THE HONG KONG INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
Course Outline
Programme Title
: Doctor of Education
Course Title
: Discourse, Language and Critical Pedagogy
Department
: English
Credit Points
: 3
Contact Hours
: 39
Pre-requisite(s)
: Nil
[If applicable.]
Level
:
[If applicable. For example, for Discipline Studies under the BEd Core Curriculum, there are three levels of modules
to reflect the progression of study or the extent of in-depth knowledge.]
Synopsis:
This is an advanced discourse analysis course. Building on a deep understanding of the conventional
discourse inquiries (e.g. conversational analysis, ethnography of communication), this course
focuses on a selected number of discourse approaches in the analysis of discourse issues relevant to
educational settings. These include critical discourse analysis, systemic functional grammar, genre
analysis and corpus linguistics. The purpose of the inquiries/explorations is to reach for a critical
understanding of the inter-relationships of discourse, language, social construction of
meaning/knowledge, helping candidates develop a critical pedagogy for ELT in their particular
context.
Objectives :
To enable candidates to:
(a) demonstrate a deep understanding of the interrelationship between discourse, language and
knowledge construction;
(b) demonstrate a critical understanding of the selected discourse approaches across a variety of
settings/texts; and
(c) demonstrate a critical ability to analyze discourse issues in educational settings (local and
international).
Content
1.
Critical discourse analysis

language and ideology

knowledge and power
2.
Systemic functional grammar

social interaction and knowledge construction in classrooms

language and languaging
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3.
4.
5.
Corpus linguistics

multi-dimensional analysis of educational registers

cognitive demands in language classrooms
Genre analysis

discourse and grammar

academic discourses and non-academic discourses
Critical pedagogy

social structure and agency

language education in selected Asian contexts
Assessment
Candidates will be required to write a paper, demonstrating an ability to identify and analyze a
specific discourse issue in a well structured, critically argued and appropriately referenced manner.
In terms of standards, you should have in mind an article length paper (about 5,000 words) directed
at a specific journal.
Required Text
Nil
Recommended Reading
Aijmer, K. & A. B. Stenström (2004). (Eds.). Discourse patterns in spoken and written corpora.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Bernstein, B. (1996). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identify: Theory, research, critique. London:
Taylor & Francis.
Bhatia, Vijay K., (2004). Worlds of written discourse: A genre-based view. London: Continuum.
Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bloome, D. et al. (2005) Discourse analysis and the study of classroom language and literacy
events: A microethnographic perspective. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Boxer, D. (2002). Discourse issues and cross-cultural pragmatics. Annual Review of Applied
Linguistics, 22, 150-167.
Canagarajah, A. S. (2003). Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Cazden, C. (2001). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Christie, F. and Martin, J.R. (1997). Genre and institutions: Social processes in the workplace and
school. London: Cassell.
Christie, F. (2002). Classroom discourse analysis. London: Continuum.
Connor, U. & T. A. Upton (2004). (Eds.). Discourse in the professions: Perspectives from corpus
linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power, and pedagogy. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. London:
Longman.
Halliday, M.A.K. (2002). Text and discourse. Edited by Webster, J. London: Continuum.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (1993). Critical classroom discourse analysis. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 33, No.
33, 453-484.
Kumpulainen, K. & Wray, D. (2002) (Eds.). Classroom interaction and social learning. London:
Routledge Falmer.
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Lantolf, J. (2000) (Ed.). Sociocultural theory and second language learning. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Martin, J.R. (2002). Meaning beyond the clause: SFL perspectives. Annual Review of Applied
Linguistics, 22, 52-74.
Norris, S. and Jones, R.H. (2005). (Eds.). Discourse in Action: Introducing mediated discourse
analysis. Abingdon, England: Routledge.
Partington, A., J. Morley & L. Haarman (2004). (Eds.). Corpora and discourse. Bern: Peter Lang.
Pennycook, A. (2001). Critical applied linguistics. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associations, Publishers.
Schiffrin, D. (1994). Approaches to discourse. Oxford: Blackwell.
Swain, M. (2006). Languaging, agency and collaboration in advanced second language learning. In
H. Byrnes, (Ed.). Advanced language learning: The contributions of Halliday and Vygotsky.
London: Continuum.
Wetsch, J. V. (1985). Vygotsky and the social formation of mind. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press.
Related Websites
Related Journals
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