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Week 7: Doing Critical Discourse Analysis
EDUC2029
Anticipatory set
Pick the Appraisal language from Courier Mail 7 September 2009
Finals Raid: Broncos set sights on Titans showdown
It is set to be civil war like southeast Queensland has never
experienced before.
Brisbane last night ensured the dream showdown most Queenslanders
had been hoping for, edging past Canberra Raiders 22-10 to put
themselves on a qualifying final collision course with the Gold Coast
Titans. It will be the first all-Queensland final since the Cowboys
and Broncos locked horns in 2004 in Townsville.
Anticipatory set - answer
Pick the Appraisal language from Courier Mail 7 September 2009
Finals Raid: Broncos set sights on Titans showdown
It is set to be civil war like southeast Queensland has never
experienced before.
Brisbane last night ensured the dream showdown most Queenslanders
had been hoping for, edging past Canberra Raiders 22-10 to put
themselves on a qualifying final collision course with the Gold Coast
Titans. It will be the first all-Queensland final since the Cowboys
and Broncos locked horns in 2004 in Townsville.
Aims
• To discuss key concepts in CDA
• To review this week’s reading
• To further practise CDA
• To introduce nominalization
Outline of lecture
• Anticipatory set
• Aims and outline
• Housekeeping: syllabus v policy documents
• Key concepts in CDA
• What’s lunch got to do with it?
• Doing CDA (includes nominalization)
• Conclusion
Housekeeping
Assignment 2: syllabuses are curriculum documents, not
policy. However, many syllabuses contain policy, e.g. on
educational equity – see the sections after “Assessment”.
QSA also has policies on:
• P-12 syllabus design principles
• late and non-submission
• Quality assurance
• Special provisions
• Privacy
For more, see:
http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/learning/7446.html
Key Concepts for the CDA
Key Concepts for the CDA
• Discourse Plus grammar terms, especially:
• ideology • Semiotic resources
• discourse • Systems of choice
• Text • Transitivity: Process,
• Genre Participant, Circumstance
• Social and cultural context • Noun group
• representation • Mood
• Binary opposition • Appraisal (including Modality)
• Privilege • Theme
• Silence • Nominalization
• Naturalisation • Cohesion
• Reading position
• Frames of reference
What’s lunch got to do with it?
Reflections on the Week 7 reading
What’s lunch got to do with it?
• Critical literacy in action
• Different ‘meanings’ of language:
– Social Languages – relationship building
– Situated Meanings – ‘this time and place’
meanings
– Cultural Models – theories and beliefs about the
world
– Identity building – being different kinds of people
within different Discourses
What’s lunch got to do with it?
Multiple perspectives on data: ‘ Understanding the
perspectives we choose to take is critical to
understanding what we can look at and how, so
that we can shift from one angle of vision to
another in order to triangulate perspectives,
data, theory and methods. Because each angle of
vision makes certain phenomena visible and
others invisible, they key is to understand what
each enables us to see, say, and know and what it
masks. By juxtaposing various perspectives, a
richer and fuller understanding of classroom life
is possible.’ (p116)
Doing CDA
A National Action Plan to Build on
Social Cohesion, Harmony and
Security
Fairclough’s dimension of discourse
and discourse analysis
Conditions of production & interpretation
Socio Process of production &
cultural
practice
interpretation
Text
Discourse
Situational practice
Institutional
Societal
Fairclough’s dimension of discourse
and discourse analysis
Conditions of production & interpretation
Explanation: why
is it this way?
Process of production &
(social analysis) Socio
cultural interpretation
practice
Text
Interpretation: Discourse
practice
what does it all
Situational
Institutional
Societal
mean?
(processing
analysis)
Description: what does it look
like? (text analysis)
A National Action Plan to Build on
Social Cohesion, Harmony and Security
Context:
http://www.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/a-
diverse-australia/national-action-
plan/nap.htm
A National Action Plan to Build on Social
Cohesion, Harmony and Security
Purpose
The purpose of this National Action Plan (NAP) is to reinforce social cohesion, harmony and support the
national security imperative in Australia by addressing extremism, the promotion of violence and
intolerance, in response to the increased threat of global religious and political terrorism. It is an
initiative of Australian governments to address issues of concern to the Australian community and to
support Australian Muslims to participate effectively in the broader community.
The NAP is part of the Australian governments’ national strategic framework to address terrorism, developed
since the events of 11 September 2001. The framework is based on the principles of maximum
preparedness, comprehensive prevention and effective response and recovery.
Governments are committed to working in partnership to ensure the NAP is implemented in a co-ordinated
and co-operative manner so that duplication does not occur, for example via exchange of information
protocols. However, the approach adopted by individual jurisdictions will vary due to local demographic,
social, cultural, religious and economic factors and these will be reflected in each jurisdiction’s
implementation of the plan.
A National Action Plan to Build on
Social Cohesion, Harmony and Security
• Genre and purpose
• Subject matter
• Writer/s? Readers? Relationships?
• Mode and medium
• What values, beliefs, assumptions, theories
are evident?
Grammatical analysis
• What follows is a brief look at some significant
features – selective!!
• See handout on web for full analysis
• Full analysis may reveal more, may change
your interpretations
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Stages and Phases
Purpose Current situation
• “purpose” • “many cultures, one
• “addressing terrorism” nation”
• “stress”
• “risk”
• “solution”
• “improving the status
quo”
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Process, Participant, Circumstance
Purpose
• “purpose”: lots of work being done by Circumstances (How, Why)
• “addressing terrorism”: lots of work being done by Circumstances (Where,
Why)
Current situation
• “many cultures, one nation”: focus on Participants, especially ‘Australians’
• “stress”: Participants focus on ‘the global security environment’, ‘events’,
anxiety’, ‘consequences’
• “risk”: Participants focussing on ‘Australian security authorities’
‘Australians at risk’, ‘risk’ ‘acts of violence and terrorism’, ‘potential for
violent and extremist group action’
• “solution”: Participants are ‘The NAP’ and ‘the underlying causes’
• “improving the status quo”: lots of work being done by Circumstances
(Where, How, Why)
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Circumstances
How When Why With what
4 4 8 3
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Themes (of paragraphs)
Purpose
• “purpose”: ‘The purpose of this National Action Plan
(NAP’
• “addressing terrorism”: ‘The NAP’
Current situation
• “many cultures, one nation”: ‘Australia’
• “stress”: ‘The current global security environment and
the treat of international terrorism’
• “risk”: ‘Australian security authorities’
• “solution”: ‘The NAP’
• “improving the status quo”: “Shared Australian values’
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
The National Action Plan NAP
Naming practices
Australian governments governments Australian security
authorities
Australia • Australian community • Australian Muslims
• Australian society • Indigenous Australians
• Australian citizens • Young people
• Multicultural community
• Terrorist targets
(Terrorists) • Violent or extremist
group action
• International terrorism
• Home grown terrorists
Developing a metalanguage
What is nominalization?
• a type of grammatical metaphor – i.e. saying
something in an indirect way
• “the use of a nominal form to express a
process meaning” (Thompson, 1996)
In simple terms – turning an event into a “thing”
Examples
Many people have criticised these ideas.
These ideas have been subject to widespread criticism.
Basically, we assume that (learners) retain unfamiliar words
depending on how much they are involved in processing these
words.
Our basic assumption is that the retention of unfamiliar words is
conditional upon the degree of involvement in processing
these words.
Nominalization
Nominalisation – turning an event into a thing, e.g.
The timber workers chopped down all the trees.
The clear-felling was performed by the timber workers.
allows writers to:
– move information around while maintaining the Mood (e.g.
Declarative)
– omit the Actor (doer of the action), possibly for ideological
reasons, e.g. “Clear-felling has occurred near Innisfail.”
Student assignment – little/no nominalization
(Yr 12 EEI)
‘However, the Biological Oxygen Demand (B.O.D.) levels produced were quite
low, showing that the lake was healthy in terms of not much bacteria was
present as usually much of the dissolved oxygen is consumed by bacteria
and this makes it unavailable to other organisms. In my opinion, I think
that you cannot have high dissolved oxygen and low B.O.D. at the same
time because, as soon as the dissolved oxygen gets high, bacteria from all
sources will start invading, consuming all the oxygen available. So, in terms
of dissolved oxygen levels the lake is not healthy as there is not enough
oxygen for aquatic lives to be sustained. However, the B.O.D. levels show
that there is very little oxygen or dead plants and animals that are
consuming the oxygen, so that in a sense Lakewood Lake is not healthy.
Yet, these results may be inconclusive as the B.O.D. levels may be low only
because there is not high enough dissolved oxygen for bacteria to even
live, which in a sense says that the lake is not healthy at all.’(p8)
Student assignment – increased
nominalization
However, the production of low Biological Oxygen Demand (B.O.D.) levels
reveals good lake health in terms of bacterial presence; usually
consumption of much of the dissolved oxygen by bacteria results in lack
of availability to other organisms. In my opinion, con-current levels of
high dissolved oxygen and low B.O.D. are not possible because, high
levels of dissolved oxygen result in bacterial invaders that consume all
the available oxygen. So, in terms of dissolved oxygen levels, lake health is
poor due to a lack of oxygen for the sustenance of aquatic life. However,
the B.O.D. levels show that there is little consumption of oxygen by dead
plants and animals, so that in a sense Lakewood Lake is not healthy. Yet,
these results may be inconclusive as the cause of the low B.O.D. levels
may be dissolved oxygen levels that are not high enough for bacterial
life. In this sense, then, the lake is not healthy at all.
Common ways of turning verbs into nouns
• -tion (receive reception; conceive conception) – also –sion, -cion
• -ation (visit visitation; invite invitation; accommodate
accommodation)
• -ization (civilize civilization; realize realization; nominalize
nominalization)
• -ance (perform performance)
• -ment (enhance enhancement; enchant enchantment)
• -ing (snorkel snorkelling; rustle rustling)
• -y (discover discovery)
• -er (kill killer; hunt hunter; eat eater)
But, there are other possibilities
Some easy steps
‘The carnivore is classified scientifically as
Australovenator wintonesis. It has been
dubbed “Banjo” after Banjo Patterson, who
composed Waltzing Matilda in Winton
in1885.’
Note: not every verb group needs to be
nominalized.
Some easy steps
‘The carnivore is classified scientifically as
Australovenator wintonesis. It has been
dubbed “Banjo” after Banjo Patterson, who
composed Waltzing Matilda in Winton
in1885.’
1. Choose a base sentence
Some easy steps
‘The carnivore is classified scientifically as
Australovenator wintonesis. It has been
dubbed “Banjo” after Banjo Patterson, who
composed Waltzing Matilda in Winton
in1885.’
2. Nominalize a significant verb group.
is classified classification
Some easy steps
‘The carnivore is classified scientifically as
Australovenator wintonesis. It has been
dubbed “Banjo” after Banjo Patterson, who
composed Waltzing Matilda in Winton
in1885.’
3. Turn the adverb into an epithet.
Scientific classification
Some easy steps
‘The carnivore is classified scientifically as Australovenator
wintonesis. It has been dubbed “Banjo” after Banjo Patterson,
who composed Waltzing Matilda in Winton in1885.’
4. Turn the remaining words into a noun group
The carnivore which has the scientific classification of
Australovenator wintonesis
Note: ‘it’ in the second sentence refers to ‘carnivore’, so there’s a
clear signal that this must be take Thing position in the noun
group.
Some easy steps
‘The carnivore is classified scientifically as Australovenator
wintonesis. It has been dubbed “Banjo” after Banjo Patterson,
who composed Waltzing Matilda in Winton in1885.’
5. Insert this into the base sentence. (In this case, just replace
‘it’.)
The carnivore which has the scientific classification of
Australovenator wintonesis has been dubbed “Banjo” after
Banjo Patterson, who composed Waltzing Matilda in Winton
in1885.
Questions?
Try this
‘People who drink too much alcohol and drive
often cause motor vehicle accidents.’
Did you have something like…
‘People who drink too much alcohol and drive
often cause motor vehicle accidents.’
‘Excessive consumption of alcohol by drivers
is a frequent cause of motor vehicle
accidents.’
What functions does nominalization serve?
• An important feature of written text.
• Brings different aspects of the message into prominence and
can change the message, e.g. Does ‘major cause’ mean the
same as ‘causes lots of accidents’? In the nominalised version,
who is causing the accident?
• Can be used to condense information.
• Converts and event to a ‘thing’ that can be argued about,
discussed and evaluated more easily.
So what?
Makes the writing “formal”, “sophisticated” and “academic” –
gains credibility?
A way of turning experience/observation into abstract
concepts – “people drink too much alcohol” (observation) &
“excessive consumption of alcohol” (abstraction).
Can be used as a way of eliding (omitting) the Actor -
ideological.
Warning: Too much nominalization (particularly in conjunction
with long noun groups) can result in dense, difficult to read
text.
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Nominalization
• Purpose
• “purpose”
• cohesion
• harmony
• national security imperative
• extremism, the promotion of violence and intolerance
• threat of global religious and political terrorism
• an initiative of Australian governments to address issues of concern to the Australian community
•
• “addressing terrorism”
• the principles of maximum preparedness, comprehensive prevention and effective response and
recovery
• a co-ordinated and co-operative manner
• duplication
• exchange of information protocols
• the approach adopted by individual jurisdictions
• local demographic, social, cultural, religious and economic factors
• each jurisdiction’s implementation of the plan.
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Nominalization
“stress”
• The current global security environment
• the threat of international terrorism
• Events such as 11 September 2001 and the July 2005 London bombings
• anxiety about the likelihood of such events occurring in Australia.
• the consequences of terrorist action overseas
• “risk”
• terrorist targets
• acts of violence and terrorism
• the potential for violent
• extremist group action
• involvement in this behaviour
“solution”
• the underlying causes of terrorism
• the social and economic factors that encourage radicalisation and motivate extremist behaviour
• a contribution to a comprehensive approach to counter-terrorism.
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Appraisal - examples
Purpose
“purpose”
The purpose of this National Action Plan (NAP) is to
reinforce social cohesion, harmony and support the
national security imperative in Australia by addressing
extremism, the promotion of violence and
intolerance, in response to the increased threat of
global religious and political terrorism. It is an initiative
of Australian governments to address issues of concern
to the Australian community and to support Australian
Muslims to participate effectively in the broader
community.
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Current situation
Appraisal- examples
“many cultures, one nation”
Australia is a land of many faiths, many languages and many cultures.
Today, Australia’s 20.3 million residents come from 230 countries,
speak more than 190 languages and follow more than 100 religious
faiths. Apart from Indigenous Australians, all Australians can trace
their roots to somewhere else, and Australia’s heritage does not
belong to any one individual, group or faith. Over the last 150 years
many diverse groups have worked together to build a multicultural
community based on the principles of democracy, tolerance and
equality. All Australians, whether they were born here or migrated
here, have equal rights and responsibilities – the right to freedom
of speech, religious practice, freedom of cultural expression, and
the responsibility to respect the rights of others and follow
Australia’s laws and democratic principles.
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Current situation Appraisal- examples
“stress”
The current global security environment and the threat
of international terrorism places unusual stress on
Australian society. Events such as 11 September 2001
and the July 2005 London bombings have increased
anxiety about the likelihood of such events occurring
in Australia. Already, Australian citizens have suffered
the consequences of terrorist action overseas, in
places like New York, Washington, London, Bali and
Jakarta.
A National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion,
Harmony and Security
Note how much the ‘volume is turned up’ (i.e.
Appraisal- examples
graduation), e.g.:
• Extremism and radicalisation (not ‘strongly
held beliefs’)
• Threat (not ‘some danger’)
• Events such as 11 September 2001 and the
July 2005 London bombings (not ‘a couple of
unfortunate incidents’)
• Anxiety (cf. ‘some genuine concern’)
Fairclough’s dimension of discourse
and discourse analysis
Conditions of production & interpretation
Explanation: why
is it this way?
Process of production &
(social analysis) Socio
cultural interpretation
practice
Text
Interpretation: Discourse
practice
what does it all
Situational
Institutional
Societal
mean?
(processing
analysis)
Description: what does it look
like? (text analysis)
Interpretation: what does it all mean?
(processing analysis)
• How is the text positioned or positioning?
• Whose interests are served by this positioning?
• Whose interests are negated?
• What are the consequences of this positioning?
(Janks, 1997 – see book of Readings)
So, why is it written in this way?
Questions?
Conclusion
Conclusion
Show me your texts for the second assignment
Tutorial
• Questions and clarifications
• Practising CDA
References
For the National Action Plan, see
http://www.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/a-
diverse-australia/national-action-
plan/nap.htm
