Discourse Analysis is a graduate level course for both MA and PhD students (7605 for MA students, 8605 for PhD students).

A Bit about the Course
In this course, we will survey a variety of theories and methodologies of discourse analysis, including politeness theory, speech act theory, frame analysis, and various approaches to conversational and textual analysis from a variety of perspectives. We’ll use different methods to analyze different kinds of texts including written, spoken, and multi-media. The course offers insight into the practice of discourse analytical and into the ways people experience and perceive roles as speakers and hearers, writers and readers. Some of the questions we’ll consider include:

• What is “discourse”?
• Where does discourse come from?
• In what ways does discourse shape social interactions and social orders?
• How do people/groups/institutions participate and shape discourse?
• What is “discourse analysis”?
• What perspectives do the various traditions that inform discourse analysis emphasize allow us to access and address?
• How do we make decisions about the nature of discourse? What do we consider when studying, researching, and theorizing discourse?
• What is “context” and what is its relation to the “text”? To the speaker/writer, hearer/reader?
• What is the role of power in discourse?
• What can we do with our knowledge about discourse?

E-mail is the best way to get in touch with me. I check my voice mail when I'm in the office, but not often otherwise. I answer e-mail as quickly as I can; however, I'm not generally online on Saturdays or on Sunday mornings before noon. During online office hours, I'll be sitting at my computer with e-mail open and at the ready.