the existence of asymmetries in resources and power among different speakers, including people who listen to them. It holds that writers and readers have unequal accessibility to social and linguistic resources, a situation that reveals their differences in social contexts.

From the paradigms of discourse analysis, discussion combines with languages to influence the ideologies of people’s daily affairs and hence the asymmetry that is evident between textual portrayals and the relations of power. The CDA is both constructive and deconstructive.

From the paradigms of power and textual portrayals, in a deconstructive approach, CDA renders power relationship themes problematic in a society as expressed through written texts and talks. In a constructive approach, it advocates the increased development of critical skills that are necessary for the analysis of discourses and various social relations to ensure equity in terms of resource distribution (Keller 2011).

Discourse analysis deploys text as its main unit of analysis. This approach differs from discourse analysis, which can use a sound and its patterns, textual frameworks, and rhetoric in the analysis. CDA considers texts social actions that form meaningful and reasoned printed and verbal language.

However, it does not consider textual forms random in nature. Specific types of texts do certain things within various social institutions. They can help to predict material effects in qualitative researches (Denzin & Lincoln 2005). Under critical discourses, studies are dynamic. They continue undergoing processes of reinvention and innovations.

From the paradigms of discourse analysis, all genres can be adequately analysed via studying language structures such as prepositions and microstructures of the texts. The discourse reveals how written and verbal languages possess various identifiable segments and movements. For example, a scientific text can be interpreted as a series of actions that have been joined by a set of chains.

CDA can focus on word-level and sentence-level analysis. It does this by using analysis approaches derived from functional linguistics studies. Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) support this assertion by adding that grammatical combined with various lexical textual features possess different identifiable functionalities. They can explain the natural and social world.

They create different effects on social relations through the conventions that form coherency in texts that are deployed in a given media. Critical discourse analysis focuses on identifying these effects.

Under discourse examination, verbal texts depict some chosen perspectives of the natural world to help in explaining the social world. Therefore, through texts, people can position others to align with identifiable relations that are consistent with power differences that exist among them.

Language employment in writing and speech (discourse) constitutes a social practice. Discursive events shape social structures and/or institutions. This claim suggests that discourse is socially conditioned and that may be socially constitutive. Since it reproduces the status quo, it contributes to its transformation.

Discursive events also play the role of reproducing varying power relations among different classes of people in the society (Fairclough 2000).

Depending on the academic culture under investigation, different linguistic scholars can use the term discourse in different contexts. For example, German linguistic scholars distinguish discourses from texts, depending on the relationship between traditional text linguistics and language rhetoric. However, in English-speaking nations, discourses imply oral communication and written texts.

It is possible to consider a transcript a tangible comprehension of conceptual structures of knowledge. However, amid these differences, discourses encompass a form of memory and knowledge bases that are manifested in the form of power differences that are witnessed in talks and in written texts (Reisigl & Wodak 2001). However, critical discourse analysis focuses on structures of talks and written texts.

Dominance reproduction is a major aim of CDA. Dominance has reception together with reproduction as two important perspectives in its contribution to power differences. This observation suggests that CDA analysis focuses on the legitimisation and the expression of dominance in different structures of talks and texts.

Reproduction of various discursive events in CDA emanates from power differences that are manifested in the form of social cognition power among some groups over others. As studied from the paradigms of discourse analysis, discourse structures translate into social cognitions while social cognitions in CDA produce power imbalances.

Therefore, under the two approaches, researchers struggle with establishing the relationships between cognition and the discourses. However, under both CDA and discourse analysis, discourse structures play the role of mediation. Thus, they are mechanisms for reproducing dominance in written texts and speeches.

In the context of dominance, CDA differs from DA in its emphasis on power variations among different groups of people who interact in social contexts through talk and written texts. To this extent, Fairclough (2000, p.103) reckon, ‘members of less powerful groups may also otherwise be more or less dominated in discourse’. This claim implies that in all levels of talks and texts, participants who possess influential power control freedom.

Consequently, in CDA, language does not possess any power of its own. It acquires it when it interacts with high-ranking people. This observation perhaps reveals why CDA conducts the analysis of discourse from the perspective of distinguished people. Such people carry the load when it comes to inequality issues. They solely have the ability to improve social conditions.

Discourse, which denotes language use in talk and written texts, can be studied from the paradigm of discourse analysis (DA) and critical discourse analysis (CDA).

Discourse analysis constitutes a variety of genres such as phonology, pragmatics, and critical discourse analysis among many other genres that study language use in social contexts. CDA is a genre of DA. CDA focuses on political motives in language use, which is manifested through power differences that create the dominance of different groups in social communication contexts.

Blommaert, J 2005, Discourse , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Bromley, D 2001, Toward reflexive ethnography , JAI, London.

Bryman, A 2008, Social research methods, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Crang, M & Cook, I 2007, Doing ethnographies, Sage, London.

Denzin, N & Lincoln, Y 2005, The SAGE handbook of qualitative research, Sage, London.

Eisenhart, C & Barbara, J 2008, Discourse Analysis and Rhetorical Studies: Rhetoric in Detail: Discourse Analyses of Rhetorical Talk and Text , John Benjamins Publishers, New York, NY.

Fairclough, N 2000, The discourse of social exclusion: Approaches in Critical Discourse Analysis , Passagen Verlag, Vienna.

Gee, J 2005, An Introduction to Discourse Analysis , Routledge, London.

Halliday, M & Matthiessen, C 2004, An Introduction to Functional Grammar , Arnold, London.

Keller, R 2011, ‘The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD)’, Human Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 43-65.

Reisigl, M & Wodak, R 2001, Discourse and Discrimination , Routledge, London.

Renkema, J 2004, Introduction to Discourse Studies , Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Ritchie, J & Lewis, J 2003, Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers, Sage, London.

Ross, K & Nightingale, V 2003, Media and Audiences New Perspectives , Open University Press, Virginia.

Seale, C 2004, Social research methods: a reader , Routledge, London.

Silverman, D 2005, Doing qualitative research: a practical handbook, Sage, London.

Wood, L & Kroger, R 2000, Doing Discourse Analysis , Sage Publishers, London.

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How to Do a Critical Discourse Analysis

Last Updated: April 7, 2023 Approved

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 98% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 97,461 times.

The field of critical discourse analysis (CDA) involves taking a deeper, qualitative look at different types of texts, whether in advertising, literature, or journalism. Analysts try to understand ways in which language connects to social, cultural, and political power structures. As understood by CDA, all forms of language and types of writing or imagery can convey and shape cultural norms and social traditions. While there is no single method that covers all types of critical discourse analyses, there are some grounding steps that you can take to ensure that your CDA is well done. [1] X Research source

Working with a Text

• Texts could include things like Moby Dick , Citizen Kane , a cologne advertisement, a conversation between a doctor and their patient, or a piece of journalism describing an election.

• As a first step, circle all of the adverbs and adjectives in the text. Then, consider what they might suggest about the tone of the piece.
• Look for tone words to help you figure out what the author is trying to convey.
• For example, say you're looking at a piece of political journalism about the president. If the text describes the president as “the goofball in the Oval Office,” the attitude is sarcastic and critical.
• However, if the president is described as “the leader of the free world,” the attitude is respectful and even reverential.
• If the article simply refers to the president as “the president,” its attitude is deliberately neutral, as if the text refuses to “take sides.”

• For example, think about a news report about international immigrants coming to a country. The newscaster can create different types of community by referring to the immigrants as “strangers,” “refugees,” or “aliens.”
• The word “refugees” will prompt sympathy among listeners and will help build a community between citizens and immigrants, while “alien” will help create hostile feelings and will exclude the immigrants from the nation's community.

• For example, an 18th century short story that begins, “The savages attacked the unarmed settlers at dawn,” contains implicit interpretations and biases about indigenous populations.
• Another story that begins, “The natives and settlers made a peaceful arrangement,” has a comparatively benign interpretation of historical events.

Analyzing the Text's Form and Production

• For example, think about the difference between an author who writes a novel for money and one who writes for their own pleasure.
• The first author would want to tap into popular trends ends of the day in order to profit, while the second author would be less concerned with pleasing the public.

• For example, consider the case of a CEO delivering a speech in person to their company. The fact that they're delivering a speech and not sending an open letter shows that openness and transparency are important to the CEO and the company culture.
• If the CEO did not deliver a speech, but only sent an email to board members and top executives, the formal change would imply that the text had a very different audience. The email would make the CEO seem less personal, unconcerned about their own workers, and elitist in who they chose to address.

• For example, say that a contemporary writer opens a poem or story with: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Quoting Charles Dickens at once shows that the author is well-read and also grounds their writing in the English Victorian literary tradition.

Tracing Power in Social Practices

• For example, if a political speakers says, “our forefathers smile upon us today,” they are using patriarchal language.
• The term “culture” should be taken very broadly. Businesses can have cultures, as can communities of all sizes, countries, language groups, racial groups, and even hobbyists can have specific cultures.

• For example, consider 2 different magazine ads for trucks. In the first, a rugged-looking man sits in a truck below the words “The vehicle for men.” In the second, a family sits in a truck and the ad copy reads, “A truck to hold everybody.”
• The first ad seems to rely on stereotypical ideas of masculinity, while the second seems more inclusive.

• For example, imagine a politician whose slogan is “All energy should come from coal!” Because of the extremity of the stance, you may suspect that the candidate represents a fringe party that doesn't share many of the mainstream party's views.
• You could confirm this suspicion by looking at other candidates' speeches to see how they address the fringe candidate. If other candidates critique the fringe candidate, the latter is likely part of a sub-group whose views aren't shared by the main political culture.

• For example, companies like Ikea, Emirate Airlines, and McDonald's have strong cultures and norms that exist internationally.

Expert Q&A

• In an academic setting, CDA isn't tied to 1 single field or discipline. Instead, CDA helps students in a variety of fields understand ways in which the production of texts carries cultural meaning. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• As with any other theoretical field, there are many different ways to perform critical discourse analyses. However, they're largely the same at the core: the models all examine ways in which texts at the smallest (word-based) and the largest (social and cultural) levels have an impact on how communities are formed and what readers believe about the world. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://www.history.ac.uk/1807commemorated/media/methods/critical.html
• ↑ https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/ed270/Luke/SAHA6.html#4
• ↑ https://study.com/academy/lesson/interpreting-literary-meaning-how-to-use-text-to-guide-your-interpretation.html
• ↑ https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/discourse-analysis/
• ↑ https://youtu.be/3w_5riFCMGA?t=378
• ↑ https://youtu.be/3w_5riFCMGA?t=669
• ↑ https://www.uv.es/gimenez/Recursos/criticaldiscourse.pdf
• ↑ https://youtu.be/3w_5riFCMGA?t=358

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Discourse Analysis – A Definitive Guide With Steps & Types

Published by Alvin Nicolas at August 14th, 2021 , Revised On August 29, 2023

What is Discourse Analysis?

Discourse analysis is an essential aspect of studying a language and its uses in day-to-day life.

It aims to gain in-depth knowledge about the language and identify its association with society, culture, and people’s perception.

It is used in various social science and humanities disciplines, such as linguistic, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics.

Aims of Discourse Analysis

It focuses on

• The clear, in-depth meaning of the language.
• The uses of language and its effects.
• The association of the language with cultures, interpersonal relationships, and communication.
• Various components of the language like vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, tone of voice, fonts, and written form.

Uses of Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis is

• Used to study the language and its applications in texts and contexts.
• It focuses on the entire conversation and real text instead of constructed or artificial text.
• It helps linguists to know the role of language in improving the understanding of people.
• It enables teachers to learn many language strategies to teach students writing/speaking skills better.

Materials Used in Discourse Analysis

The material includes

Types of Discourse

What to analyse, does your research methodology have the following.

• Great Research/Sources
• Perfect Language
• Accurate Sources

If not, we can help. Our panel of experts makes sure to keep the 3 pillars of Research Methodology strong.

How to Conduct Discourse Analysis?

While conducting discourse analysis, you need to focus on the following points.

• Purpose of the writer
• The context of the speech/passage
• Type of the language used.
• The organisation of the text

You need to interpret the meaning and context of the discourse based on the available material and resources. There are various methods to conduct discourse analysis, but we are discussing the most basic method below.

Step1: Develop a Research Question

Like any other research in discourse analysis, it’s essential to have a  research question  to proceed with your study.  After selecting your research question, you need to find out the relevant resources to find the answer to it. Discourse analysis can be applied to smaller or larger samples depending on your research’s aims and requirements.

Example : If you want to find out the impact of plagiarism on the credibility of the authors. You can examine the relevant materials available on the topic from the internet, newspapers, and books published during the past 5-10 years.

Step 2: Collect Information and Establish the Context

After formulating a research question, you can  review the literature and find out the details about the source material, such as:

• Who is the author?
• What is the year and date of publication?
• What’s the name of the publication?
• What country and place is it from?
• What language is used?
• How and where did you find it?
• How can others get access to the same source?
• What kind of impact did it make on its audience?
• What’s the association between discourse material and real life?

These questions enable you to construct a strong evidence-based theory about your study.

Example: While investigating the history and origin of a particular religion. You also have to research the political events, culture, language of the people, and their association with society.

Generally, details about the publication and production of the material are available in the  about section on their online websites. If you don’t find the relevant information online, don’t hesitate to contact the editor or publication via email, phone calls, etc. 

Step 3: Analyse the Content

In this step, you should analyse various aspects of the materials such as:

• Sentence structure
• Inter-relationship between the text
• Layout and Page quality (if you are using offline materials)
• Links, comments, technical excellence, readability, multimedia content (if you are using online material)
• The genre of the source (a news item, political speech, a report, interview, biography, commentary, etc.)

The analysis of these elements gives you a clear understanding, and you can present your findings more accurately.  Once you have analysed the above features, you should analyse the following aspects:

• The structure of the argument
• The role of the introduction and conclusion of the material
• The context of the material
• Patterns and themes
• Discursive statements (arguments, perspective, thoughts of the writer/speaker
• Grammatical features (use of pronouns, adjectives, phrases, active or passive voice, and their meaning)
• Literary figures (idioms, similes, metaphors, allegories, proverbs)

Step 4: Interpret the Data

Now you have all the information, but the question that arises here is: 

What does it all mean?

To answer this question,  compile all your findings  to explain the meaning and context of the discourse.

Step 5: Present your Findings

It’s time to present your results. Throughout the process, you gathered detailed notes of the discourse, building a strong presentation or thesis. You can use the references of other relevant sources as evidence to support your discussion. Always try to make your paper interesting to grab the attention of the reader.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Discourse Analysis

• It provides a way of thinking and analysing the problem.
• It enables us to understand the context and perception of the speaker.
• It can be applied at any given time, place, and people.
• It helps to learn any language its origin and association with society and culture.

Disadvantages

• There are many options available as each tradition has its own concepts, procedures, and a specific understanding of discourse and its analysis.
• Discourse analysis doesn’t help to find out the answer to scientific problems.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to describe the discourse analysis.

Discourse analysis examines language use in context. It studies how communication shapes and reflects social meaning, power dynamics, and cultural norms. By analyzing spoken, written, or visual language, it unveils hidden ideologies, identities, and social structures within various contexts.

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Want to start your quantitative research? Learn what a quantitative research questionnaire is and how to write excellent research questions.

You can transcribe an interview by converting a conversation into a written format including question-answer recording sessions between two or more people.

Content analysis is used to identify specific words, patterns, concepts, themes, phrases, or sentences within the content in the recorded communication.

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Discourse analysis: Step-by-step guide with examples

What is a discourse analysis, the application of discourse analysis in the academic thesis, discourse analysis with maxqda.

• Step 1: Importing data
• Step 2: Coding data
• Step 3: Creating Codebook
• Step 4: Visualize data

Literature about MAXQDA

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

MAXQDA supports various methodological approaches, including discourse analysis. This guide will introduce you to the tools of MAXQDA, which are ideal for performing discourse analysis with MAXQDA quickly and easily. MAXQDA is a qualitative data analysis software that helps you import, code, and identify patterns in your discourse.

Discourse analysis is a multidisciplinary method used in the humanities and social sciences to develop a deeper understanding of the interactions between language, society, and culture. It focuses on the study of linguistic expressions, structures, and practices in order to capture social meanings and power dynamics. Both verbal and nonverbal communication are considered. The overarching goal of discourse analysis is to explore how discourses influence the construction of knowledge, identities, and social relations. It enables the study of the role of language and communication in shaping and influencing social reality. Overall, discourse analysis makes a valuable contribution to the study of social phenomena and processes by providing an in-depth understanding of how language and communication are used to create meanings, shape social relationships, and establish social power dynamics. Discourse analysis contributes to critical reflection and knowledge acquisition in various academic disciplines.

A primary motivation for using discourse analysis is the ability to uncover dominant discourses, ideological assumptions, and power structures in texts, media content, or political speeches. Discourse analysis allows researchers to better understand and critically reflect on the role of language and discourse in society. Another important area of application of discourse analysis in dissertations is the study of the relationship between discourses and identity constructions. For example, gender roles, ethnic identities, or sexual orientations can be studied. Discourse analysis can help to understand how identities are negotiated, constructed, and reproduced in specific social contexts. Another area of application in dissertations is the study of discourses in the media. The analysis of media discourses makes it possible to identify, critically expose and reflect on patterns and trends in reporting. This can contribute to a better understanding of the media’s role in constructing and disseminating discourses. In summary, discourse analysis offers a valuable methodological perspective for the study of complex social phenomena in the context of academic work.

Researchers typically follow these steps in discourse analysis: defining the research question, selecting relevant textual data, coding and categorizing the data, analyzing patterns and meanings within the discourse, interpreting the results, and documenting their findings in written form. The specific steps may vary depending on the research question and methodology.

As mentioned earlier, there are clear advantages to using software like MAXQDA to conduct discourse analysis. With MAXQDA, you can segment data, code it, and develop analytical ideas all at the same time. This makes the process more efficient and allows you to refine your theoretical approaches in real time. If you do not have a MAXQDA License yet, download the free 14-day trial to get started:

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Step 1 of the discourse analysis with MAXQDA: Importing data

Importing data into MAXQDA is a crucial step in beginning the analysis of qualitative data. MAXQDA provides several options for importing data into the program, allowing you to effectively organize your research materials. You can import different types of data, such as text documents, transcripts, media content, or existing MAXQDA Projects. MAXQDA gives you the flexibility to import both individual files and entire folders of data, which is especially helpful when working with large data sets. The import process is designed to be simple and user-friendly, making it easier for you to work with your data. Another advantage of MAXQDA is that it supports a wide variety of file formats. You can import files in various formats, including TXT, DOC, PDF, MP3, MP4 and many more. This versatility allows you to work with different types of data and incorporate different media into your analysis. Importing your data into MAXQDA makes it structured and accessible for further analysis. Within MAXQDA, you can organize, code, and link your data with other analytical tools. This makes it easier to navigate and access relevant information during the analysis process. Overall, importing data into MAXQDA is an efficient way to manage your qualitative research materials and prepare them for analysis. It serves as a critical first step in launching your project in MAXQDA and taking full advantage of the program’s extensive analytical capabilities.

Importing data into MAXQA plays a crucial role in conducting discourse analysis. With MAXQDA, you can segment your data into documents and annotate them with relevant metadata such as title, author, and date. This allows you to organize your texts during the analysis phase. You can sort, filter, and group your data based on various criteria to access specific texts. In addition, MAXQDA provides the ability to annotate the imported text with notes, comments, or memos. This feature is invaluable for capturing important information, thoughts, or interpretations that arise during analysis. You can document your observations and insights directly in MAXQDA, thus fostering a comprehensive understanding of the discourse being analyzed. In MAXQDA, you can assign meaningful titles to your data and include relevant metadata such as author and date in the document names. This ensures a clear organization of your texts during the analysis phase. You can sort, filter, and group your data according to various criteria to access specific texts. In addition, MAXQDA allows you to annotate the imported texts with comments and notes using memos. This feature is very useful for capturing key information, thoughts, or interpretations that emerge during the analysis. You can document your observations and insights directly in MAXQDA and develop a thorough understanding of the discourse being analyzed. Importing data into MAXQDA is fundamental to conducting a systematic and comprehensive discourse analysis.The structured organization of data in MAXQDA facilitates the effective application of various analysis methods and techniques. You can create codes to identify and analyze important themes, terms, or patterns within the discourse. Importing data into MAXQDA provides a central platform where you can manage, analyze, and interpret your data. This greatly streamlines the entire process of discourse analysis, allowing you to make informed statements about social meanings, power dynamics, and identity constructions within the discourse you are analyzing.

Step 2 of the discourse analysis with MAXQDA: Coding data

Coding data in MAXQDA plays a critical role in the analysis process. Coding involves identifying and marking specific themes, categories, or concepts within the data. This allows researchers to systematically organize and extract relevant information from the data. In MAXQDA, different types of data can be coded, such as text passages, images, videos, or audio files. Codes can be used to associate these data segments with specific content or meanings. Researchers can use codes to identify and mark certain phenomena or themes in the data, allowing for targeted access later. Coding in MAXQDA allows researchers to identify complex relationships and patterns within the data. By linking and combining codes and organizing them hierarchically, researchers can establish relationships between different elements. These connections provide new insights and help understand the relationships within the data. The coded data can be further used in MAXQDA for additional analysis. For example, complex queries or filters can be applied to examine specific aspects of the discourse in detail. By analyzing the coded data, researchers can identify patterns, trends, and significant relationships that lead to valuable insights. MAXQDA provides an intuitive and easy-to-use platform to efficiently perform the coding and analysis process. The program offers several tools and features that allow researchers to customize the coding process and tailor the analysis to their specific needs. Overall, coding data in MAXQDA is a critical step in analyzing and understanding qualitative data.

Coding data in MAXQDA allows researchers to identify and analyze specific discursive elements such as themes, arguments, or language strategies in the texts under study. To code data in MAXQDA, researchers can select relevant text passages and assign them codes that represent specific meanings or categories. These codes can be organized hierarchically to illustrate relationships between different discursive elements. In addition to coding, MAXQDA offers features such as text annotation, the ability to create memos, and options for visual data presentation at later stages. These features facilitate the organization and interpretation of coded data, enabling researchers to gain deep insights into the discourse under study and to visualize their findings. MAXQDA provides a comprehensive and efficient platform for coding and analyzing data in discourse analysis.

Step 3 of the discourse analysis with MAXQDA: Creating Codebook

A Codebook in MAXQDA defines codes for units of meaning within data. It enables structured and consistent coding, improves traceability and reproducibility, increases the efficiency of data analysis, facilitates comparisons and cross-references between codes and data, and provides flexibility and adaptability. In summary, a codebook promotes structured, consistent, and efficient data analysis, improving traceability and identification of relationships and patterns.

A Codebook is also very useful for discourse analysis in MAXQDA. Here are some reasons why:

• Structured coding of discourse features: A Codebook establishes uniform rules and definitions for coding data. This ensures that coding is structured and consistent across researchers and stages of analysis. This increases the reliability of results and facilitates the comparison and integration of data.
• Improved traceability and reproducibility: By clearly defining the codes and their use in the Codebook, the traceability of the coding process is improved. Other researchers can understand and trace the coding, increasing the reproducibility of the analysis. In addition, a Codebook facilitates effective collaboration and sharing of data and analysis among researchers.
• Identification and comparison of discourse patterns: A Codebook allows for the systematic identification and comparison of discourse patterns. This makes it possible to identify connections, patterns, and differences in the data, thus facilitating the interpretation of the results.
• Efficient data analysis: A Codebook provides a structured view of the codes used and their meanings. This allows researchers to work more efficiently by applying the codes quickly and specifically to relevant data. Using a codebook saves time and makes it easier to organize and navigate the coded data.
• Flexibility and adaptability: A Codebook in MAXQDA is flexible and customizable. Researchers can add, modify, or remove codes to meet the needs of their specific research questions. This allows for dynamic and iterative data analysis, where the Codebook can be continually updated and expanded.

In summary, a well-designed codebook in MAXQDA promotes structured, consistent, and efficient data analysis.

Step 4 of the discourse analysis with MAXQDA: Visualize data

MAXQDA offers a wide range of visualization tools to help you present your research data in an engaging and meaningful way. These include not only different types of charts, such as bar or pie charts for visualizing numerical data, but also other innovative visualization tools that help you identify and analyze complex relationships.

Code Matrix Browser

With the Code Matrix Browser , in MAXQDA, you can visually display and analyze the occurrence of codes in your data. This feature is invaluable for identifying similarities, differences, and patterns in discourse. Here are some of the ways the Code Matrix Browser can help you:

• Visualization of codings: The Code Matrix Browser displays a matrix where codes are arranged along the rows and documents along the columns. This visual representation allows you to quickly see which codes were used in which documents. This allows you to identify similarities and differences in the coding, which makes it easier to make connections.
• Pattern recognition: By analyzing codings in the Code Relations Browser, you can identify patterns in discourse. For example, you can observe which codes are particularly prevalent in certain documents. These patterns may indicate important themes, arguments, or language strategies, helping you to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the discourse.
• Comparison: With the Code Matrix Browser, you can compare how often certain codes were assigned in each document and display the corresponding information in the matrix. This allows you to analyze relationships between different elements in the discourse and to make connections between different topics or arguments.

Code Relations Browser

The Code Relations Browser , in MAXQDA allows you to visually display and analyze the connections and dependencies between the codes in your discourse. This feature is extremely valuable for understanding the interactions and hierarchy between codes. Here are some of the ways the Code Relations Browser can help you:

• Visualize code relationships: The Code Relations Browser visually displays the relationships between codes. You can see which codes are linked and how they are related to each other. These relationships can be hierarchical, associative, or several other types. This visual representation helps you better understand the structure and organization of codes within the discourse.
• Analyze interactions: The Code Relations Browser lets you analyze the interactions between codes. You can observe which codes occur frequently or how they influence each other. This can help you identify specific themes, arguments, or concepts in the discourse and examine their interrelationships. Analyzing these interactions can provide a deeper understanding of the discourse and the connections between codes.

The Code Map in MAXQDA visualizes selected codes as a map, showing the similarity of codes based on overlaps in the data material. Each code is represented by a circle, and the distance between the circles indicates their similarity. Larger circles represent more instances of coding with the code. Colors can highlight group membership, and connecting lines indicate overlap between codes, with thicker lines indicating more significant overlap. Visualizing the similarities between codes in the data provides an overview of different discursive elements. Grouping codes into clusters allows for the identification of specific discourse themes or dimensions. The connecting lines also show how codes interact and which codes frequently appear together. This allows for a detailed examination of the relationships between discursive elements, facilitating the interpretation and analysis of the discourse.

Document Map

The Document Map visualizes selected documents like a map. The positioning of the circles on the map is based on the similarity of the code assignments between the documents. Documents with similar code mappings are placed closer together, while those with different code mappings are placed further apart. Variable values from the documents can be used to determine similarity. Optionally, similar documents can be color-coded. Larger circles represent documents with more of the analyzed codes. The Document Map is a useful tool for visually grouping cases and can be used for typing or further investigation of the identified groups. The Document Map can be used in several ways in discourse analysis:

• Discourse group identification: By positioning documents on the map based on their code assignments, similar discourse groups can be identified. Documents with similar code assignments are placed closer together, indicating common discursive features.
• Recognition of discourse patterns: The visual representation of documents and their similarities on the map allows for the detection of patterns in discourse. Clusters of documents with similar codings may indicate common themes, arguments, or language patterns.
• Exploration of discourse dynamics: The use of connecting lines between codes on the map can reveal which codes overlap within documents. Thick connecting lines indicate frequent overlap and may suggest discursive relationships or connections.”
• Typification: The Document Map can serve as a basis for typology in discourse analysis. By grouping documents with similar code assignments, different discourse types can be identified and described”.

Profile Comparison Chart

The Profile Comparison Chart MAXQDA allows you to select multiple documents and compare the use of codes within those documents. This comparison allows you to identify differences or similarities in discourse between the selected documents. Below are some steps for using the Profile Comparison Chart:

• Document selection: Select the documents you want to compare. You can choose single documents or a group of documents. These documents should represent the discourse you want to analyze.
• Code selection: Select the codes you wish to compare in the selected documents. These can be specific themes, concepts or discursive elements that are of interest in the discourse.
• Create the comparison chart: Create the comparison graph in MAXQDA. The graph shows the occurrence of codes in individual paragraphs of the documents.
• Analysis of the chart: Analyze the comparison chart to identify differences or similarities in the discourse of the selected documents. Examine the assignment of codes in the paragraphs of the documents. Different patterns or variations in frequency may indicate differences in discourse, while similar patterns may indicate similarities in discourse.

Document Portrait

The Document Portrait feature in MAXQDA allows you to visually represent important features, themes, or characteristics of a document by visualizing the sequence of coding within that document. This feature allows you to identify relevant aspects of the discourse and analyze their weight in this particular document. Below are some steps for using the Document Portrait:

• Document Selection: Select the document for which you want to create a document portrait. The document selected should be representative of the discourse you are analyzing.
• Identify relevant features: Identify the codes that you want to visualize. These may be specific relevant features, themes or characteristics of the document, or other elements relevant to the discourse.
• Weighting of Features: The length of the segment is used as a weighting factor for the Document Portrait.
• Creation of the Document Portrait: Generate the Document Portrait in MAXQDA. The portrait visualizes the identified features and their weighting in the selected document. As a result, you obtain a visual representation of the sequence of coding performed within the document.
• Analysis of the Portrait: Analyze the Document Portrait to identify important features, themes, or characteristics of the document. This allows you to locate and understand relevant aspects of the discourse within a particular document.

The Codeline is a powerful tool in MAXQDA that allows you to visually represent the use of different codes within a document. By displaying the sequence of codes, you can see the flow and development of the discourse. With the Codeline, you can not only see which codes were used in specific sections of the document, but you can also track the progression of codings within a document. This allows you to identify crucial stages, turning points, or focal points in the discourse. The Codeline also allows you to analyze coded segments over time. You can examine specific codes and their occurrences or changes over time. This allows you to examine and interpret trends, patterns, or changes in the discourse more closely. The Codeline is therefore a valuable tool for considering the temporal progression and development of discourse in your analysis. By analyzing coded segments over time, you can gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics and context of the discourse, leading to more informed interpretations.

The Word Cloud is a powerful visualization tool in MAXQDA that helps you visually represent frequently occurring words or terms in the discourse. By looking at the size or weight of the words in the Word Cloud, you can quickly see which terms are particularly prevalent or significant in the discourse. By analyzing the Word Cloud, you can identify key terms in the discourse and examine their weight or frequency in relation to other terms. This allows you to identify and understand important themes, trends, or focuses in the discourse. In addition, you can use the Word Cloud to identify connections between different terms. If certain words occur frequently together or are used in similar contexts, you can identify associations or links in the discourse. The Word Cloud is thus a valuable tool for getting a quick and clear representation of the most common words or terms in the discourse. By analyzing the key terms and their weighting, you can gain important insights into the content and structure of the discourse and make a well-informed interpretation.

We offer a variety of free learning materials to help you get started with MAXQDA. Check out our Getting Started Guide to get a quick overview of MAXQDA and step-by-step instructions on setting up your software and creating your first project with your brand new QDA software. In addition, the free Literature Reviews Guide explains how to conduct a literature review with MAXQDA.

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• Methodology
• Critical Discourse Analysis | Definition, Guide & Examples

Critical Discourse Analysis | Definition, Guide & Examples

Published on 5 May 2022 by Amy Luo . Revised on 5 December 2022.

Discourse analysis is a research method for studying written or spoken language in relation to its social context. It aims to understand how language is used in real-life situations.

When you do discourse analysis, you might focus on:

• The purposes and effects of different types of language
• Cultural rules and conventions in communication
• How values, beliefs, and assumptions are communicated
• How language use relates to its social, political, and historical context

Discourse analysis is a common qualitative research method in many humanities and social science disciplines, including linguistics, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and cultural studies. It is also called critical discourse analysis.

Table of contents

What is discourse analysis used for, how is discourse analysis different from other methods, how to conduct discourse analysis.

Conducting discourse analysis means examining how language functions and how meaning is created in different social contexts. It can be applied to any instance of written or oral language, as well as non-verbal aspects of communication, such as tone and gestures.

Materials that are suitable for discourse analysis include:

• Books, newspapers, and periodicals
• Marketing material, such as brochures and advertisements
• Business and government documents
• Websites, forums, social media posts, and comments
• Interviews and conversations

By analysing these types of discourse, researchers aim to gain an understanding of social groups and how they communicate.

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Unlike linguistic approaches that focus only on the rules of language use, discourse analysis emphasises the contextual meaning of language.

It focuses on the social aspects of communication and the ways people use language to achieve specific effects (e.g., to build trust, to create doubt, to evoke emotions, or to manage conflict).

Instead of focusing on smaller units of language, such as sounds, words, or phrases, discourse analysis is used to study larger chunks of language, such as entire conversations, texts, or collections of texts. The selected sources can be analysed on multiple levels.

Discourse analysis is a qualitative and interpretive method of analysing texts (in contrast to more systematic methods like content analysis ). You make interpretations based on both the details of the material itself and on contextual knowledge.

There are many different approaches and techniques you can use to conduct discourse analysis, but the steps below outline the basic structure you need to follow.

Step 1: Define the research question and select the content of analysis

To do discourse analysis, you begin with a clearly defined research question . Once you have developed your question, select a range of material that is appropriate to answer it.

Discourse analysis is a method that can be applied both to large volumes of material and to smaller samples, depending on the aims and timescale of your research.

Step 2: Gather information and theory on the context

Next, you must establish the social and historical context in which the material was produced and intended to be received. Gather factual details of when and where the content was created, who the author is, who published it, and whom it was disseminated to.

As well as understanding the real-life context of the discourse, you can also conduct a literature review on the topic and construct a theoretical framework to guide your analysis.

Step 3: Analyse the content for themes and patterns

This step involves closely examining various elements of the material – such as words, sentences, paragraphs, and overall structure – and relating them to attributes, themes, and patterns relevant to your research question.

Step 4: Review your results and draw conclusions

Once you have assigned particular attributes to elements of the material, reflect on your results to examine the function and meaning of the language used. Here, you will consider your analysis in relation to the broader context that you established earlier to draw conclusions that answer your research question.

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Understanding the Use of Language Through Discourse Analysis

Observing how various means of discourse create context

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

Discourse analysis, also called discourse studies, was developed during the 1970s as an academic field. Discourse analysis is a broad term for the study of the ways in which language is used between people, both in written texts and spoken contexts .

Discourse Analysis Defined

Whereas other areas of language study might focus on individual parts of language—such as words and phrases (grammar) or the pieces that make up words (linguistics)—discourse analysis looks at a running conversation involving a speaker and listener (or a writer's text and its reader).

In discourse analysis, the context of a conversation is taken into account as well as what's being said. This context may encompass a social and cultural framework, including the location of a speaker at the time of the discourse, as well as nonverbal cues such as body language, and, in the case of textual communication, it may also include images and symbols. "[It's] the study of real language use, by real speakers in real situations," explains Teun A. van Dijk, a noted author and scholar in the field.

Key Takeaways: Discourse Analysis

• Discourse analysis looks at conversations in their social context.
• Discourse analysis melds linguistics and sociology by taking into account the social and cultural context that language is used.
• It can be used by businesses, academic researchers, or the government—any person or organization that wants to better understand an aspect of communication.

What Discourse Analysis Does

Misunderstanding relayed information can lead to problems—big or small. Being able to distinguish subtle subtext in order to differentiate between factual reporting and fake news, editorials, or propaganda is crucial to interpreting true meaning and intent. This is the reason that having well-developed skills in the critical analysis of discourse—to be able to "read between the lines" of verbal and/or written communication—is of utmost importance.

Since the establishment of the field, discourse analysis has evolved to include a wide range of topics, from the public versus private use of language to official versus colloquial rhetoric, and from oratory to written and multimedia discourses. The field of study has further branched out to be paired with the fields of psychology, anthropology, and philosophy, thus meshing linguistics with sociology.

"We're also 'asking not just about the rhetoric of politics, but also about the rhetoric of history and the rhetoric of popular culture; not just about the rhetoric of the public sphere but about rhetoric on the street, in the hair salon, or online; not just about the rhetoricity of formal  argument  but also about the rhetoricity of personal identity." —from "Discourse Analysis and Rhetorical Studies" by Christopher Eisenhart and Barbara Johnstone

Academic Applications of Discourse Analysis

There are many avenues we can study through the lens of discourse analysis including discourse during a political debate, discourse in advertising, television programming/media, interviewing, and storytelling. By looking at the context of language use, not simply the words, we can understand nuanced layers of meaning that are added by the social or institutional aspects at work, such as gender, power imbalance, conflicts, cultural background, and racism.

As a result, discourse analysis can be used to study inequality in society, such as institutional racism, inherent bias in media, and sexism. We can also use it to examine and interpret discussions regarding religious symbols located in public places.

Real-World Applications of Discourse Analysis

Apart from scholarly applications, discourse analysis has some very pragmatic uses as well. Specialists in the field are tasked with helping world leaders understand the true meaning behind communications from their peers. In the field of medicine, it's used to help physicians find ways to ensure they're better understood by people with limited language skills, as well as guiding them in dealings when giving patients a challenging diagnosis.

For example, in one study, transcripts of conversations between doctors and patients were analyzed to determine where misunderstandings had occurred.   In another, women were interviewed about their feelings regarding a diagnosis of breast cancer.   How did it affect their relationships? What was the role of their social support network? How did "positive thinking" come into play?

How Discourse Analysis Differs from Grammar Analysis

Unlike grammar analysis, which focuses on the structure of sentences, discourse analysis focuses on the broad and general use of language within and between particular groups of people. Another important distinction is that while grammarians typically construct the examples they analyze, the analysis of discourse relies on actual writings and speech of the group being studied to determine popular usage.

In terms of textual analysis, grammarians may examine texts in isolation for elements such as the art of persuasion or word choice (diction), but only discourse analysis takes into account the social and cultural context of a given text.

In terms of verbal expression, discourse analysis takes in the colloquial, cultural, and living use of language—including each and every "um," "er," and "you know," as well as slips of the tongue, and awkward pauses. Grammar analysis, on the other hand, relies entirely on sentence structure, word usage, and stylistic choices. This does, of course, often include a cultural ingredient but it's missing the human element of spoken discourse.

Additional References

• Van Dijk, Teun A. "Handbook of Discourse Analysis Vol. 4: Discourse Analysis in Society." Academic Press. December 1997.
• Eisenhart, Christopher; Johnstone, Barbara. " Discourse Analysis and Rhetorical Studies ." Rhetoric in Detail: Discourse Analyses of Rhetorical Talk and Text , pp. 3—21. Amsterdam/Philadelphia. 2008

Sherlock, Rebecca, et al. “‘ What Would You Recommend Doctor?’—Discourse Analysis of a Moment of Dissonance When Sharing Decisions in Clinical Consultations. ”  Health Expectations , vol. 22, no. 3, 2019, pp. 547–554., doi:10.1111/hex.12881

Gibson, Alexandra Farren, et al. “ Reading Between the Lines: Applying Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis to Online Constructions of Breast Cancer. ”  Qualitative Research in Psychology , vol. 12, no. 3, 2015, pp. 272–286., doi:10.1080/14780887.2015.1008905

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Overview of Discourse Analysis Definition and Use

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Published: Feb 9, 2022

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• Berrocal, M.L., Villegas, V.M. and Barquero, V.V. (2016). Bringing critical discourse analysis into the foreign language classroom: A case study of a Taiwanese learner of Spanish in Costa Rica. Revista de lenguas modernas, (24).
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• Firth, J.R. (1935). The Technique of Semantics. Transactions of the philological society, 34(1), 36-73.
• Firth, J. R. (1957). Papers in Linguistics (1934–51). London: Oxford University Press.
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• Gee, J.P. (1999). An Introduction to Discourse Analysis, Theory and Method, London: Routledge.
• Halliday, M.A.K. (1971). Language in a social perspective. Educational Review, 23(3), 165-188.
• Halliday, M.A.K. (2007). Language in a social perspective (1971). Language and Society. Collected works of MAK Halliday, 10, 43-64.
• Halliday, M.A.K. (1973). Explorations in the functions of language, London: Edward Arnold, Cop.
• Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as social semiotic, The social interpretation of language and meaning. Hodder Arnold.
• Halliday, M. (1978). Language as a Social Semiotic. London: Edward Arnold.
• Halliday, M. A. K. (1978) Language as social semiotic. London: Arnold
• Harris, Z.S. (1952). Discourse Analysis. Language, 28(1), 1.
• Haugen, E. and Firth, J.R. (1958). Papers in linguistics 1934-1951. Language, 34(4), 498.
• Olshtain, E. and Celce-Murcia, M. (2001). Discourse Analysis and Language Teaching. The handbook of discourse analysis, 36, 707.
• Paltridge, B. (2012). Discourse analysis, an introduction, 2nd ed. London: Continuum.
• Paltridge, B.et al. (2014). Discourse analysis an introduction, London: Bloomsbury.
• Rashidi, N. and Rafieerad, M. (2010). Analyzing Patterns of Classroom Interaction in EFL Classrooms in Iran. The Journal Of Asia TEFL, 7(3), 93-120.
• Taylor, S. (2013). What is discourse analysis? London: Bloomsbury Academic.
• Trappes-Lomax, H. (2004). Discourse analysis. The handbook of applied linguistics, 133-164.
• Widdowson, H.G. (2004). Text, context, pretext, critical issues in discourse analysis. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Available from https://uow.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9780470758427.
• Widdowson, H. G. (2004). Text, Context, Pretext, Critical Issues in Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell.

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Discourse Analysis: A Sample Text

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• Zellig S. Harris 3  

Part of the book series: Formal Linguistics Series ((FLIS))

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This paper offers an example of how connected discourse can be formally analyzed in such a way as to reveal something of its structure. The method used here was described in a previous paper, ‘Discourse Analysis’, Lg. 28 (1952), 1–30. It consists essentially of the following steps: given a particular text, we collect those linguistic elements (morphemes or sequences of morphemes) which have identical environments within a sentence, and we call these equivalent to each other; thus, if we find the sentences A F and B Fin our text, we write A=B and say that A is equivalent to B or that both are in the same equivalence class. We further collect those linguistic elements which have equivalent (rather than identical) environments, and we call these also equivalent to each other; if we find the sentences A F and B E , and if A=B (because B F occurs too), then F is secondarily equivalent to E , and we write F=E . (Note that in the sentence A F, A is the environment of F , and Fis the environment of A. ) This operation enables us to collect many or all of the linguistic elements or sections of any particular text into a few equivalence classes. For example, if our text consists of the sentences 1 A F: B E: C G: B F: M E: A G: N E: N G: M H , we set up two classes: one class to include A, B (because of A F and B F ), C (because of A G and C G), M , and N (because of B E and M E and N E ); the other class to include F , E (because of B F and B E ), G (because of A F and A G ), and H (because of M E and M H ). 2

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Analyzing Spoken and Written Discourse: A Role for Natural Language Processing Tools

The heterogeneity of discourse: expanding the field of discourse analysis

Introduction to Discourse Analysis and Argumentation Theory

Italic colons represent periods between sentences of the original text; cf. Lg. 28 , 17, note 10a. (Paper XIX of this volume.)

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If we take a member of a class, say A , we can always find at least one other member ( B ) which at least once has the same environment that A has once. (They both occur before F , though B also occurs before E , while A also occurs before G.) Not every member of the class does this: M occurs only before E and H , while A occurs only before F and G . But if M and A have nevertheless been put in the same class, then they must at least once occur in equivalent if not identical environments. The E environment of M and the F environment of A are equivalent because both appear among the environments of some one member (B). These formulaic statements may be hard to apprehend intuitively; but the examples which will come out of the sample text below should make the relations clear.

This is a complete and separate section of an article by L. Corey, entitled ‘Economic Democracy without Statism’ (Commentary , August 1947, 145-6). The bracketed sentences will not be analyzed here. They are of the same general structure as the others, but are left out in order to keep the present paper within reasonable limits. In a forthcoming publication of a group of analyzed discourses, this text will be analyzed in toto, so that the reader can satisfy himself as to the application of the present results to the whole text. This text has been selected, not because it is particularly easy to analyze, but — quite the contrary — because it exhibits the problems and techniques of discourse analysis in great variety. Many discourses, such as scientific writing and conversational speech, are simpler to analyze. The first three unbracketed sentences here are particularly complicated, but the reader will find that the rest of the text is quite readily analyzable after these have been worked through. Reprinted by permission of Nathan Glazer, Associate Editor of Commentary .

Since this analysis is presented as an empirical attempt, each step will be justified with a minimum of theoretical grounding; and at the same time only such operations will be developed as are required for this particular text. Therefore we will not raise at this point the question whether different occurrences of the same morpheme may turn out to be homonyms belonging to two different classes of the text, and so in some sense not sub-stitutable for each other.

More generally, a sequence consisting of any segment + conjunction 4-another segment of the same grammatical class is replaceable by a single segment of that class ( XCX=X ). This holds whether a comma intonation encloses the conjunction + second segment or not: i. e. both for nationalization, or socialization , and for nationalization or socialization .

This treatment will have to be justified in the fuller analysis of the text which will be published elsewhere.

Problems of validity are raised when we draw, here and at some points below, upon substitutions which occur elsewhere in the article, outside the quoted section analyzed here. For a complete analysis we would have to treat a text long enough to contain within itself all the required substitutions.

A more careful analysis of phrases beginning with which would show that such adjectival phrases serve as repetitions of the phrases that precede them, so that our present phrase is equivalent to (or a repetition of) monopoly enterprises , and therefore substitutable for it. This, with other grammatical considerations useful in discourse analysis, is mentioned in the paper cited in the first paragraph.

The inverted form is not stylistically equivalent to the original. In some cases, the derived equivalent forms are not stylistically acceptable at all. This does not nullify the use of the equivalence as an intermediate step in our analysis.

The boldface numbers are of course not in the text. They are used here only to facilitate reference to the sentences.

The same is true of most occurrences of he, it , etc. As a simple example, consider the equivalence of I have a dollar watch: This is all I need , and I have a dollar watch: A dollar watch is all I need . Note that the plural morpheme stretches over the noun and the th which is a discontinuous extension or repetition of it: I have some dollar watches: They are all I need .

In addition to can for convenience be replaced by some single preposition like with , because NPN= N and PNPN=PN , so that PNP (such as in addition to ) can be replaced by a single P . Further use of the NPN=N formula enables us to consolidate industry (N 1 ) with (P) the limitation to large-scale industry ( N 2 = L ) into N2 alone, that is into our L . In all these changes we have not dropped any word which figures in the analysis of this text, but have merely performed certain grammatically equivalent substitutions in order that the words which follow socialize might be grammatically comparable to the words which follow socialize in sentences (1) and (2). The fact that these words turn out to be our old L is due not to our grammatical manipulations but to the recurrence here of the same morphemes: this (repeating large-scale ) and industry .

The reduction is effected as follows. By the laws of English grammar, a relative pronoun (e. g. that ) plus a verb (with or without a following object) constitutes an adjectival phrase to the preceding noun: N that V=AN (the tower that leans = the leaning tower ). Then would still remain a limited power state is adjectival to the noun state . And within plus this adjectival element plus the noun state is a PAN phrase which is itself adjectival to the preceding nouns diversity , etc. An alternative method of obtaining this reduction can be based on the fact that, for a certain group V i of English verbs (including is and remains), N 1 V i N 2 implies that N 1 and N 2 are substitutable for each other: e. g. in He is a man . In the parenthetical sentence that ( N 1 ) would still remain ( V i ) a limited-power state ( N 2 ), we can therefore substitute a limited-power state ( N 2 ) for that ( N 1 ). But by note 11, that merely repeats the preceding a state , hence limited power state is substitutable for state in the phrase within a. .

Our original sentence had functional organizational (A 1 ) forms that promote diversity (A′ 2 ). On grammatical grounds we have said that the first three words here are equivalent to forms that have functional organization . How does this equivalence connect grammatically with what follows? If we try to insert it in the sentence, we obtain forms that have functional organization that promote diversity . The subject of promote diversity is forms in the original sentence and therefore here too (since we are making no grammatical alteration); this is shown by the fact that the plural morpheme (which extends over subject and verb) extends both over forms (in the- s ) and over promote (in the third-person lack of- s ). Our only problem now is to discover why the phrase that we obtain does not read grammatically: where is the expected and after organization? We understand this as follows. The combination of a relative ( that ) plus a verb ( have or promote ) whose subject is forms has the grammatical standing of an adjectival phrase following forms , which in turn has the grammatical standing of an adjective preceding forms : thus forms that promote diversity is equivalent to forms with promotion of diversity , or to diversity-promoting forms . If we mark an adjectival phrase following a noun by A′ , we will find that we have here changed our original A 1 forms A ′ 2 into forms A ′ 1 A ′ 2 . The result reads peculiarly because we expect something like and after organization , between the two A ′. But this is no problem because the occurrence of conjunctions between adjectival segments is automatic. Conjunctions or commas (marking a special intonation) occur between adjoining adjectival segments of like syntactic structure: a long, dull book (A, AN) , or the fellow who called and who asked for you (NA ′ and A ′). Commas sometimes but not always occur between adjoining adjectival segments of unlike syntactic structure: a fellow I know, who asked for you (NA ′, A ′), but also a fellow I know who asked for you (NA ′ A ′). Conjunctions do not occur between adjectives preceding a noun and an adjectival phrase following the noun. Therefore, when we change ANA ′ into NA ′ A ′ we move from a form in which a conjunction does not appear to a form in which a conjunction appears automatically. If we supply this conjunction, we finally obtain forms that have functional organization and that promote diversity ( NA ′ and A ′).

As an example of the chain of substitutions we note the following excerpts from the bracketed sentences of our text. The first step is to show that public enterprise is substitutable for public corporations . Compare They can and should be independent (where the They follows right after Public enterprise and hence repeats it): They are independent (where the They follows right after public corporations) . To complete this substitution we must show the equivalence (for this text) of can and should be with are . First, can and should be is equivalent to can be (X 1 and X 2 can be replaced by either X alone); second, be is the same verb morpheme as are ; third, can + verb is substitutable here for the verb alone, because we have cooperatives serve economic freedom in sentence (8) and in the next sentence They can serve freedom . The remaining step is to show that public corporations is substitutable for socialized industry . We have Socialized industry ... made to promote ... decentralization (sentence (3)) and They provide ... decentralization (where They follows immediately after public corporations ). The required equivalence of made to promote and provide is given by the fact that the addition of minus to either of these is equivalent to prevent : compare prevent from promoting in sentence (4) with made to promote in sentence (3). And compare in the bracketed sentences: public enterprises prevent absolute centralization (S L — I T) , and in the next sentence they provide diversity (S L I — T) ; these two sentences are parallel to our 3 and 4 except that made to promote is replaced by provide . By this circuitous route we show that public enterprise is substitutable for socialized industry , which is our S L .

As in sentence (5). In other cases, however, the occurrence of economic may affect the status of a word which is not itself — T . In one of the bracketed sentences, for example, we have economic, not political, institutions . Here economic affects the standing of the phrase. Similarly, the word need in economic need does not occur by itself (hence has no standing by itself), and it is the whole AN phrase here which equals — T .

One might prefer to consider the words no bar as part of the object. This is immaterial; it would merely shift the position of two minus signs from the I to the T .

The argument can be stated as follows. Given S L I—T of sentence (2), let us consider the first part of sentence (6) analyzed as S — LI no — T (before we represent no by a minus). Here we have two sentences which are equivalent except that the second contains an extra minus and an extra word (in this case no ); and the extra word turns out to be the same morpheme as one of the members ( not ) of the class marked minus. The two sentences therefore differ only in that the second has two minuses more than the first. We repeat this analysis when we compare — S — L— I bar — T with S — L — I — T . In this pair, minus + bar is substitutable for minus + no in the other pair. Hence bar is equivalent to no , and is a member of the class marked minus.

In breaking up this sentence into two, for convenience of analysis, we leave out since , which, like the hence of sentence (1), is outside the subject, verb, and object phrases, and serves to connect sentences.

Our original sentence consisted of subject + verb + [object + conjunction + object] (where brackets indicate the domain of the conjunction, as at the end of sentence (5)). This is equivalent to a double sentence: subject + verb + object, twice over. A similar equivalence was seen at the end of sentence (3).

Of course, this will not apply to all sentences of this form. In some cases VPVing is substitutable rather for a single V: succeed in economizing is replaceable by economize alone, or the like. The specific conditions for this equivalence cannot be discussed here.

Note that when public enterprise occurs as the subject of I it is a substituent of S L . When it occurs as an adjectival phrase to a — T object it is simply included in the object phrase. This is an example of homonyms (in respect to substitution classes), such as were mentioned in note 4.

In a somewhat different way the where also filled these two functions, as do many wh and th words.

Or if we had marked diversity in object position as R (as we marked its substituent in sentence (1)), absolute state control would be marked — R when in object position.

In doing this, we assume that absolute state control has the same relation to diversity in the subject position as it has in the object position of the same sentence type (group of equivalent sentences). In object position diversity is — T and absolute state control is T . When we see that in subject position of the same sentence type diversity is — S , we take absolute state control in that position as S .

More exactly: if we replace the limitation or suppression of ideas by T we obtain a possible sentence of this text. Let us call an analysis of a sentence’ successful’ when each morpheme in it is assigned to a substitution class in such a way that the sequence of substitution classes represented by the sentence is a sequence which occurs elsewhere in the text. Then assigning the limitation or suppression of ideas to T yields a successful analysis of our sentence, though we have not shown that it is the ONLY successful analysis.

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Harris, Z.S. (1970). Discourse Analysis: A Sample Text. In: Papers in Structural and Transformational Linguistics. Formal Linguistics Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-6059-1_20

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Discourse Community Essay Examples

Discourse community essay is an essential part of academic writing that requires students to explore a specific group’s communication methods and practices. To write a successful discourse community essay, you need to understand the group’s language, values, and beliefs. Here are some tips on how to write a discourse community essay that stands out.

Firstly, before writing, conduct thorough research on the discourse community you wish to write about. Understanding the group’s communication methods, practices, and language is essential. Take time to observe the community’s communication methods and the roles of its members. Conduct interviews with members of the group to gain insights into their communication practices and understand their perspectives.

Next, brainstorm discourse community essay topic ideas that align with your research. This should help you identify the unique aspects of the discourse community that you would like to focus on in your essay. Ensure that your essay is well-structured and well-researched to make it informative and easy to read. You can also use the research to draw comparisons and contrasts between the discourse community you are writing about and other groups.

To make your essay stand out, include relevant discourse community essay examples to illustrate the communication methods and practices you are discussing. This will give your readers a better understanding of the group you are writing about and make your essay more engaging. You can also include personal experiences or stories that relate to the discourse community to make your essay more relatable.

In conclusion, writing a discourse community essay requires a lot of research and attention to detail. However, with the right approach and techniques, you can produce a well-structured and informative essay that highlights the unique communication practices of the group. Always remember to include relevant examples and personal experiences to make your essay more engaging.

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1. The Soccer Discourse Community: Passion, Identity, and Global Connection

2. The Nursing Discourse Community: Shared Knowledge and Collaboration

3. Highly Resistant Hegemonic Discourses in the Sport

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12. A Study of Discourse Community Through BLM Movement

13. Analysis of Nursing Community According to Swales’ Characteristics of Discourse Community

14. School Theatre as an Example of Discourse Community

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This article will introduce the concept of discourse analysis, discuss when and why we use discourse analysis, describe the different types of discourse analysis, and provide step-by-step instructions on conducting discourse analysis with an example.

Discourse analysis meaning

Discourse analysis (sometimes named discourse studies) is a qualitative research method that involves an in-depth examination of any written, spoken, non-verbal, and visual language in context .

Discourse analysts are interested in how language can impart meaning. This could be vocabulary, use of grammar, gestures, facial expressions, imagery, language techniques, and many more. They analyse whole chunks (rather than individual utterances) of both planned and spontaneous written, spoken, and visual language.

An essential part of discourse analysis is examining language use within its social context . This means the societal norms, political climate, time, place, intended audience, and the speaker's socio-cultural background must all be considered as they can play a role in the meaning of language and how it's interpreted.

Discourse analysis (DA) is a varied and diverse research method used across multiple disciplines, such as linguistics, sociology, media studies, history, and more.

Why conduct discourse analysis?

We analyse discourse to understand the world better and how language is used in real life. By examining the social use of language, we can appreciate its multiple functions, such as creating meaning and maintaining certain social norms and common knowledge.

A discourse analyst may examine the written language and images used on the front page of a newspaper to see what narrative it might be trying to portray and why. To understand this, they would have to consider the owner of the newspaper, the intended audience, and the current political climate and world events.

When to use discourse analysis?

Discourse analysis is the perfect method for looking at the relationship between language and broader social issues, such as language and power , language and gender , language and inequality , and language in the media.

We can also use discourse analysis to see how people interact with each other in different situations and the impact language can have on society and vice versa.

Common examples of discourse we can conduct discourse analysis on are;

Conversations

Song lyrics

These are just a few examples - you can really conduct discourse analysis on anything!

Discourse analysis: what's analysed

There are no guidelines on what aspects of language you should analyse when conducting DA. How you undertake your analysis will depend on your research question and the purpose of your study. However, here is a list of language features that are commonly analysed as they can impart meaning.

Vocabular y - e.g. word choice, jargon , special lexicon .

Grammar - e.g. type of sentences, grammatical voice , use of affixes.

Punctuation - e.g. use of exclamation marks, capital letters etc.

Genre - Is it a newspaper, song, novel, etc.

Non-verbals - e.g. facial expressions, body language, pauses.

Paralinguistic features - e.g. tone, pitch, intonation .

Pragmatics - what are the extended or hidden meanings?

Grice's conversational maxims - are useful for reviewing power relations in spoken discourse.

Images and colour - how do they add to the meaning of the discourse?

Relationship between the discourse and the wider social context

Types of discourse analysis

The two main types of discourse analysis are language-in-use analysis and socio-political analysis.

Let's take a look at each of these in more detail.

Language-in-use discourse analysis

Language-in-use discourse analysis focuses more on the technical details of language, such as grammar, syntax (the arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses), phonetics , phonology , and prosody . A language-in-use approach to DA involves a highly descriptive and in-depth examination of linguistic properties.

A discourse analyst may examine the speech patterns of teenagers to see when they use contractions (shortened word forms), double negatives (e.g. I ain't got no time ), neologisms (a newly created word) etc. In this case , the researcher is interested in the minor technicalities of the language.

Socio-political discourse analysis

This approach is less concerned with the technical details of language, and more focused on the impact language can have on society and vice versa. Socio-political discourse analysis looks at the relationship between language and society , such as language and power .

The most common socio-political discourse analysis approach is critical discourse analysis.

Critical discourse analysis

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is primarily concerned with language's role in constructing ideology and power. The approach views language as a form of social practice and aims to investigate the ideologies and power dynamics hidden within discourse.

Critical discourse analysis can also be used to critically examine language's role in creating and maintaining social inequality.

Work by the researcher and analyst Norman Fairclough has been highly influential and pioneering in the development of critical discourse analysis as a research method.

The main aims and principles of CDA include;

To see how language can create and maintain ideologies.

To uncover power structures.

To understand how power can be maintained and abused through language.

To encourage people to question what they are being told and why.

To give a voice back to historically marginalised or oppressed people.

Consider how gender, ethnicity, race, and culture are represented and constructed in discourse.

Recognising the marginalised people in society and who the most powerful are.

According to Fairclough (1984), critical discourse analysis can typically be split into two disciplines: 1

Power in discourse - the lexicon , strategies, and language structures used to create power.

Power behind discourse - The sociological and ideological reasons behind who is asserting power over others and why.

Semiotic analysis

Semiotic analysis is predominantly used for multimodal discourse (usually printed communication mediums containing words, images, graphics, colours, etc.).

When conducting semiotic analysis, we take a medium of communication (e.g., a website, poster, textbook, or advertisement) and interpret the denotative (literal) and connotative (implied) meaning of the different types of discourse working together in context.

Semiotic analysis recognises that written and spoken language isn't the only part of discourse that can carry meaning, and it's important to consider how things such as imagery can significantly impact how we interpret things.

A poster with the words' knife crime kills' next to a black man may make the audience associate knife crime with black men. We would then have to question whether this was the author's intention and if so why.

Discourse analysis methodology

Discourse analysis is an interdisciplinary research method (i.e. used across many subjects); therefore, research methods will vary depending on the subject, purpose of the study, and research question .

There is no right or wrong way to conduct discourse analysis - which is good news as it's difficult to get it wrong. However, this doesn't help when the time comes to conduct your analysis, and you don't know where to start!

With this in mind, we've compiled a useful 'tool kit' based on Fairclough's (1995) three-dimensional model to help you get started. 2

Fairclough's model proposes discourse be analysed in three stages:

Description - analysis of the text itself, including grammar, syntax, lexicon, phonological features, literary devices (e.g. rhetorical questions), and images.

Interpretation - how discourse is produced and distributed and then consumed by the reader/listener, i.e. who is the author and the audience.

Explanation - viewing the discourse as a social practice and placing it in the context of wider society.

When we view discourse as a social practice, we consider it as something we perform or 'do', typically within a community. The philosopher Foucault stated that discourse as a social practice is often used to control or repress people by legitimising some practices and disqualifying others.

When conducting discourse analysis, you should also ask yourself the following questions;

Who wrote this text, and who is it intended for?

What narrative is being promoted?

Who benefits from this text? Who is marginalised by it?

Is the evidence credible?

What ideas are normalised by this discourse, and what are disqualified?

How do the images, colours, text, etc., work together if it is a multimodal text?

Discourse analysis example

For this example, we will conduct a discourse analysis on song lyrics using Fairclough's three-dimensional model. The chosen song is 'British Bombs' by Declan Mckenna (2019).

'Great snakes are we moving already

Good gravy did you say it cost a penny or two

Well talking bout the bad starts

My baby brother has already got a gas mask

It's a good old-fashioned landslide

Killing with your hands tied

In the homemade rope

Set sail babe we read it in the mail - no hope now

Great way to fool me again hun

Great acting, it's good what you tell em

Great Britain won't stand for felons

Great British bombs in the Yemen'

We have decided to undertake a socio-political analysis due to the genre of the discourse (a song) and the evident political influence behind the lyrics.

1. Description (analysis of the language itself)

This is a pop/rock song with somewhat emotive language, which can be seen in thought-provoking words and phrases, such as ' My baby brother has already got a gas mask' and ' Killing with your hands tied'. Repetition of the word great and alliteration of the letter B have been used to draw connections between ' Great Britain ' and ' Great British bombs' .

The terms ' Great snakes' and ' Good gravy' were common phrases in 1920-30s Britain. Mckenna may be trying to allude to British attitudes and society during the World War era, which are often described as being ignorant and overly patriotic.

2. Interpretation (the author and the audience and their potential interpretation)

The song was written by a young British musician and will likely be listened to by predominantly young British people. Mckenna may be using his music to draw his audience's attention to the use of British bombs in Yemen.

The lyrics ' Set sail babe we read it in the mail - no hope now' may be criticising the British newspaper The Daily Mail , which has often been accused of presenting a biased view of British politics. In doing this, he may influence listeners to consider where they get their news.

Mckenna uses slang associated with younger generations, such as ' hun' in the line ' Great way to fool me again, hun'. Using recognisable language may engage his audience and potentially encourage them to think more about politics.

3. Explanation (placing discourse into wider societal context)

The line ' Great British bombs in the Yemen' is likely referring to the UK's sale of British-produced bombs to Saudi Arabia, which they have dropped on civilians in Yemen since 2015. 3

Yemen is a country in the Persian Gulf that borders Saudi Arabia and Oman.

By placing the lyrics into a socio-political context, we can interpret that McKenna finds the use of British bombs hypocritical, which is arguably highlighted in the following lyrics, ' Great Britain won't stand for felons. Great British bombs in the Yemen.'

Discourse Analysis - Key Takeaways

• Discourse analysis is a qualitative research method that involves an in-depth examination of any written, spoken, non-verbal, and visual language in context .

We analyse discourse to understand how language is used in real life and how it can be used to create and maintain social norms and common knowledge.

When conducting discourse analysis some of the things we should consider are; vocabulary, grammar, tone, genre, imagery, pragmatics , and the discourse's relationship to society.

We can use discourse analysis on novels, speeches, adverts, lyrics, newspapers, and more.

The two main types of discourse analysis are language-in-use analysis and socio-political analysis. The most common socio-political analysis is critical discourse analysis.

• N. Fairclough. Language and Power. 1984.
• N. Fairclough. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. 1995.
• BBC News. Yemen: UK to resume Saudi arms sales after humanitarian review. 2020.

Flashcards in Discourse Analysis 7

Qualitative 

Both planned and spontaneous speech

Socio-political 

Language-in-use

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Frequently Asked Questions about Discourse Analysis

What are the advantages of discourse analysis?

Some of the advantages of discourse analysis include gaining a better understanding of the role of language, tracking language changes, revealing hidden ideologies and power structures hidden within language, understanding how society can affect language and vice versa, and more. 

What is the difference between content and discourse analysis?

Content analysis is a systematic and typically quantitative research method that codes and sorts data from texts. It is less subjective than discourse analysis and relies less on the researchers' interpretations. 

What is the main focus of discourse analysis?

The main focus of discourse analysis is gaining a deeper understanding of how and why language is used to part meaning within a societal context. 

What are the elements of discourse analysis?

Elements to analyse when conducting discourse analysis include; vocabulary, grammar, genre, punctuation, paralinguistic features (tone, pitch, accent, etc.), body language, pragmatics, imagery, and the language's relationship to the wider society.

How can discourse analysis be helpful in English language teaching?

Language teachers conduct discourse analysis on the interactions happening in their classrooms to see when and why good and bad language use takes place.

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