Grounded discourse analysis: A hybrid methodology

Aim: It is only relatively recently that discourse analysis has begun to rise to prominence in the fields of counselling and psychotherapy. This paper briefly explains ways of understanding discourse analysis, discussing what the approach can offer counselling research and practice. Approach: An initial categorisation of recent discourse analysis studies is offered, to demonstrate diverse ways in which this type of research can address issues relevant to counselling practice. The five categories proposed range from the examination of language use in therapy to analyses that focus on the social structures, meanings and power relations related to therapy. Implications: The paper demonstrates that through the critical analysis of counselling sessions, research interviews, written texts and other materials, discourse analysis can provide insight into ways in which counselling operates as a social practice, and so help counsellors to contextualise their work within broader social structures and processes.

This research is a critical and reflexive inquiry into the beliefs and practices, and the identity work, of the ‘intercultural teaching’ of English language teachers in two Indonesian universities. It is concerned with the ways in which teacher beliefs and understandings of the English language, of culture, interculturality and of pedagogy mediate the discourses, classroom practices and professional identity of these teachers. I have undertaken this study at a time when foreign language education policy in Indonesia, like many education policies across the world, has increasingly emphasised the cultural and intercultural dimensions of language learning. At the higher education level, the ‘shift of paradigm’ from English language education premised on linguistic competence to communicative competence has been accompanied by the introduction of more theoretical subjects where students are expected to develop a deeper understanding of the interconnections between language and culture. Within the framework of this ‘new paradigm’, English language teachers are expected to assume the responsibility of facilitating intercultural learning and promoting intercultural understanding. In this study, I examine the notion of interculturality in terms of broader, inclusive notions of pedagogy (cf. Giroux, 1988, 1991, 1997), rather than as a single approach to teaching English. Much research into teacher professional identity has revealed that teacher identity and teachers’ work are dynamically and inextricably interconnected with the broader social structures—their biographies, histories and experiences—in which they are situated (e.g., Duff & Uchida, 1997; Tsui, 2007; Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, & Johnson, 2005). Through the lens of sociocultural perspectives of identity, my study seeks to generate in-depth insights into how teacher identity work is mediated by and intertwines with various personal, professional, institutional and cultural factors. In connecting together these various dimensions, I have utilised a case study research design, with a particular focus on “critical incidents” (Goodson, 2003, p. 61) in the work and experiences of the teachers. This has allowed me space to delve into the complex social, cultural, linguistic and identity issues associated with that work and those experiences. In line with the sociocultural perspectives of identity that underpin the study, I have drawn on James Gee’s (1999, 2011a, 2011b) approach to discourse analysis to understand and unravel the complexity of identity work. Gee’s concepts of ‘big D’ Discourse, situated identities and cultural models were employed to highlight the connection between ‘micro’ (i.e., specific texts and specific details of language) and ‘macro’ (context) levels of analysis. This has allowed me to articulate fine-grained interpretive perspectives and to construct multi-faceted and nuanced accounts of the teachers’ realities and contextualised understandings. Data for the study comes from three main sources: in-depth semi-structured interviews with six teachers in two different universities in Indonesia, classroom observation of these teachers’ classroom practice and documentation (e.g., curriculum and policy documents). The interviews were conducted in three stages: before, during, and after the period during which I was observing the teachers’ classroom teaching, which was undertaken over a period of one semester. The focus of my interviews shuttled between ‘the personal’, ‘the professional’, ‘the institutional’ and ‘the cultural’. Analysis of data involved two major approaches: thematic theory-driven and case-based data-driven analyses. The former approach, drawing primarily on existing theories of ELT pedagogy, interculturalism and interculturality, was utilised in the analysis of the teachers’ perceptions of the English language and their ELT classroom practices as well as in the interpretation of their conceptualisations of culture. The latter approach was used in the exploration of the teachers’ individual beliefs, identity work and their subject-specific instructional practices. This approach has enabled me to discuss and analyse the data in a more reflexive way, allowing me not only to generate personalised accounts (including occasional references to my own experiences as an English language teacher in Indonesia) but also to present bigger picture understandings of the teachers’ individual and collective experiences. The study overall demonstrates the complex and dynamic nature of English language teachers’ identity work, pointing to the significant role the institution plays in mediating and shaping the teachers’ “enacted professionalism” (Hilferty, 2008, p. 162). By unravelling this complexity and illustrating the everyday challenges and dilemmas of teaching interculturalism in Indonesian higher education institutions, I call for a fundamental rethinking of language, culture and intercultural pedagogy and for policy-makers and curriculum planners to be better engaged with teachers’ voices and experiences.

The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature on discourse analysis in music education. Using methodological guidelines from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), our search yielded 6,710 records, of which 121 were selected for full-text analysis. Analysis revealed that music education researchers used ‘discourse’ to mean: (a) socially constructed knowledge, (b) ‘truths’, (c) social practice, (d) a way of identity construction, and (e) ‘language-in-use’ (Gee, James Paul. 2011. How To Do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit. London and New York: Routledge, 177). These meanings do not exist in silos but are closely related. ‘Discourse analysis’ was used to describe a methodology that involves (a) examining language use in social contexts, (b) analysts’ interpretation, and (c) the close study of texts. The two most common approaches were Critical Discourse Analysis and Foucauldian discourse analysis. Key topics examined using discourse analysis included broader social issues (e.g. gender, inclusion, and race) and issues and practices related to specific music education contexts (e.g. large ensembles, higher music education, and collaborative music learning). Implications for music education were proffered in light of the findings.

Discourse analysis has become an important research approach in humanities and social sciences, involving a wide range of disciplines, schools and theories. Among the research literatures, which are named “discourse” or “discourse analysis”, there are significant differences in conceptual connotation and analysis frameworks, which are actually different from the theoretical origin and genealogy. In early studies, in view of structural linguistics, discourse is defined as “language above the sentence”, and discourse analysis is focused on the structure of language. The discourse analysis from the functional perspective emphasizes the use of language, highlighting the language users, the purpose and intention of the language users, or the situational context, including form/function analysis and context analysis. In social science, in approach of post-structuralism, discourse is “a form of social practice in which language plays a central role”, and discourse analysis is dedicated to revealing the social contradictions, conflicts and fairness, as well as the constructive role of discourse in the macro-social, cultural and historical process. The convergence of functional perspective and post-structuralist paradigm of discourse analysis has led to critical discourse analysis, an interdisciplinary field which inherits the post-structuralist view of language, cares about social practice, and at the same time attaches importance to linguistic texts. van Dijk's “Discourse-Cognitive-Social” analysis model, Wodak's “Discourse/History” critical discourse analysis model, and Fairclough's “Social event, Social practice, and Social structure" analytical framework are the typical representatives of critical discourse analysis.

Discourse analysis Discourse analysis is a vast and ambiguous field. Consider two recent definitions. First, Brown and Yule (1983: 1) state that: the analysis of discourse, is necessarily, the analysis of language in use. As such, it cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms independent of the purposes or functions which these forms are designed to serve in human affairs. Second, Stubbs (1983a: 1) states that discourse analysis consists of: attempts to study the organization of language above the sentence or above the clause, and therefore to study larger linguistic units, such as conversational exchanges or written texts. It follows that discourse analysis is also concerned with language in use in social contexts, and in particular with interaction or dialogue between speakers. Brown and Yule emphasize a particular perspective toward language (functional versus structural) which is tied to a focus on parole (versus langue ); Stubbs' emphasis on a particular unit of analysis (‘above the sentence’) leads him toward a similar pragmatic emphasis on ‘language in use’. The authors then observe a definitional problem similar to the one noted above. Brown and Yule (1983: viii) observe that the term discourse analysis has come to be used with a wide range of meanings which cover a wide range of activities. It is used to describe activities at the intersection of disciplines as diverse as sociolinguistics, psycho-linguistics, philosophical linguistics and computational linguistics.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Employee Involvement in Both Word and Deed Discourse analysis deals with the use of language as social practice. The focus of analysis is on text, discursive practice as well as social practice. Its purpose is to show how social and cultural change takes place. Critical discourse analysis sees aspects of social practice as discur¬sive, that is, a practice in which written and oral manifestations are produced and interpreted. These texts are both constituted by and constituent for social practice. This dialectical approach ma¬kes discourse analysis particularly use¬ful for apprehending social changes. While this approach can help reach an understanding of the main discourse be¬hind the text itself, there are problems with the theoretical analysis of how dis¬course construes subjectivity and the meaning of body language for the dis¬course. A discourse analytical review of orga-nization literature on employee involve¬ment and face to face communication re¬veals that employees are seen in the ab¬stract, they are objectivized, and are seen as harmony seeking, rational individuals without histories or biographies. To exemplify discourse analysis in face to face communication with employees, a videotaped conversation between a fac¬tory director and one of the production leaders is analyzed and reveals the domi¬¬nant discourse that characterizes the con¬versation and how the factory director places the problem on the production leader. Discourse analysis can provide a critical theoretical insight into employee involvement by for instance revealing the paradox that by making the employees into objects, they are supposed to become independent, responsible subjects. Hen¬ce it can be useful in contributing to un¬derstanding employee involvement.

Qualitative research focused on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is important, as it can refine understandings of particular issues related to ASD and be practically relevant provided that quality criteria are applied (Bolte 2014). Employing qualitative methods for the study of ASD is an important way of giving a ‘voice’ to participants and can be particularly useful for empowering vulnerable or disadvantaged people groups (Peters 2010). The field of mental health and disability generally is one that is mediated through language (Brown et al. 1996) and qualitative methods tend to focus on language use, specifically those using discourse or conversation analysis approaches. Quantitative evidence, whatever its form, provides important and valuable evidence about ASD. However, it is crucial that the field does not solely rely on a relatively narrow range of methodologies and forms of knowledge to inform us about such a complex and diverse condition. Qualitative methods are able to go beyond establishing the likelihood of associations between variables, towards understanding the nature of such associations and the complex processes that they may be interpreted to represent. More specifically, qualitative methods are able to go beyond what works to show how and why a particular practice is effective (Rhodes 2011), particularly when taking into account established quality criteria. In this special section, we focus specifically on discourse analysis and conversation analysis, which are languageoriented qualitative approaches that analyse what people actually do and say, as opposed to what they report that they do or say (McCabe 2006). The five included articles use discourse or conversation analysis in varying ways, and highlight how these analytic methods pursue robust validation procedures and focus on identifying systematic patterns of interaction grounded in natural data (McCabe et al. 2002) with built in quality criteria. Typically researchers applying discourse or conversation analysis use extensive corpora of audioor video-recordings of social interactions collected in natural settings (e.g., clinic, therapy session). Analysis then involves a close, inductive examination of the interactions of all the participants in that setting. Although discourse analysis and conversation analysis are similar approaches, and both fall broadly within the landscape of qualitative research in that they treat language as their central focus (Bryman 2008), there are some important practical and epistemological differences which dictate the nature of the questions asked and the specific analytic methods used. Conversation analysis (CA) is a qualitative approach that focuses on the study of interaction. The core aim of this approach is to examine the social organisation of activities that are produced in interaction through talk (Hutchby and Wooffitt 2008). In other words, CA aims to interrogate how people use language to perform certain social actions, such as excusing, inviting, complaining, & Michelle O’Reilly mjo14@leicester.ac.uk; mjo14@le.ac.uk

“Discourse” is language in use, and discourse analysis is the study of language in use. Language occurs, reflects, and is interpreted within social and ideological contexts. In turn, language constructs social realities, relationships, and power structures. Discourse analysis explores those functions, operations, and powers of discourse, in texts and other forms of communication events, investigating the ways in which discourse becomes meaningful. It focuses on how implicatures arise in relation to the contexts in which discourse functions. Discourse analysis is particularly interested in the interpersonal dimensions of discourse and in the social relationships and positions constructed through discourse. Discourse analysis has chiefly been informed by text linguistics and pragmatics, though its applications span many disciplines, from geography to psychology, and from literature to politics. This is partly because discourse is a universal and transdisciplinary phenomenon, and partly because many disciplines are asking similar research questions of the discourses and discursive constructs with which they engage. While traditional discourse analysis can be loosely divided into text-focused and speech-focused domains, many discourse phenomena occur across modes, and many discourse analytic approaches are likewise relevant across modes. Discourse is also being recognized as inherently (and in some areas increasingly) multimodal, opening up new avenues of study. Discourse analysis is essentially a critically reflexive field. It is motivated by an interest in social structures and ideologies underscoring discourses and discourse practices and also in social structures and ideologies embedded within discourse analytical stances. This criticality makes it a crucially important tool for the 21st-century era of instant global sharing of discourse, of easily digitally manipulable multimedia discourse, and of “post-truth” Western discourses of political power.

Social media practices are situated within the contexts that people are located in, including family and peer relationships. LGBTQIA+ young people carefully curate social media spaces to find similar others in careful ways. However, less is understood about how existing connections to families of origin (re)shape social media practices. Drawing on interview and focus group data with 65 LGBTQIA+ young people, we examine family considerations in social media practices and curation strategies. Findings reveal that considerations about familial relations play an important role in how young people use social media for maintaining and fostering ties with family members. Young LGBTQIA+ people narrativise their social media practices as intensely affective experiences, where issues of care, concern, and love for family, (re)shapes their social media use. We argue that queer young people’s social media practices can be conceptualised as family practices and consider the implications this has for making sense of social media for queer young people.

People use language for different purposes and in various social practices, contexts, and perspectives. Discourse analysis investigates the use of language from multiple perspectives to enhance our understanding of language’s structure and meaning. This study is significant because it exposes constructed realities by analyzing the language used in specific contexts and perspectives. It examines the ideological components of the outgoing Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s farewell speech to the Knesset on June 13, 2021, revealing his moral stance and political strategies against Iran, Palestine, and the Israeli economy. Applying Fairclough’s three-dimensional method of discourse analysis, this study explores Netanyahu’s ideological stance on the three key challenges: Iran’s nuclear issue, the establishment of a Palestinian state, and Israel’s economic reforms. He addresses these key challenges while disregarding UN resolutions, the moral perspective of the international community, and peacekeeping efforts in the region. When discussing Iran’s nuclear issue and a Palestinian state, his tone is aggressive, and he adopts a boastful stance on Israel’s economic reforms. The discourse not only reflects ideological positioning but also appears to legitimize future confrontation, as evidenced by subsequent Israeli actions against Iran. Thus, Israeli political and military strategies present a significant threat to regional peace and stability as well as to global peacemaking efforts.

Book Review---Giuseppe Balirano, Maria Cristina Nisco (eds.) 2015 Language, Theory and Society: Essays in English Linguistics and Culture, Liguori, Napoli.

Current research on young people’s social media use tends to revolve around notable and spectacular forms of usage, and usage by specific identity-based groups on specific sites. The everyday social media use of ‘ordinary’ young people and its theoretical significance for youth sociology is less often considered. This paper presents findings derived from longitudinal data collected from 446 young Australians about their social media use. Using Couldry’s (2012. Media, Society, World: Social Theory and Digital Media Practice. Cambridge: Polity Press) media-related practices as a dual methodological and conceptual lens, we examine how their social media practices are embedded in the broader social practices of Australian young people. In so doing, we seek to understand how media are used by young people as a tool or resource to navigate their everyday lives in changing social contexts, and suggest that this process is directly contributing to their active creation of a new experience of adulthood. We ultimately contend that the media-related practices that we identify demonstrate how young people experience and negotiate the power of social media in shaping their everyday practices, which affords an opportunity to account for media’s role in constituting the shifting social ontology experienced by young people.

Parsing Pragmatics

This scoping review studies how translation works through discourse and register analysis approach. In translation, different translation types have been successfully practiced. In interlingual translation, translating means beyond the word-for-word translation. In literature translation, the translation process demands improvement, especially in classical literature that needs to be understood in a target foreign culture. This systematic review aims to study how translation processes work and how discourse and register analysis approaches can improve translation products. Discourse analysis deals with how language communicates and holds its social and power relations. Discourse analysis aims to understand and investigate sentences and discourse through their underlying social and cultural context. Through the metafunctions of language, register variables such as the field, tenor, and mode, as well as through comparative analysis of the source text and the target text, translation products could be more efficient for the target audience. Hence, it can ensure translation quality. The conclusions of this systematic review could lead to future studies to improve translation quality through discourse and register analysis approach.

It would be all too easy to extol the merits and exaggerate the importance of social media for the policy process. This chapter casts a critical eye over such claims, focusing on the favoured platform of policy actors: Twitter. It explores the social media practices of policy actors and reviews peer-reviewed research. The chapter draws on a comprehensive review of published research to better understand how policy actors are engaging with social media. It illustrates emerging social media practices with a case study of a policy implemented in 2012 in England and Wales, to replace local appointed police authorities with directly elected PCCs.