How to Do Critical Discourse Analysis

Language and communication shapes and is shaped by the society we live in. Using a multimodal approach –graphic, vocal, written – the book guides students to an understanding of how language, power and ideology are negotiated in visual communication and media texts, from magazine and advertising, to YouTube and music videos.

It draws on discourse analysis, appraisal theory, stylistics and conversation analysis to present a systematic toolkit for doing language and image analysis. Using case studies and examples from a range of traditional and new media content, the book equips students with the necessary tools to analyze and understand the relationship between language, discourse and social practices.

Timely and relevant, How to do Critical Discourse Analysis is a unique and compelling textbook for students in media, communication, linguistics and journalism.

David Machin is Professor of Linguistics at the Institute of Corpus and Applications, Shanghai International Studies University.  He publishes in a range of academic fields applying multimodal critical discourse analysis to provide unique insights.  His books include Introduction to Multimodal Analysis (2020), Doing Visual Analysis (2018), Visual Journalism (2015) and The Language of War Monuments 2013). He is coeditor of the journal Social Semiotics, which publishes researching which uses multimodal critical discourse analysis and is on the editorial board of a range of leading journals in the field. 

Andrea Mayr is currently Associate Professor in Media and Communication at Zayed University, UAE, where she works in the fields of Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodality, with a particular focus on crime and deviance, social exclusion and (digital) media activism. In her widely used books and peer-reviewed journal articles she applies mostly linguistic methods to the study of multimodal communication, such as in Language and Power (2019).