Ústav anglického jazyka a didaktiky si dovoluje Vás pozvat na přednášku

Dolores Fernández Martínez (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain)
“Introducing Discourse Analysis in Class”

Přednáška se bude konat ve středu 29. 6. 2011 ve 14.15 v místnosti 111.

Anotace přednášky:

The purpose of this lecture is to introduce discourse analysis to undergraduates in language-based and linguistics degrees, and to demonstrate the utilitarian aspects of discourse analysis as an instrument to develop students’ critical thinking skills. Discourse analysis is a broad and fast-developing interdisciplinary field concerned with the study of language use in context. It can also be characterized as a way of approaching and thinking about a problem, since it enables to reveal the hidden motivations behind a text. Discourse analysis promotes the application of critical thought to social situations and the unveiling of strategies within socially dominant discourses. But the study of discourse can be applied to any text, problem or situation; all texts are accessible to analysis by the existing methods of linguistics. Every advertisement, t-shirt slogan, song or dialogue can be the subject of linguistic exploitation and social debate. Far from being a coherent paradigm of clear-cut practices, there is still an on-going proliferation of theoretical approaches, methodological devices and research topics which in the last years have unveiled the potential of discourse analysis as an instrument for teaching languages. Teaching practices can be improved by investigating actual language use both in and out of the classroom. The classroom offers tangible ways of interpreting contemporary culture; it is an excellent forum for teaching discourse analysis and for making students aware that there is a complex world out there to be analysed.

This lecture aims to demonstrate the utilitarian aspects of discourse analysis as an instrument to help students develop their internal values and critical thinking skills.

-          It will provide a summary of basic theoretical concepts within discourse analysis and how they connect with students’ everyday life.

-          It will offer a set of tools for analysing texts, especially cohesive devices, and their relevance from a discourse analysis point of view.

-          It will mainly focus on the analysis of authentic texts (e-mails, advertisements, t-shirt slogans, songs…) in order to show how any type of text can be the subject of linguistic exploitation and critical debate.

Přednášející: Dolores Fernández Martínez is Lecturer in English Linguistics and English as a Foreign Language at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Her research interests include discourse analysis and systemic linguistics. Her recent monographIntroducing Discourse Analysis in Class (2011) is a practical introduction to discourse analysis for undergraduates in linguistics degrees or any reader who is interested in how texts function.