10/3: Discourse analysis : Take 1

In class we identified the learning objectives for our study of discourse analysis and then dug into David Bloome's book.  Rather than start with all the defining and classifying of different approaches to discourse analysis - we started with a close reading of the classroom example on page 24.  We started by paying attention to our interpretation of what was going on within the described event - and then we identified and classified the "power moves" taken by students in the transcript.  You noticed:

• control of the floor (who intiated/held conversations)
• use of pronouns to represent self
• control of (and physical positioning of) material resources (crayons, paper, markers)
• use of questions (requests for information, demands for explanations, request for permission. . .)
• use of tone of voice (eg Michelle was angry)
• gaze, eye contact
• challenges  (struggles for authority)
• team building
• and etc.

You identified, classified and counted these moves as a way to characterize what was going on.
 Our next move would have been to talk through the analytic "moves" Bloome made in his analysis.

What you did - and what Bloome describes -  are one form of discourse analysis.  By emphasizing a different analytic frame, or definition of discourse we could engage in the other kinds of discourse analysis Bloome describes.

Chapter 1:
Bloome emphasizes that we will understand (and do) discourse analysis differently depending how we look at it.  He then guides readers through 4 important ways of thinking about what discourse analysis does.
His discussion focuses on discourse analysis in terms of:

1. the "linguistic turn"
2. movement between macro and micro processes
3. a larger understanding of context
4. its relationship to power

Chapter 2: Chapeter 2 discusses how the kind of research we do depends on the way we think about what discourse is.  When discourse is a noun, we can think of it either as an object that we observe, react to and use; or as a "subject" that causes us to do things and acts upon us; thinking of discourse as a "thing" also allows us to think of it as a text, a face-to-face interactions, an identity, or a "truth" about the way things are.  Bloome's point is that thinking about discourse in each of these different ways causes us to ask different questions, discover different "facts", and come to different interpretations of its meanings, relationships, and uses.

Bloome also discusses how we might understand discourse if we interpret it (experience it) as a verb.  

ForThursday: we will continue to work on discourse analysis, and on defining discourse.

Read:  Chapter 1 & 2 = again.  This time identify any language you do not fully understand.  Come to class prepared to explore and make sense of these terms.

If you feel solid on the terminology - think about the 4 frames for discourse analysis.  Can you identify assumptions for each frame?  How will the different frames change/re-focus the kind of research/analysis you do?
Or go back  to your book and think about the differences between discourse analysis that imagines discourse as a noun and discourse as a verb.  Do you think these distinctions are worth making?  Why or why not? .

These are the kinds of questions you will have on your exam for the section on discourse analysis.

Blog 7: 1) Describe what you learned in class today about discourse analysis;
2) what is still hard to understand?
3) what activities do you think would help you meet the learning objectives for our study of discourse analysis? .