Discourse Analysis of Language, Literacy, Culture, and Teaching

An essential text on discourse theory and analytic methods, this book demonstrates the possibilities of using discourse analysis to better understand language, literacy, culture, and teaching. Each chapter provides coherent, extended examples of individuals engaged in the process of doing discourse analysis. The narrative approach highlights the individual experiences of the discourse analysts and provides a unique, inside-the-mind view of the process and choices along the way. Across the book, stories describe processes involved in analyses, including identifying aims, formulating questions, selecting discourse, transcribing oral and multimodal discourse, translating discourse, chunking discourse, choosing and applying discourse and other theory, generating and supporting claims, and communicating findings. Chapters also feature sidebars with key theories and methods, recommended readings, and additional resources. This book is ideal for courses on discourse analysis, qualitative research, or language, literacy, culture, and teaching. Readers are invited to imagine the possibilities for using discourse analysis to answer their own questions.

Denise Ives is Associate Professor of Literacy, a discourse analyst, and a teacher educator at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.