Grammar, Text and Discourse

Department of Language, Discourse and Society, School of Education

College of Social Sciences

Details

Code 19263

Level of study Second Year

Credit value 20

Semester Full Term

Module description

This module aims to develop students' skills in grammatical, textual and discursive description and analysis. The first part of the module introduces a systematic model of grammatical description and focuses on lexical description and intra-sentential form, including the description of word classes, groups, clauses and sentence types. This knowledge is then extended through the study of the relationship between grammar and genre, cohesion, collocation and aspects of lexical semantics and style. In semester 2, these concepts are applied to the study of written text types including advertising, narrative and procedural texts in order to consider effects such as persuasion. The second part of the module aims to develop these analytical skills and extend them to the study of spoken discourse. Students will consider the limitations of written grammar and the need to postulate a discourse approach as another way of looking at linguistic structure and organisation. The development of discourse analysis is traced in relation to its applications to various settings such as the classroom, courtroom and casual conversation. The latter part of the module addresses some of the 'critical' issues involved in text and discourse analysis and aims to explore the relevance of grammatical, text and discourse analysis to issues of social power and in/equality.