MODUL PERKULIAHAN

CLASSROOM DISCOURSE
ANALYSIS

MODUL 1: UNIT 1
DICOURSE, TEXT, and CONTEXT

Comprehend Discourse, Text and Context

Fakultas Program Studi Tatap Muka Kode MK Disusun Oleh

Keguruan Ilmu Pendidikan Bahasa Marwito Wihadi, M.Pd
Pendidikan Inggris
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Abstract Kompetensi

Bab ini menjelaskan discourse atau Mahasiswa memahami makna

wacana, teks dan konteks. Kemudian, discourse atau wacana, teks, dan
mahasiswa mengaitkan hubungan konteks serta keterkaitanya dalam
ketiganya dalam analisi wacana. analisis wacana

1 DISCOURSE, TEXT, and CONTEXT

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Before we come to talk about the discourse relative to its aspects, let’s see six
things or six areas of “reality” that we always and simultaneously construct or
build whenever we speak or write (
1. The meaning and value of aspects of the material world: I enter a plain, square
room, and speak and act in a certain way (e.g. like someone about to run a
meeting), and, low and behold, where I sit becomes the “front” of the room.
2. Activities: We talk and act in one way and we are engaged in formally opening a
committee meeting; we talk and act in another way and we are engaged in “chit-
chat” before the official start of the meeting.
3. Identities and relationships: I talk and act in one way one moment and I am
speaking and acting as “chair” of the committee; the next moment I speak and
talk in a different way and I am speaking and acting as one peer/colleague
speaking to another.
4. Politics (the distribution of social goods): I talk and act in such a way that a
visibly angry male in a committee meeting (perhaps it’s me!) is “standing his
ground on principle,” but a visibly angry female is “hysterical.”
5. Connections: I talk and act so as to make what I am saying here and now in this
committee meeting about whether we should admit more minority students
connected to or relevant to (or, on the other hand, not connected to or relevant
to) what I said last week about my fears of losing my job given the new
government’s turn to the right.
6. Semiotics (what and how different symbol systems and different forms of
knowledge “count”): I talk and act so as to make the knowledge and language of
lawyers relevant (privileged), or not, over “everyday language” or over “non-

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lawyerly academic language” in our committee discussion of facilitating the
admission of more minority students.
Then, we shall continue to figure what discourse and text are defined despite the
fact that they are often interchangeable (see Nunan, 1993; Stubbs, 1989).
However, some linguists emphasize ‘language in context’ to refer to discourse.
Thus discourse is termed as follow:
- A continuous stretch of (esp spoken) language larger than a sentence, often
constituting a coherent unit, such as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative.
(Crystal 1992: 25)
- Stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified, and purposive. (Cook
1989: 156)
- The interpretation of the communicative event in context (Nunan, 1993: 6)

To complete the discussion of discourse, we had better proceed to pay an

attention to the defined explanation of Text from a number of proponents below:
- A piece of naturally occurring spoken , written, or signed discourse identified for
purposes of analysis. It is often a language unit with a definable communication
function, such as a conversation, a poster. (Crystal, 1992: 72)
- A stretch of language interpreted formally, without context. (Cook, 1989: 158)
- Any written record of a communicative event. The event itself may involve oral
language (ex: a sermon, a casual conversation, a shopping transaction) or written
language (ex: a poem a newspaper advs a wall poster a shopping (ex: a poem, a
newspaper advs, a wall poster, a shopping list, a novel) (Nunan, 1993: 6)
- Halliday and Hasan (1976:1-2) mention that text is a semantic unit. He said
further about the text as: “[A term] used in linguistics to refer to any passage-

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spoken or written, of whatever length, that does form a unified whole […] A text
is a unit of language in use. It is not a grammatical unit, like a clause or a
sentence; and it is not defined by its size […] A text is best regarded as a
SEMANTIC unit; a unit not of form but of meaning.” Moreover, Halliday said that
the text is the language people produce and react to, what they say and write,
and read and listen to, in the course of daily life.…. The term covers both speech
and writing… it may be language in action, conversation, telephone talk, debate,
… public notices, ... intimate monologue or anything else (1975:123).
Etymologically, text comes from a metaphorical use of the Latin verb textere
'weave', suggesting a sequence of sentences or utterances 'interwoven'
structurally and semantically. As a count noun it is commonly used in linguistics
and stylistics to refer to a sequential collection of sentences or utterances which
form a unity by reason of their linguistic COHESION and semantic COHERENCE.
e.g. a scientific article; a recipe; poem; public lecture; etc.
Moreover, text is linguistics realization of proportional meanings as connected
passage that is situationally relevant. The following are the characteristics of the
text:
- Essentially semantic unit as a form of interaction
- Cohesive and coherence; not random but connected
- Spoken or written; mode of linguistics realization
- Of any length
- Create and/created by context (situationally relevant).
Furthermore, we would come up with the elaboration of Context, comprising
context of situation and context of culture. Beforehand, the general explanation
shall be executed below. For further details, watch the slides of context of
situation at https://slideplayer.com/slide/2312968/
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Please find out what the context is meant. In fact it is the situation giving rise to
the discourse and within which The situation giving rise to the discourse, and
within which the discourse is embedded. There are 2 kinds: There are 2 kinds:
a. The linguistic context: the language that surrounds or accompanies the piece of
discourse under analysis.
b. The non The non-linguistic/ experiential context, which includes linguistic/
experiential context, which includes
- The type of communicative event (ex: joke, story, lecture, greeting,
conversation)
- The topic
- The purpose of the event
- The setting: location, time of day, season of year and physical aspects of the
situation (ex: size of room, arrangement of furniture)
- The participants and their relationship
- The background knowledge and assumptions underlying the communitive event.
Finally, we have come the questions “What is Discourse Analysis?” two
deliberately selected scholar promulgating its definition:Stubbs (1989: 1)
confirmed that
a. the linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connected spoken or written
discourse connected spoken or written discourse
b. attempts to study the organization of language above the sentence or above
the clause, and therefore to study larger linguistic units, such as conversational
exchanges or written texts written texts
c. The study of language in use in social contexts, and in particular with
interaction or dialogue between speakers

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Then, Paltridge (2012) asserts that Discourse analysis examines patterns of
language across texts and considers the relationship between language and the
social and cultural contexts in which it is used. Discourse analysis also considers
the ways that the use of language presents different views of the world and
different understandings. It examines how the use of language is influenced by
relationships between participants as well as the effects the use of language has
upon social identities and relations. It also considers how views of the world, and
identities, are constructed through the use of discourse.
Then, based the above elaboration, please self-term Classroom Discourse (prior to
its elaboration from distinguished proponents). What are you personally termed
“classroom Discourse Analysis”?.

References
Cook, G. (2001). Discourse of Advertising. New York: Routledge.

Crhystal, D. (1992). Introducing Linguistics. California: Penguin English.

Gee, J. P. (1999). An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method. Londond and New Yorl:
Routledge.

Halliday, M. A., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London And New York: Routledge.

Nunan, D. (1993). Introducing Discourse Analysis. London: Penguin English.

Paltridge, B. (2012). Discourse Analysis: An Introduction. London, New Delhi and New York: Bloomsbury.

Stubbs, M. (1983). Discourse Analysis: The Sociolinguistic Analysis of Natural Language. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.

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