How to do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit

221 Pages·2010·1.06 MB·English

by  James Paul Gee

How to do Discourse Analysis
How to do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit is the essential new book from
James Paul Gee, and the companion to his bestselling An Introduction
to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method. Discourse analysis is widely
used in a range of academic subjects, all concerned with how humans
make meaning and communicate within and across different social and
cultural groups.
Using a practical how-to approach, Gee provides the tools necessary
to work with discourse analysis, with engaging step-by-step tasks
featured throughout the book. Each tool is clearly explained, along with
guidance on how to use it, and authentic data is provided for readers to
practice using the tools. Readers from all fields will gain both a practical
and theoretical background in how to do discourse analysis and
knowledge of discourse analysis as a distinctive research methodology.
How to do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit is the ideal preparation for
future learning in discourse analysis and applied linguistics, meant
for those interested in learning discourse analysis by doing it. The
inter disciplinary approach means that it is suitable for students across
a range of subjects, including applied linguistics, anthropology, and
communication studies.
James Paul Gee is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of
Literacy Studies at Arizona State University. His many titles include
An Introduction to Discourse Analysis, Sociolinguistics and Literacies and
Situated Language and Learning, all published by Routledge.
‘‘This is without a doubt the most accessible and user-friendly book on
discourse analysis to come along for many years. It is an ideal companion
to Gee’s previous book, An Introduction to Discourse Analysis, and will
make for an ideal textbook in a wide range of undergraduate courses in
language, linguistics and English studies.’’
Rodney Jones, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
‘‘As an ideal companion to An Introduction to Discourse Analysis, this
text is more hands-on in its approach to understanding and applying
discourse analysis in research, teaching, and learning. It is a pleasure
to read Gee’s simple, clear, humor-injected prose. Part of his brilliance
derives from not only making theory accessible, but also anchoring
discourse in authentic contexts. The book is essential reading for
students and scholars exploring the nuances of language.’’
Jennifer Rowsell, Rutgers Graduate School of Education, USA
How to do Discourse Analysis
A Toolkit
James Paul Gee
First published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 James Paul Gee
All rights reser ved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Gee, James Paul.
How to do discourse analysis : a toolkit / James Paul Gee.
p. cm.
1. Discourse analysis. I. Title.
P302.G398 2010
401’.41—dc22
2009049050
ISBN 0-203-85099-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 10: 0–415–57207-X (hbk)
ISBN 10: 0–415–57208–8 (pbk)
ISBN 10: 0–203–85099–8 (ebk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–415–57207–1 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–415–57208–8 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978–0–203–85099–2 (ebk)
Contents
Introduction ix
Unit 1: Language and Context 1
■■ 1.1 Language and Language Acquisition 2
■■ 1.2 Context 6
■■ Grammar Interlude #1: Deixis 8
■■ 1.3 Two Tools: The Fill In Tool and the Making Strange Tool 11
■■ 1.4 Working with the Fill In Tool 13
■■ Grammar Interlude #2: Subjects and Predicates 17
■■ 1.5 Working with the Making Strange Tool 19
■■ Grammar Interlude #3: Intonation 22
■■ 1.6 The Frame Problem 29
■■ 1.7 The Frame Problem Tool 37
■■ 1.8 Working with the Frame Problem Tool 37
Unit 2: Saying, Doing, and Designing 41
■■ 2.1 The Doing and Not Just Saying Tool 42
■■ 2.2 Working with the Doing and Not Just Saying Tool 45
■■ 2.3 Using Grammar to Build Structures and Meanings 47
■■ Grammar Interlude #4: Vocabulary 52
■■ 2.4 The Why This Way and Not That Way Tool 54
■■ Grammar Interlude #5: Integrating Information 55
■■ 2.5 Working with the Why This Way and Not That Way Tool 62
■■ Grammar Interlude #6: Topics and Themes 65
■■ 2.6 Why We Build and Design with Grammar 68
■■ 2.7 Using Language to Build Things in the World 71
■■ Grammar Interlude #7: Stanzas 74
vi Contents
Unit 3: Building Things in the World 83
■■ 3.1 The Context is Reflexive Tool 84
■■ 3.2 Working with the Context is Reflexive Tool 86
■■ 3.3 Building Tasks and Building Tools 87
■■ 3.4 The Significance Building Tool 92
■■ 3.5 Working with the Significance Building Tool 95
■■ 3.6 The Activities Building Tool 96
■■ 3.7 Working with the Activities Building Tool 103
■■ 3.8 The Identities Building Tool 106
■■ 3.9 Working with the Identities Building Tool 110
■■ 3.10 The Relationships Building Tool 114
■■ 3.11 Working with the Relationships Building Tool 117
■■ 3.12 The Politics Building Tool 118
■■ 3.13 Working with the Politics Building Tool 123
■■ 3.14 The Connections Building Tool 126
■■ Grammar Interlude #8: Cohesion 128
■■ 3.15 Working with the Connections Building Tool 132
■■ 3.16 The Sign Systems and Knowledge Building Tool 135
■■ 3.17 Working with the Sign Systems and Knowledge
Building Tool 139
■■ Grammar Interlude #9: Topic Flow or Topic Chaining 143
Unit 4: Theoretical Tools 149
■■ 4.1 Five Theoretical Tools 150
■■ 4.2 The Situated Meaning Tool 151
■■ 4.3 Working with the Situated Meaning Tool 154
■■ 4.4 The Social Languages Tool 156
■■ 4.5 Working with the Social Languages Tool 161
■■ 4.6 The Intertextuality Tool 165
■■ 4.7 Working with the Intertextuality Tool 167
■■ 4.8 The Figured Worlds Tool 168
■■ 4.9 Working with the Figured Worlds Tool 173
■■ 4.10 The Big “D” Discourse Tool 176
■■ 4.11 Working with the Big ‘‘D’’ Discourse Tool 181
Contents vii
Conclusion 185
Appendix 1: Discourse Analysis for Images and Multimodal
Texts 187
Appendix 2: List of Tools 195
Index 203

Introduction
Discourse analysis is the study of language-in-use. Better put, it is the
study of language at use in the world, not just to say things, but to do
things. People use language to communicate, co-operate, help others,
and build things like marriages, reputations, and institutions. They also
use it to lie, advantage themselves, harm people, and destroy things like
marriages, reputations, and institutions.
There are many different approaches to discourse analysis. Many of
these are part of the discipline of linguistics and tied closely to the study
of grammar, though there are also a number of different approaches to
grammar. Some approaches to discourse analysis are not as closely tied
to the details of language, but concentrate on ideas, issues, and themes
as they are expressed in talk and writing.
In my book An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method
(Third Edition, 2011), I argue that any theory of discourse analysis
offers us a set of tools with which to analyze language-in-use. In my
view, no one theory is universally right or universally applicable. Each
theory offers tools which work better for some kinds of data than they
do for others. Furthermore, anyone engaged in their own discourse
analysis must adapt the tools they have taken from a given theory to
the needs and demands of their own study.
So a book about discourse analysis can take two very different
approaches. It can offer wide coverage of different theories or it can
offer one theory in some detail that is meant to offer good tools for some
purposes and to be a good preparation for learning other approaches for
other purposes later on. My book, An Introduction to Discourse Analysis:
Theory and Method, and this one are based on this second approach.
The theory in both these books is one that sees discourse analysis as
tied closely to the details of language structure (grammar), but that
deals with meaning in social, cultural, and political terms, a broader
approach to meaning than is common in much mainstream linguistics.
At the same time, both books are meant to lay a foundation for later
learning of other approaches to discourse analysis.
So, then, why two books, both devoted to introducing discourse
analysis? People learn and teach differently. An Introduction to Discourse
Analysis: Theory and Method offers explanations and examples, but it