Linguistics: Discourse Analysis – Assignment I – Unit I
Second Semester 2012 – Razuc Marina Macarena.
Assignment I.
Subject: Linguistics: Discourse Analysis
Name: Razuc Marina Macarena
Unit: 1
Date: 06/08/2012
E – Mail: maqiii.89@hotmail.com
Task: Answer the following questions:
1-
What is the purpose of Discourse Analysis? What does it take into account in
order to understand its object of study?
The purpose of discourse analysis is to discover noticeable and hidden meanings of
texts, to search how and why the meanings of texts change or vary in different
contexts and cultures. Discourse Analysis emphasizes in put into practice our
knowledge in order to be able to communicate in a successful way with others. In
order to understand the object of study of Discourse Analysis, it is important to take
into account the context, including our movements with the body, our tone, etc.
2-
Take a look at one or different course books do so, paying attention to the way
new items are introduced to students and analyse the invented examples for language
teaching. Are they too sentence-based? Do they consider the context?
After looking through some different course books, and focusing on the way in which
new items are introduced to students, I can say that in most of the books the examples
were made considering the context, trying to achieve meaningful examples. It is true
that it is important that learners have to see sentences grammatically well formed in
the examples, but if they haven’t got a significant context, they will be
incomprehensible for them, or it would be less easy to understand them correctly, and
achieve the real knowledge. For example, if we use a sentence that says “The dog
speaks with his neighbour” in order to explain present simple, clearly the sentence is
grammatically well formed, but in fact it has not got sense, it is not meaningful,
because it is impossible that a dog speaks. So, in general books and we, the teachers,
try to explain the topics or the new items considering the context. Although this does
not mean that we can find books where the examples are only sentence based.
Linguistics: Discourse Analysis – Assignment I – Unit I
Second Semester 2012 – Razuc Marina Macarena.
3Do some research on communicative competence and answer the following
questions.
a- What does it mean to have communicative competence?
To have communicative competence means that you count with the ability to use the
language accurately and suitably to accomplish communication goals. It is to say that
having the ability to communicate competently you can communicate successfully.
b- Why is it important for L2 learners to acquire this skill?
Most of the times, L2 learners find problems in expressing their communicative
intentions in the new language so they have to acquire this skill to have a proper
communication. Although they have knowledge about phonology, grammar,
vocabulary, syntax, etc, also they need to be coherent when they establish a
conversation, and for this reason it is very important to acquire communicative
competence for L2 learners.
c- What may be the consequences if L2 learners don’t acquire communicative
competence during the learning process?
The consequences may be terrible for them because they won’t be able to
communicate well neither with the mates or native speakers. So, they can feel very
dissatisfied for not have the ability to communicate successfully, and mislay
engagement in the language, because of they do not achieve one of the goals of the
learning process.
d- How can we foster communicative competence?
I think that we can foster communicate competence mainly through communicative
activities. They are activities that encourage and require a learner to speak with and
listen to other learners, as well as with people in the class and the community. In order
to promote communicate competence we have to take into account that the selected
activities have real purposes, like finding information, breaking down barriers, learning
about the culture, etc. Although these activities can be focused on reading and writing
skills, we can integrate in the lesson communicative activities.
Also, it is important a dynamic learning environment in order to foster communicative
competence. Relevant and engaged tasks in a dynamic background are a very good
combination.
In order to encourage communicative competence, we can find activities that involves
at least two people, who talk each other, and where each is interested in what the
other is doing and each reacts either verbally or nonverbally to what the other says.
They are very important to foster this type of competence.
Moreover, we have to produce activities in order to achieve a desire to communicate
and a communicative purpose; and where there is a focus on language content not
language forms, and where a variety of language is used.
4-
Explain in your own words what the Speech Act Theory is about.
Do you think that is it important for language teachers to have an insight into this
theory? Justify your answer.
Linguistics: Discourse Analysis – Assignment I – Unit I
Second Semester 2012 – Razuc Marina Macarena.
The speech Act Theory was first developed by John Langshaw Austin and then
reworked by Searle; and as the text says it is the theory of “how to do things with
words”. In this theory saying something implies doing something; we speak with a
purpose, as to complain, promise, etc. Austin stated three types of acts, locution,
illocution and perlocution. The first one is carried out only to say something, what we
say is what we mean; the illocutionary act, is an act performed in saying something, it
is the person´s intent, to complain, beg, command, etc and perlocutionary act is the
result of what we had said, it is intended to have an effect on the hearer.
Regarding to the second question, I think that it is very important for language
teachers to have an insight into this theory, because learners will need different tools
in order to communicative successfully, not only grammar knowledge. So, we have to
teach language functions and its points, and this only would be possible if we have
awareness about this theory.