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1 _______________________ Introduction to Discourse Analysis University of Michigan Rex, Fall 2006 Introduction to Discourse Analysis Ed 737-005/Ed 835-125 Fall 2006 Thursdays 4-7 pm & Mondays 1-3 pm 2320 SEB Lesley A. Rex, Ph.D. 2014 School of Education 734-647-1988 office Office hours by appointment Please contact [email protected] Amy Carpenter Ford 2014 School of Education 734-330-8197 cell Office hours by appointment Email [email protected] The course workload This is a five credit hour course with both a weekly seminar and lab. We read discourse theories from a number of traditions, approaches to discourse analysis, and discourse analytic research and you select methods for working with your own data. In addition to writing page-long, informal “think pieces” about a concept or technique from the reading, you select a study from the library’s electronic data base and explain its method of discourse analysis to the class; you also explain a sample analysis of your own data before writing up a complete analysis. Prior students advise that you think of this as an intensive two-course workload. Who should take this course? The course is applicable for you if you are a graduate student who has taken an introductory qualitative research course and/ or you have experience with analyzing discourse in a particular field (e.g., literary studies, linguistics). You will find the course most useful if you wish to apply either discourse analysis and/or qualitative research in your doctoral work. Since you will conduct mini-studies that engage a self-selected DA approach, you should meet in advance with me to arrange to collect, borrow, or share data for the course. I assume that if you are beginning your doctoral studies you are most likely producing your first research report in the course, one that you could develop into a scholarly benchmark paper. If you are further along in your program—for example, on the threshold of your dissertation—you may apply this methodology to a pilot study or to your dissertation data. Course objectives The term “discourse analysis” has an extensive range of meanings. There is wide variance among the assumptions and interests of discourse analysts, and among the2 _______________________ Introduction to Discourse Analysis University of Michigan Rex, Fall 2006 models of discourse analysis they apply, which precludes generalizations about what they have in common. Any introductory course in discourse analysis is necessarily only a partial view, and therefore, a particular perspective. This course, because of its interest in the applications of discourse for studying education, focuses on theories of language in structuring social behavior, activities, and identities as well as social institutions, and on how discourse refers to particular methods of analyzing spoken and written language texts. Aware of the need to establish boundaries on what can be represented as discourse analysis and what can be learned within one introductory course, I have designed this one for beginning researchers to focus on approaches and methods of discourse analysis that describe language-in-use in social life related to researchable issues in education. The materials for the course were chosen in response to the question, “What would a beginning researcher in education benefit from knowing about discourse analysis?” Each time I teach the course, I update the readings to reflect important new publications, and developments in theories and methods, as well as the interests of all the students in the current class. The design of the course evolved from considering a corollary question: “What learning phases would first time discourse analysts in a doctoral program go through in applying discourse analysis to their own research project?” My answers to these questions produced a course with the following objectives:  To read and discuss descriptions and illustrations of leading approaches, methods, and applications of discourse analysis, both outside and within the field of education. (See list of books and related readings below.) From these readings, class members will focus on those approaches and methods best suited to their individual research interests. These they will apply to a research project for the course.  To transcribe and analyze data according to the discourse methods they have selected to support a mini research study. For the study they will frame an orienting question, select appropriate data, evolve questions to guide data transcription and analysis, and complete an analysis that produces study results.  To present and write up the study in a format suitable for a beginning scholar. The organization of the course We will meet for seminar on Thursdays from 4-7pm in SEB 2320 to discuss the readings and the studies. On Mondays we will meet for a two-hour lab from 1pm to 3pm (also in SEB 2320). Lab time is set aside for study groups to meet and work on their in-progress mini-studies with instructor assistance. I will also be available through individual appointments to confer with students about their projects. The design of this course, which is to say its chronology of events and participation structures, is based on three assumptions about learning: 1) that knowledge is learned more thoroughly and meaningfully when it has an authentic purpose, hence students will conduct a mini-study with a question and data they select; 2) that problem-solving interactions with others involved in similar learning issues enriches and reinforces as well as expands learning, hence students will work in small study groups as well as full class discussion; and, 3) that the learning of abstract, complex, context-related3 _______________________ Introduction to Discourse Analysis University of Michigan Rex, Fall 2006 knowledge requires redundancy and variety over an extended time period, hence students will revisit and reapply foundational discourse analysis knowledge as the class engages with it through three chronological stages: reading and discussion; application to data; and, presentation in study reports. In concrete terms, that means the class will spend the first nine weeks reading, discussing, and writing about ways of observing and analyzing that discourse analysis makes possible. During the first weeks, you will review your data through multiple new lenses from the readings. You will also form a question to drive your study and


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