EDUC 20290
WEEK 4: INTRODUCTION TO DISCOURSE
ANALYSIS
Anticipatory set
What can you say about the
person wearing these
shoes?
 Rest of their appearance
 Behaviours
 Attitudes
 Relationships
 Beliefs, values and
assumptions about the
world
Anticipatory set
What can you say about the
person wearing these
shoes?
 Rest of their appearance
 Behaviours
 Attitudes
 Relationships
 Beliefs, values and
assumptions about the
world
Anticipatory set
What can you say about the
person wearing these
shoes?
 Rest of their appearance
 Behaviours
 Attitudes
 Relationships
 Beliefs, values and
assumptions about the
world
Anticipatory set
Could the same person wear all three
shoes? Would they?
Aims of lecture
• To introduce the concept of Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA)
• To explore some important concepts,
especially that of Word-World relationships
and Discourse
• To introduce the role of grammatical
knowledge in CDA
Outline of lecture
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Anticipatory set: shoe exercise
Aims and outline
What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)?
The Word-World relationship
Gee’s notion of Discourse
The role of grammar in CDA
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)?
MacQuarie Dictionary Fourth Edition
Critical: adjective 1. inclined to find fault or to judge with
severity. 2. occupied with or skilled in criticism. 3.
involving skilful judgement as to truth, merit.
Discourse: noun. 1. communication of thought by words;
talk; conversation.
Analysis: noun 1. separation of a whole, whether a
material substance or any matter of thought, into its
constituent elements (opposed to synthesis). 2. this
process, as a method of studying the nature of a thing
or of determining its essential features: the
grammatical analysis of a sentence.
What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)?
So, in a general sense, CDA involves:
• pulling something apart
• ‘something’: what people say, their
conversations
• judging these conversations
What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)?
Let’s be more technical: MacLure (2003)
• ‘Analysis…often involves looking for the
themes or categories that underlie the surface
linguistic disorder of the ‘data’. (p8)
• ‘Partly, this is a matter of learning, or
choosing, to ‘read’ educational events and
situations as texts.’ (p8)
What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)?
MacLure (2003)
• Allan Luke (1995): ‘one of the main tasks of
discourse analysis is to ‘disarticulate’ the texts
of everyday life as a way of ‘disrupting
common sense’ about the naturalness or
inevitability of identities, values and concepts,
thus showing the workings of power and
material interests in the most seemingly
innocent of texts.’ (p9)
What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)?
STOP
What is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)?
MacLure (2003)
• ‘A discourse-based educational research would
set itself the work of taking that which offers
itself as common-sensical, obvious, natural, given
or unquestionable, and trying to unravel it a bit –
to open it up to further questioning.’ (p9)
By the way…there’s also a Positive Discourse
Analysis – more about that next week.
The Word-World relationship
Word
World
The Word-World relationship
Snow
Powder
Crud
Crud
Crust
Ice
The Word-World relationship
Think about the values, beliefs and assumptions that
underpin the following uses of language:
 Koori, aborigine, boong, native, indigene, first Australian
 Slope, Chinese, People of the Middle Kingdom, Han
 White Australian, Anglo-Celtic, pakeha, haole, Aussie,
whitefella, red haired devil
 Terrorist, guerilla, freedom fighter
 Migrant, asylum seeker, refugee, political exile, new
Australian, boat people, illegals, queue jumper
 Exploration and settlement, invasion
Word have real effects in and on the world.
The Word-World relationship
Another look at naming practices: Sally Morgan
(1987)
That night, as Jill and I were lying quietly on our beds,
looking at a poster of John, Paul, George and Ringo,
I said, “Jill…did you know Nan was black?”
“Course I did.”
“I didn’t, I just found out.”
“I know you didn’t. You’re really dumb, sometimes.
God, you reckon I’m gullible, some things you just
don’t see.”
“Oh…”
“You know we’re not Indian, don’t you?” Jill
mumbled.
The Word-World relationship
“Mum said we’re Indian.”
“Look at Nan, does she look Indian?”
“I’ve never thought about how she looks. Maybe
she comes from some Indian tribe we don’t
know about.”
“Ha! That’ll be the day! You know what we are,
don’t you?”
“No, what?”
Boongs, we’re boongs!” I could see Jill was
unhappy with the idea.
It took a few minutes before I summoned up the
courage to say, “What’s a boong?”
The Word-World relationship
Nelson Mandela (1984): On the first day of
school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each
of us an English name and said that
henceforth that was the name we would
answer to in school. This was the custom
among Africans in those days and was
undoubtedly due to the British bias of our
education. The education I received was a
British education, in which British ideas,
British culture and British institutions were
The Word-World relationship
Africans of my generation – and even today –
generally have both a Western and an African
name. Whites were either unable or unwilling
to pronounce an African name, and
considered it uncivilised to have one. That day,
Miss Mdingane told me that my new name
was Nelson. Why she bestowed this particular
name upon me I have no idea. Perhaps it had
something to do with the great British sea
captain Lord Nelson, but that would only be a
The Word-World relationship
New Internationalist (June 2002, p6), claimed
that since September 11 human rights were
being eroded ‘as internal dissent is
opportunistically renamed “terrorism”.
According to Amnesty International:
‘Countries are using the attacks of 11
September as an excuse for internment,
repression of opposition groups or restrictions
of basic human rights.’’
The Word-World relationship
Real effects on
real people in
the real world.
Gee’s notion of Discourse
• From MacLure: ‘Terry Threadgold (2000)
observes, the ‘field’ of discourse studies is a
particularly contested terrain – not so much a
field, in fact, as a ‘global space of migration
and hybridisation’.’
• Yet, we need a definition:
– Gee a useful starting point
– Read MacLure Appendix 1 (High Use area of
library)
Gee’s notion of Discourse
In simple terms: An identity kit which comes complete
with the appropriate costume and instructions on
how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a
particular role that others will recognise.
Gee’s notion of Discourse
What is the identity kit of
Sherlock Holmes?
Costume (clothing)
Language use
Attitudes and beliefs
Allegiance to a certain
lifestyle
Ways of interacting with
others
Gee’s notion of Discourse
Gee continued: ‘Club membership’ – there are ways of
displaying (through words, actions, values and
beliefs) membership in a particular social group or
social network (people who associate with each
other around a common set of interests, goals and
activities)
Sanctions exist of you ‘break’ the rules.
Gee’s notion of Discourse
What are the ‘rules’ for
belonging to the
teaching ‘club’?
Appearance and dress
Language
Behaviours
Values, attitudes and
beliefs
Assumptions (about
yourself, others)
Sanctions for breaking
Gee’s notion of Discourse
Wendy Morgan (1996): The characteristic ways a
group of people talk and write so that they
confirm their shared views of the world and
give themselves and others a role and an
identity.
Affects construction and interpretation of
meaning.
Gee’s notion of Discourse
Science
teacher
Property
developer
Ocean
Surfer
Poet
The role of grammar in CDA
 Verbs HAS to agree with their
subjects.
 Prepositions are not words to
end sentences with.
 And don’t start a sentence
with a conjunction.
 It is wrong to ever split an
infinitive.
 No sentence fragments.
 One should NEVER
generalize.
 Don’t use no double
negatives.
Grammar as
prescription.
But…
The role of grammar in CDA
• ‘The function of language is not just (as is
often assumed) to communicate information.
Language is, in addition, also a device to think
and feel with, as well as a device with which to
signal and negotiate social identity…’ (Gee,
1990, p78)
• Grammar provides a toolbox, therefore, for
unpicking what is going on in a text… 
description not prescription
The role of grammar in CDA
According to Kress and van Leeuwen, grammatical
forms are ‘resources for encoding interpretations
of experience and forms of social (inter)action.
Benjamin Lee Worf argues the point in relation to
languages from different cultures. In what we call
‘Standard Average European’ languages, terms like
summer, winter, September, morning, noon,
sunset are coded as nouns, as though they were
things. Hence these languages make it possible to
interpret time as something you can count, use,
save, etc. In Hopi, a North American Indian
language, this is not possible. Time can only be
The role of grammar in CDA
‘…Tony Trew (1976: 107-7) has described how,
when Harare police, in what was in 1975 still
Rhodesia, fored into a crowd of unarmed people
and shot thirteen of them, the Rhodesia Herald
wrote ‘A political clash has led to death and
injury’ while the Tanzanian Daily News wrote
‘Rhodesia’s white suprematist police…opened fire
and killed thirteen unarmed Africans’. In other
words, the political views of newspapers are not
only encoded through different vocabularies (of
the well-known ‘terrorist’ vs ‘freedom-fighter’
type), but also through different grammatical
The role of grammar in CDA
‘…Grammar goes beyond formal rules of
correctness. It is a means of representing
patterns of experience…It enables human
beings to build a mental picture of reality, to
make sense of their experience of what goes
on around them and inside of them (Halliday,
1985: 101).’
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Systems of
choice
Subject matter
Participant
Process
Circumstance
Noun group
Roles and
relationships
Mode and
medium
Mood
Modality
Theme and
Rheme
Appraisal
Cohesion
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Process)
Process (ask What’s happening?): The word or group of words in a clause which
represent the doing, being, thinking/sensing/feeling and saying. The Process
consists (nearly always) of verbs only. Examples (bolded; note: examples in
this section are from: Hirsch, Odo. (2009). Darius Bell and the glitter pool.
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin.):




Darius shook his head.
The gardener gripped the handles of the wheelbarrow.
Marguerite rested back on her elbows.
Other harvesters picked their fruit one or even two days ll before it got to
market.
 The last punnet ll that Mr Fisher had added to the stack in Darius’s arms ll
was a present.
 The fragrant scent of the strawberries wafted up from the punnets ll that he
and Marguerite were carrying ll as they headed for the house.
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Process)
Types of processes
Action/Material (doing): walk, give, receive,
sneak, do
Verbal (saying): talk, speak
Perceiving/thinking/feeling: see, think, teach,
feel
Having/being/relating: have, is
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Participant)
Participant (ask Who or what? before and after the Process): A Participant is
the element in a clause which acts or is acted upon by elements in the
Process. It is the “who” or “what” in the clause and usually consists of noun
groups or pronouns (but can be adjectives and clauses). Examples
(underlined):




Darius shook his head.
The gardener gripped the handles of the wheelbarrow.
Marguerite rested back on her elbows.
Other harvesters picked their fruit one or even two days ll before it got to
market.
 The last punnet that Mr Fisher had added to the stack in Darius’s arms was
a present.
 The fragrant scent of the strawberries wafted up from the punnets ll that
he and Marguerite were carrying ll as they headed for the house.
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Circumstance)
Circumstance (ask How, when, where or why?): The Circumstance
provides further information: where, when, how, why, in what
manner. It consists of adverbs or prepositional (adverbial) phrases.
Examples in red:




Darius shook his head.
The gardener gripped the handles of the wheelbarrow.
Marguerite rested back on her elbows.
Other harvesters picked their fruit one or even two days before it
got to market.
 The last punnet that Mr Fisher had added to the stack in Darius’s
arms was a present.
 The fragrant scent of the strawberries wafted up from the punnets
that he and Marguerite were carrying as they headed for the
house.
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Noun Group)
Nouns and noun groups can function as part
of a:
– Participant, e.g. “Jason and the other new
racers were led into the school’s cavernous
entry foyer.”
or
– Circumstance, e.g. “Jason and the other new
racers were led into the school’s cavernous
entry foyer.”
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Noun Group)
While nouns do occur by themselves, they more
often appear as part of a group of words – the
Noun (or Nominal) group.
At the centre of a noun group is a noun. The
function played by this noun is the “Thing” – a
very technical term:
“a shimmering glass-and-steel building that
looked like a giant sail”
Thing
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Noun Group)
On either side of the Thing can be words that
modify its meaning, Pre- and Post-modifiers:
Pre-modifier
“a shimmering glass-and-steel building that
looked like a giant sail”
Post-modifier
Thing
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Noun Group)
Post modifiers are usually:
Prepositional phrases, e.g. “the cover of some
major magazine”
or
A dependent (often relative*) clause, e.g. “a
shimmering glass-and-steel building that
looked like a giant sail”
* Begins with who, whom, which, that (relative
pronouns)
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Noun Group)
Pre-modifiers can be a:
 Deictic (pointer) which answers “Which one?”, e.g.
“the”, “a”, “this”, “Frank’s”
 Numerative (number adjective) which answers
“How many?”, e.g. two, many, no
 Epithet (quality adjective) which answers “What
quality?”, e.g. beautiful, evil, angry, sad, purple
 Classifier (type adjective) which answers “What
type?”, e.g. “wholemeal bread” or “multi-grain
bread” as opposed to “white bread”
The order above is always the order in English.
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Noun Group)
A note on “adjective”:
 Generally, an epithet, classifier and numerative,
would have also received the general label
“adjective”
 numerative, epithet and classifier are more precise
and useful terms that indicate the function
 A noun or verb can also fulfil these functions, e.g.
“the world champion” or “the participating
students”
Again, traditional grammar isn’t wrong, just not
adequate by itself.
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Noun Group)
Deictic Numerative
Epithet
Pointer
Number
Quality
word
adjective
adjective
(Which (How many?) (What
one?)
quality?)
a
shimmer-- glass and steel
ing
14
Jason’s
Classifier
Type
adjective
(What type?)
parentless
Thing
(What?)
building
kids
earpiece
Postmodifier
that looked
like a giant
sail
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Noun Group)
 Short, e.g. the trees were felled.
 Long, e.g. the five splendid and graceful cedar trees
which reached towards the sun like miners coming
to the surface after twelve hours spent in the
depths of the earth were felled.
Note: There can be noun groups within noun groups,
e.g. the sun, miners, the surface, twelve hours
spent in the depths of the earth, the depths of the
earth, the earth
From a bio-mechanics article
Another important consideration in both the
design of equipment for resistive exercise and
the performance of an athlete or a busy
executive is that the human body relies on pre
programmed activity by the central nervous
system. This control necessitates exact
precision in the timing and coordination of
both the system of muscle contraction and the
segmental sequence of muscular activity.
Research has shown that a characteristic
pattern of motion is present during any
intentional movement of body segments
against resistance. This pattern consists of
Noun groups isolated
Another important consideration in both the
design of equipment for resistive exercise and
the performance of an athlete or a busy
executive is that the human body relies on pre
programmed activity by the central nervous
system. This control necessitates exact
precision in the timing and coordination of
both the system of muscle contraction and the
segmental sequence of muscular activity.
Research has shown that a characteristic
pattern of motion is present during any
intentional movement of body segments
against resistance. This pattern consists of
Noun groups in book for younger readers
Some time after you make camp, the ugly, black
clouds that had started to well up in the early
afternoon finally burst with a boom of
thunder, and the rain pours down so hard that
it almost feels as if you are being pelted with
gravel. Anything that isn’t under cover,
including any firewood you’ve collected, is
soaked. The high wind that has got up loosens
old branches from some of the trees. Leaves
and twigs fall onto your beach. Behind, in the
forest, you can hear a creaking then crash as a
giant tree topples over.
Developing a metalanguage (Part 1)
Subject Matter (Noun Group)
Let’s do one first (focusing on the primary noun
group)…
The five coloured Olympic rings of ancient lineage
Have a go:
1. An onion
2. This strange and bitter vegetable
3. The first thin, papery layer
4. The complicated and overwhelming taste of
this strange and bitter vegetable
Activity: Grammar survivor
Deictic Num. Qualifier
An
Classifier Thing
Postmodifier
onion
This
strange and
bitter
vegetable
The
first
thin, papery
layer
The
complicated
and
overwhelming
taste
of this
strange
and bitter
vegetable
So what?
• One of the main ways that we use to pack
information into a text
• Long noun groups can be used to elaborate
and give texts more depth
• The ability to use short and long noun groups
flexibly for effect is valued in demand writing
tasks (NAPLAN, QCS Writing Task)
Conclusion
• Tutorial
–Questions re assignment
–Mapping personal identity and
Discourses
–Practice with the grammar
References
Gee, J. (1990). Social linguistics and literacies: ideology in
Discourses. Basingstoke, Hampshire :The Falmer Press.
MacLure, M. (2003). Discourse in Educational and Social
Research. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Mandela, N. (1984). Long walk to freedom. Britain: Abacus.
Morgan, W. et. al. (1996). Critical literacy: reading and
resources. Norwood, SA: Australian Association for the
Teaching of English.
Morgan, S. (1987). My place. Western Australia: Freemantle
Arts Press.
Yallop, C. et. al. (2005). Macquarie dictionary fourth edition.
New South Wales: Macquarie University.