A Review of Discourse in English Language Education

Abstract

The main theme of this volume is to discuss discourse analysis and familiarize the readers, especially undergraduate students of TESOL and Education, with the main topics in discourse studies. According to Flowerdew, one of the features of this book is its focus on a wide range of approaches to discourse and discourse analysis, namely Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Register, Speech Act Theory, the Cooperative Principle and Politeness, Conversation Analysis, Genre Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and Corpus Linguistics. However, what distinguishes this book from others books of discourse, and probably from other similar books on discourse and language teaching, is its practical view toward discourse and discourse analysis, i.e., it is clearly shown, by referring to real-life examples, how every discourse topic, issue, or feature can be analyzed and then taught in a language class. In fact, Floweredew’s attempt in this volume is to familiarize the readers with how discourse analysis can inform the practice of English language teaching. Thus, the book utilizes research findings and suggests guidelines, models, and approaches to language teachers as to how discourse studies can be insightful in language teaching methodology, materials development, and evaluation.