Critically comparing and contrasting two approaches to discourse analysis.

Introduction: This assignment will critically describe and compare two approaches to discourse analysis, namely, Speech Act Theory (SAT) and Conversation Analysis (CA). This comparison will cover the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and their similarities and differences and their applications in teaching and learning. Discourse analysis is the analysis of language in use (Brown and Yule 1983). It also examines how stretches of language become meaningful and unified for their users (Cook 1989). Discourse analysts also …

…Blackwell. McCarthy, M. 1991. Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. and Jefferson, G. (1974) A simplest systemic for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50:696-735. Schegloff, Emanuel A. (1988). 'Presequences and indirection: applying speech act theory to ordinary conversation', Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 12 pp. 55-62. Schiffrin, D. 2002. Approaches to Discourse. Blackwell Publishers. New York. USA. Searle, J. 1969. Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.