The Application of Discourse Analysis in First and Second Language Acquisition

Abstract

Most linguists have regarded language purely as a medium of communication. Especially American structuralists and transformationalists had focused massively and very successful on problems within phonology and the grammar of the clause but ignored paragraphing or meaning (cf. Sinclair and Coulthard 1975). For them, the verbal and non-verbal context had “little bearing on grammatical or phonological description”. This view, however, does not cover all aspects of language at all. Language is much more than sheer communication; it is a powerful tool in every day situation in which humans interact.