Aims and Fit of Module

The main aims of the module are:
• To develop students’ acquirement of some main concepts, categories and frameworks relating to written and spoken discourse;
• To develop students’ critical understanding of form, meaning and use of language and the principles involved in the interpretation of texts, both written and spoken;
• To develop students’ awareness and knowledge of the contextual influences which affect English language in use；
• To encourage students to consider the implications of discourse analysis for the teaching of English language and the research of teaching English as a foreign language;

Learning outcomes

A	Demonstrate an ability to examine the relationships between the contexts of use and linguistic features in written and spoken texts;
B	Identify and describe the structural elements, textual patterns and organisation of a range of written and spoken interaction;
C	Acquire an ability to describe meaning at word, clause and text levels, in particular, an understanding of how texts are constructed beyond sentence level;
D	Display familiarity with some up-to-date frameworks for critical analysis of written and spoken texts;
E	Demonstrate an awareness of how discourse norms and their realisations differ between cultures;
F	Apply discourse analysis to examine multilingual phenomena, both written and spoken;
G	Apply discourse analysis to describe and contrast differences between languages to guide English language teaching and researching in teaching English as a foreign language.

Method of teaching and learning

The teaching sessions are divided into two components: lectures and seminars.