Stephen van Vlack

Sookmyung Women`s University

Graduate School of TESOL

Discourse Analysis (Spring 2004)

Course Policy

Overview: This three-hour-per-week course is designed to provide students with a course in the development or enhancement of knowledge related to the teaching of speaking through a discourse analysis/interlanguage pragmatics point of view. This course has two basic parts or foci (focusses). In the first half of the course the underlying theory of both discourse and pragmatics are reviewed. In the second half practical issues regarding developing speaking skills and particularly English speaking are reviewed. Based on this, students are expected to be exposed to and to generate a full picture of how speaking skill develops and is to be assessed and taught and specifically in second language learners. As such, this course is a seen as being a basic course and one which marries necessary theories in SLA with practical outcomes related to speaking.

Objectives: The most basic objective of this course is to provide the developing teachers with both knowledge and skills so that they might be better teachers of English as a spoken language. In order to do this, however, students must first be introduced to the relevant theories of discourse and pragmatics. Therefore, in order to enhance the students prowess as teachers of speaking two distinct but related areas of study (Discourse Analysis and Interlanguage Pragmatics) must be introduced. By the end of the course the students will have improved their skill in being to teach spoken English but will also have a firm background in the underpinnings of speaking competence in language.

Texts

Primary Texts:

-Johnstone, Barbara. (2002) Discourse analysis. Malden, MA.: Blackwell.

This rather simple book provides a basic introduction to discourse analysis focussing on spoken discourse but with some mention or writing. It is a necessary and rather easy read.

Kasper, G. and Rose, K. (2002) Pragmatic development in a second language. Language Learning 52: Supplement 1, pp. 1-352.

This is an authoritative and well-written introduction to Interlanguage Pragmatics. You will be able to get this in the form of a printout from the copy center on campus.

-Riggenbach, Heidi. (1999) Discourse analysis in the language classroom: Volume 1. The spoken language. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

This is a short book full of sample activities and exercises related to spoken English discourse and as such is a very useful tool for us in this class and beyond. The students will be doing group presentations on this book and all materials on and after week 10.

Additional Texts:

In addition to this book, we will have a few other special articles from various sources which I will give you in the form of a reading packet.

-Achiba, Machiko. (2003) Learning to request in a second language. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

This is not going to be used in this course, but it is a good book to take a careful look at as it provides a good model of how to write up a descriptive longitudinal research project in the area of Interlanguage Pragmatics.

-Celce-Murcia, M. and Olshtain, E. (2000) Discourse and context in language teaching. Cambridge: CUP.

-Cornbleet, S. and Carter, R. (2001) The language of speech and writing. London: Routledge.

-James, Carl (1998) Errors in language learning and use. Harlow: Pearson Education.

-Malmkjaer, K. and Williams, J. (eds.) (1998) Context in language learning and language understanding. Cambridge: CUP.

-McCarthy, Michael. (1991) Discourse analysis for language teachers. Cambridge: CUP.

-McKay, S. and Hornberger, N. (eds.) (1996) Sociolinguistics and language teaching. Cambridge: CUP.

-Mercer, Neil. (2000) Words & minds. London: Routledge.

Methodology

English Only: Students must conduct all course work in English. This means all writing, note-taking, and discussion should be in English. Let`s just try to stick to English as much as possible.

Classroom: In the classroom, there will be both direct lecturing and more discussion-oriented activities. Students will be expected to demonstrate that they have done the reading and learned something by taking an active role in the class discussions. There are no clear cut answers to any of these concerns The students need to come up with their own ideas and further questions. In order to do this you need to do the reading. Please, always come prepared or you will be lost in class.

Attendance: Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes. Two or more absences will result in a significantly lowered final grade. Being late twice is counted as an absence. Arriving more than half an hour late is also counted as an absence. Students themselves are responsible for all material covered and assigned in class during their absence. If you are going to be absent and know it beforehand, make sure you contact me as far in advance as possible.

Assignments

Homework: The most important homework for this class is to do the reading every week and be ready to fully participate in class. In order to ensure this and to improve the students writing ability, there will be written homework assigned each week. Check the website each week for the homework assignments.

Exams

Midterm: The Mid-term will be due in the tenth week of class (May 7). It will be a written paper following three basic options. It generally seen as a rough draft of what will be done for the final project. No problems!!

Final Project: This will be where you get to show creatively how you can use the knowledge acquired in this course in a more practical sense. Basically, this will be a rewrite with further development on some aspect of speaking from a discourse perspective. It should be fun and enjoyable. You will be given more specific details later as to the different options.

Grades: Final grades will be based on performance in the following categories.

Homework 25%

Participation 20%

Presentation 5%

Midterm Exam 15%

Final Project 35%

Instructor: Stephen P. van Vlack

Office: Graduate Building 308

Telephone: 710-9703

e-mail: [email protected]

P.S. There will also be a complimentary website for this class. I will be posting notes and summaries each week, so make sure you go and look at it. The address is:

http://www.angelfire.com/ut/gaang