Sp Topics: Discourse Analysis

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Over the past thirty years or so, scholars of language and social life have been analyzing discourse within a variety of professional contexts, most notably medicine, law, education, government, and business. For some of these scholars, these research sites offer intriguing real-life contexts in which their favorite discourse phenomena can be examined in situ; others are lured by a concrete place in which they can investigate the role of language in the relationship between ideology and practice; still others are attracted by an opportunity to work towards the solution of important societal problems, such as those found in relationships (and talk) between physicians and their patients, judges and jury members, teachers and their students, government employees and citizens, or employers and their employees. We’ve learned a good deal from this cross-disciplinary work. In fact, in recent years more and more professionals in other disciplines know about discourse analysis and its power to illuminate real-life problems. Many of us are called on to work as consultants in cross-disciplinary projects. And – through this involvement – many of us are learning that such work is rarely straightforward; it’s not usually enough just to be trained as a discourse analyst and then to carry out one’s work in another field. Accommodation and compromise are usually necessary. Working across disciplines can be a challenge. Different disciplinary paradigms dominate decisions regarding what kinds of research questions are thought to be both answerable and useful or important. These paradigms also influence what participants and settings can be included in the study, what kinds of language data can be collected and how, what types of theoretical frameworks and analytical units can be brought to the research, as well as what counts as research findings, and how these findings should be reported. But – for many of us – seeing our work impact society in significant ways is well worth this extra effort. Being prepared for the kinds of differences that can exist when undertaking cross-disciplinary research and being armed with suggestions regarding how to make the most of one’s role in such research can make the crucial difference between a discourse analyst leaving a project in frustration or being able to contribute to lasting changes. This seminar on Cross-Disciplinary Discourse Analysis offers this kind of preparation to the interested student. Although specific areas of focus and seminar activities will be attuned to seminar participants’ interests, preparation, and experience levels, it is expected that they will include all major phases of cross-disciplinary involvement: -Getting involved: Establishing the researcher's role -Setting the course: Developing the research question and project design -Working on the ground: Observing, interviewing, and taping -Making sense of the discourse: Analyzing and reporting Throughout the semester we’ll discuss the challenges and rewards of carrying out discourse analysis in the 'real' world, drawing on experiences of guest lecturers, my own consulting experiences, and the emerging experiences of students in the seminar. The discussion will revolve around the theme of balance: as a researcher working effectively across disciplines, one must be ready both to learn and to teach; to take alternate perspectives as insider and outsider as the project progresses; to serve one's own disciplinary goals at times, but to allow those goals to take a secondary place when other professional goals need to be served; to assert one's position strongly at times and to be ready to compromise at others; to be patient when disciplinary differences or practicalities of teamwork do not allow the most expeditious resolution of a problem, all the while holding to the conviction that the extra effort that goes into this kind of research endeavor will ultimately impact society in some of the ways the researcher anticipated. Prerequisite: at least one course in discourse analysis Course activities will include: Reading seminal and innovative studies by discourse analysts working in other disciplines Interacting with guest lecturers - discourse analysts who work either fulltime or as consultants with individuals from other disciplines Identifying how linguistic discourse analysis complements and extends analyses from other disciplines by participating in multidisciplinary team investigations of interaction Learning how to position qualitative work and explain key concepts within discourse analysis and linguistics to people outside the field Learning about different disciplinary conventions in abstract-writing, academic presentations and publications Designing and implementing a cross-disciplinary discourse analytic study