The Application of Discourse Analysis to the Teaching of English Reading in Junior Middle School

Abstract：Reading teaching is considered an important part of language teaching all the time. In the past， teachers mostly took traditional grammar-translation approach， which mainly focused on sentences and words. But nowadays， the current junior middle school English reading teaching influenced by the traditional theory and English reading standardized test method weaken the students subject position， ignore the students independent reading ability and emphasize much practice of language knowledge.

Discourse analysis mainly discussing how language users produce and interpret language in situated contexts， is a heuristic methodology for the analysis of texts. The study is to introduce the core contents of discourse analysis in detail， analyze the discourse structures of main types of reading materials in junior middle school， and explore what are the advantages of discourse analysis employed in junior middle school English teaching of reading.

It is concluded that reading teaching combining with discourse analysis， according to Goodman （1967）， is the more efficient way to help the reader own the ability to transfer the scattered information between sentences and paragraphs into discourse concepts.

Keywords： reading teaching，discourse analysis， junior middle school English

1. Introduction

1.1 Research Background

Reading is a basic intellectual skill and it is usually showed in front of the reader as the form of discourse. In the process of reading， the reader needs to learn about the writing purpose and main opinions， which is two-way activity between the author and the reader. Harris ever pointed that language doesnt exist in scattered words and sentences but exist in discourse （ Wang Wenhui， 2000）. So the reading teaching should gradually transfer from “syntax discourse analysis” to “discourse analysis”， which plays an important role in improving students English reading understanding.

Facing the increasing difficulty of the textbooks and entrance examination to senior middle school， it is necessary for the teacher to teach students in junior middle school discourse analysis theories to improve the English teaching quality and the students ability. Discourse analysis studies how people use language in real context to achieve their communicative purposes. Discourse linguistics have done many researches on discourse analysis and many researchers have applied their research result to language education studies. These discourse-based models of English teaching have been a challenge for the traditional grammar-translation language pattern.

1.2 Significance of the Research

Discourse analysis theory has been widely applied in English reading instruction in universities or colleges and the effectiveness of discourse analysis in the reading teaching has been proved. But in junior middle school， these effective methods are not appropriately or widely implemented in English reading teaching. There is little research on it. However， English reading takes an important position among English teaching. Whats more， as a new teaching method， discourse analysis is beneficial for both teachers and students. For students， the aim of discourse analysis is to explain how the writer to construct and understand all kinds of coherent discourse （Huang Guowen， 1988）. They are inclined to understand the structure regular of the whole text and taste the deep meaning. The teacher can develop the students ability and realize the aim of reading teaching.

1.3 Purpose of the Research

This thesis takes the focus on the application of discourse analysis to English reading teaching in junior middle school. According to Ma Bosens opinion （1995）， there are two research methods towards discourse. The first one is to study discourse as a process， and the other one is to research discourse as a product. The former mainly researches the relevant forming factors of discourse， while the latter researches the structure and content of discourse. After researching， he put forward the teaching procedure-three steps. The first step is to do the macro lead-in， and the second step is to do the micro analysis then finally， absorb the whole text. In order to explore how to apply discourse analysis to reading teaching in junior middle school， the study absorbs the base of discourse analysis theories， based on different feathers of the types of texts and seek for the advantages of reading teaching combing discourse analysis.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Relevant Studies on Discourse Analysis Abroad

From the early of 20th century to the present， discourse analysis has experienced the development of decades， and its importance was realized by most of linguists and many of them made detailed researches on discourse analysis.

In the 1950s， Harris， one of the famous representatives in discourse analysis， who firstly used the term “discourse analysis” in his essay Discourse Analysis published in the magazine Language in 1952. The term was regarded as the origin of modern discourse analysis. From the 1960s on， discourse analysis has started to be a cross-subjects study， including pragmatics， social-linguistic and psycho linguistics and so on. Linguists such as Austin， Searle and Grice studied the language in use from speech and utterance. Up to the 1970s， Brown and Yule （1983） stated that “the analysis of discourse is， necessarily， the analysis of language in use.” And the publication of Handbook of Discourse written by Van Dijk （1985） was considered the landmark of the independence of discourse analysis. Meanwhile， discourse was defined as a language of process by linguists Steiner and Veltman （1998）.

2.2 Relevant Studies Discourse Analysis at Home

In the 1980s， the research of discourse analysis theory began in China. Since then it has experienced a rapid development. A lot of Chinese scholars， such as Huang Guowen （1988）， Hu Zhuanglin （1994）， and so on， have made great contributions to this field. In the middle of 1990s， many scholars gradually integrated discourse analysis theory with the teaching practice of foreign language in China. Linguists， such as Liu Chendan， Lu Qiaoling and Ma Bosen， analyzed， researched and compared discourse with discourse social-linguists. In 1988， Huang Guowens book Essentials of Text Analysis focused on some important theories of discourse analysis and text analysis in brief. Hu Zhuanglin， a famous professor in Beijing University， published Discourse Cohesion and Coherence in 1949.

2.3 Summary

In the recent years， many dissertations were done to explore application of discourse analysis to language teaching in the universities or colleges. According to Huang Guowen （1988）， discourse analysis as a new subject doesnt have a single principle to guide and lacks analyzing steps and analyzing methods which were accepted by most people. At present， how to apply the relevant theories and research method， analyze discourse reading and guide English reading teaching at junior middle school is the main part of working for many researchers， especially the teacher who teaches reading.

The thesis will apply discourse analysis to English reading teaching in junior middle school as a focus in order to explore whether there is some feasibility to apply discourse analysis into reading teaching at junior middle school.

3. Discourse Analysis

3.1 The Origin and Development of Discourse Analysis

Discourse analysis was firstly studied thoroughly by Z. S. Harris （1952）， who was an important representative of structuralism. He held a view that language didnt exist in the fragmentary occurrence of words or sentences， but in a coherent discourse. The theory of discourse analysis has been obviously developed until 1960s. The U. S. sociologists Dan saks， Schegloff and G. Geferson put forward conversational analysis. They have opened out the law of conversation structure J. Austin， J. Searle and H. Grice （1970） con-structured speech act theory which has become a theoretical model of discourse analysis. Van Dijk， T. A， the editor-in-chief， published Text in 1981. The Process of Discourse written by Van Dijk， T. A and Roy， O. Freedle together became an academic journal in the field of discourse analysis.

McCarthey （1991） claimed that discourse analysis and the language applied in the context of the relationship generated in the context， and it was also an important chain of context. According to Wang Zongyan （1998）， discourse analysis was about the spoken and written sentences until greater significant units of the formation， such as talks， paragraphs， dialogue and other studies. Discourse was defined as a method of speaking， reading and writing methods by systematic linguists Steinir and Veltman （1998）.

In the 1980s， the study of discourse discourse analysis began to emerge in China. Since then， it has experienced a rapid development and gradual integration with the practice of foreign language construction. Chinese linguists also wrote a large number of papers and monographs. Huang Guowens Discourse Linguists Papers （1988）， Wang Fuxiangs Introduction to Linguistics Discourse （1994）， Hu Zhuanglins Discourse coherence and cohesion are some excellent representative works of discourse analysis.

3.2 The Definition of Discourse Analysis

Cook （1992） regards discourse as being a text together， interacting in a way which is perceived as meaningful and unified by the participants who are both part of the context and observers of it. In 1952， the term “discourse analysis” was firstly used by the American linguist Z. Harris in his article Discourse Analysis in a journal entitled Language. Being a new branch of linguistic study， discourse analysis grew out of different disciplines in the 1960s and early 1970s， linguistics， semiotics， psychologist， psycho linguistics were included. During the early decades of the 20th century， some anthropological and philosophical linguists such as Austin， Widdowson and Searle contributed much to this area.

3.3 The Basic Content of Discourse Analysis

Experiencing the development of decades， discourse analysis has a close relationship with semantics， lexicology and so on. To some extend， discourse analysis is to do the macro analysis and micro analysis towards the content of discourse by the forming of language discourse. Firstly， Macro analysis on discourse analysis is to analyze the deep structures and deep levels of the text. It needs to learn about the logical relations， layout characteristics and the authors opinions and the theme. It has three models， including specific generalization model， question resolving model and presenting opinions model. Secondly， the definition of micro analysis is to find the relationships exists in either between words and words or between sentences and sentences or between sentences and discourse through using lexical cohesion， grammatical devices and so on. And its main features are to master overall framework of the discourse by seeking for cohesive relations. The main content of micro analysis are coherence， cohesion and clause relation. Coherence is the correlation of semantics and the invisible internet of discourse， embodying in deep structure of discourse （Huang Guowen， 1988）. Cohesion is subjective and it has five types： reference， ellipsis substitution， lexical cohesion and conjunction. Clause relation is the relations exist in between sentence and sentence in logic and meaning. It has four main types： paralleling relation， correspondence， ordinal relation and disintegrating relation.

Another important part of the micro analysis is context analysis. Discourse and the context are co-existed. Context is the environment the language activities involved in time， place， character， event， result and so on. Liu Chendan （1999） claimed， objective factors such as circumstance， shared knowledge and participants are the requirements of analyzing discourse. Whats more， the historical background of discourse cant be ignored， because the writing types of writers in different backgrounds are totally different.

Cohesion has basic five types， including reference， ellipsis， substitution， lexical cohesion and conjunction. Reference has three types： personal reference， demonstrative reference and comparative reference. Ellipsis always can be seen in various types of reading and easily accepted by the reader. Substitution exists in vocabularies and phrases， including nominal substitution， verbal substitution and clausal substitution. Lexical cohesions common devices are synonym， antonym and so on， building a cohesion which goes through the discourse.Conjunction is complex and cant be easily found in a single context. It has four types of conjunction， including additive conjunction， adversative conjunction， causal conjunction and temporal conjunction.

Conclusion

From the thesis it can be concluded that there is the feasibility to apply discourse analysis to English reading teaching in junior school. （1） It can arouse students interest towards English reading， improve their reading abilities and foster the relationship between the teacher and students； （2） With discourse analysis used in reading teaching， students with low reading level could also make great progress in a long time； （3） All students autonomy are likely to be increased because of active thinking. （4） Teacher must create learning atmosphere， choose level-appropriate materials and make effective evaluation.

Therefore， the application of discourse analysis to the English reading teaching is an effective way of developing students reading ability， knowledge accumulation and motivation. Most importantly， students can not only get knowledge， but also master the appropriate way of reading.

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作者簡介：柴倩茹（1993.12—），性別：女，陜西 西安，單位：西北政法大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院 710062，學(xué)歷：2016翻譯碩士，研究方向：英語筆譯。