Review_Author: Julie Kittleson
Book_Author: James Gee
Book_Title: An introduction to discourse analysis
Reference: 1999, New York: Routledge
Date: 5/16/2002
Time: 2:49:43 PM
Remote Name: 128.175.34.174
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In his 1999 book An introduction to discourse analysis, Gee describes a theory and method of discourse analysis in which language and reality are recursively related. That is, in his view language and reality mutually constitute one another. This position on reflexivity distinguishes Gee’s approach from other methods that focus primarily on linguistic aspects of verbal communication. What is important to note is that the move away from a primary focus the linguistic aspects of communication carries with it valuable theoretical implications. Gee’s method could be described as sociocultural in the sense that it makes links between the person, the immediate context, and the broader (historical) context. Another important point in Gee’s method is the focus not only on the verbal aspects of language, but also the associated non-verbal elements associated with using language. These non-verbal elements, what Gee calls Discourse (note the big D) include ways of thinking, ways of acting, ways of interaction, and many other ‘ways’ associated with using verbal language.
In terms of how to approach a discourse analysis project, Gee provides a set of questions that an analyst can ask of the data to understand the interplay of language and reality. Reality, for Gee, is composed of five interconnected aspects: a semiotic aspect (sign systems such as language, images, and gestures), an activity aspect (the specific social activity or activities in which participants are engaging), a material aspect (the time place, bodies, and objects present), a political aspect (distribution of “social goods,” such as power, status, and possessions in the interaction), and a sociocultural aspect (the personal, social, and cultural knowledge, feelings, values, identities, and relationships relevant in the interaction). All of these aspects come together to constitute what Gee refers to as the “situation network,” and all of the aspects of the situation network are interrelated. To understand how these pieces are connected to construct/construe reality, Gee provides questions that the analyst can ask of the data. These questions are related to what Gee calls building tasks. There are six building tasks: semiotic building, world building, activity building, socioculturally-situated identity and relationship building, political building, and connection building. For each of these building tasks, Gee provides questions that an analyst can ask of the data in order to being to untangle the intricate associations involved with language as it is used in context.
Gee himself notes that some readers will find his method to be too focused on the mind, while others will find it to be too focused on politics. This is perhaps a consequence of proposing a method that attempts to link macro and micro aspects of the relationship between language and reality. A contrast can be seen between Gee’s approach to discourse analysis and the approaches used by people who are more closely focused on, for example, language and power (e.g., Fairclough, van Dijk). By posing a method that is very broad Gee may stand to lose some degree of analytical specificity that may be available with more strict approaches to either the mechanics of language (e.g., from a linguistics perspective) or the effects of power relations (e.g., from critical theory). However, it is also important to realize that Gee’s method of discourse analysis is commensurate with his theory of the interrelationship between language and reality. Thus, to take a strict linguistic approach or a strict critical theory approach undermines the theoretical project that Gee is undertaking.
I find Gee’s approach to discourse analysis to be a fruitful way to examine language as it is used in context. One thing that I find to be useful about Gee’s method is that the analyst is afforded some degree of flexibility in terms of which building aspects to foreground and which to background. That is, depending on the focus of the research project, an analyst could elect to focus more closely on activity building or on world building, although Gee would say that focusing on one task at the expense of another would not be an ideal discourse analysis. However, the parsing of activity into more specific building tasks does allow a greater degree of flexibility in terms of analysis. I would recommend Gee’s book to researchers, particularly those who espouse a sociological orientation, who are interested in examining the interconnections between language and reality.
Review_Author: Universal home
Book_Author: health quote
Book_Title: instant
Reference: variable policy
Date: 2/28/2007
Time: 5:17:02 AM
Remote Name: 221.56.76.200
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