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What is discourse analysis?
Discourse
In its simplest form, discourse is verbal or written
communication between people that goes beyond a
single sentence. A popular way of viewing discourse is as
language used in specific social contexts and as a means
of some form of social change or achieving of a goal.

Importantly, discourse is more than just language. The term

“language” can include all forms of linguistic and symbolic
units (even road signs), and language studies can focus on
the individual meanings of words. Discourse goes beyond
this and looks at the overall meanings conveyed by
language in context. “Context” here refers to the social,
cultural, political, and historical background of the
discourse, and it is important to take this into account to
understand underlying meanings expressed through
language.

Discourse Analysis.
Discourse analysis means the analysis of the language
presented in a corpus or body of data to draw meaning
beyond sentence level, keeping in view certain hidden
agendas. This body of data could include a set of interviews
or focus group discussion transcripts.

Wodak and Krzyżanowski (2008) put it: “discourse analysis

provides a general framework to problem-oriented social
research”. Basically, discourse analysis is used to conduct
research on the use of language in context in a wide
variety of social problems (i.e., issues in society that affect
individuals largely).
Discourse analysis has been taken up in a variety of
disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including
linguistics, education, sociology, anthropology, social work,
cognitive psychology, social psychology, area studies,
cultural studies.
For example, discourse analysis could be used to assess how
language is used to express differing viewpoints on financial
inequality and its solutions.
What makes discourse analysis unique is that it posits
that social reality is socially constructed, or that our
experience of the world is understood from a subjective
standpoint. Discourse analysis goes beyond the literal
meaning of words and languages
For example, people in countries that make use of a lot of
censorship will likely have their knowledge, and thus views,
limited by this, and will thus have a different subjective
reality to those within countries with more lax laws on
censorship.

The purpose of discourse analysis is to investigate the

functions of language (i.e., what language is used for) and
how meaning is constructed in different contexts, which,
to recap, include social, cultural, political, and historical
backgrounds of the discourse.
For example, if you were to study a politician’s speeches,
you would need to situate these speeches in their context,
which would involve looking at the politician’s background
and views, the reasons for presenting the speech, the history
or context of the audience, and the country’s social and
political history (just to name a few – there are always
multiple contextual factors).

Discourse analysis can also tell you a lot about power and
power imbalances, including how this is developed and
maintained, how this plays out in real life (for example,
inequalities because of this power), and how language can
be used to maintain it. For example, you could look at the
way that someone with more power (for example, a CEO)
speaks to someone with less power (for example, a lower-
level employee).
Therefore, you may consider discourse analysis if you are
researching:
 Some form of power or inequality (for example, how
affluent individuals interact with those who are less
wealthy
 How people communicate in a specific context (such
as in a social situation with colleagues versus a board
meeting)
 Ideology and how ideas (such as values and beliefs) are
shared using language (like in political speeches)
 How communication is used to achieve social
goals (such as maintaining a friendship or navigating
conflict)
Discourse analysis can be a powerful tool for assessing
social issues, as well as power and power imbalances. So, if
your research aims and objectives are oriented around these
types of issues, discourse analysis could be a good fit for
you.
Foucault: In Europe, Michel Foucault became one of the key theorists of discourse,
and wrote The Archaeology of Knowledge. In this context, the term 'discourse' no longer
refers to formal linguistic aspects, but to institutionalized patterns of knowledge that
become manifest in disciplinary structures and operate by the connection of
knowledge and power.
In Germany, the sociologist Reiner Keller developed his widely recognized 'Sociology of
Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD)'. Keller argues that our sense of reality in
everyday life and thus the meaning of every object, action and event is the product of a
permanent, routinized interaction.
SKAD makes us understand the processes of 'The Social Construction of Reality' on all
levels of social life by combining Michel Foucault's theories of discourse and power
while also introducing the theory of knowledge by Berger/Luckmann.

Use of discourse analysis in Research

There are many ways to analyse qualitative data (such
as content analysis, narrative analysis, and thematic
analysis), so when should you choose discourse analysis?
Well, as with all analysis methods, the nature of your
research aims, objectives and research questions (i.e. the
purpose of your research) will heavily influence the right
choice of analysis method.
Discourse Analysis: The main approaches
There are two main approaches to discourse analysis. These
are the language-in-use (also referred to as socially
situated text and talk) approaches and the socio-
political approaches (most commonly Critical Discourse
Analysis).

Approach #1: Language-in-use

Language-in-use approaches focus on the finer details of
language used within discourse, such as sentence structures
(grammar) and phonology (sounds). This approach is very
descriptive and is seldom seen outside of studies focusing on
literature and/or linguistics.
Because of its formalist roots, language-in-use pays attention
to different rules of communication, such as grammaticality
(i.e., when something “sounds okay” to a native speaker of a
language). Analysing discourse through a language-in-use
framework involves identifying key technicalities of
language used in discourse and investigating how the
features are used within a particular social context.
For example,

Approach #2: Socio-political

Socio-political approaches to discourse analysis look beyond
the technicalities of language and instead focus on the
influence that language has in social context, and vice
versa.
One of the main socio-political approaches is Critical
Discourse Analysis, which focuses on power structures (for
example, the power dynamic between a teacher and a
student) and how discourse is influenced by society and
culture. Critical Discourse Analysis is born out of Michel
Foucault’s early work on power, which focuses on power
structures through the analysis of normalised power.
Normalised power is ingrained and relatively allusive. It’s
what makes us exist within society (and within the
underlying norms of society, as accepted in a specific social
context) and do the things that we need to do. Contrasted to
this, a more obvious form of power is repressive power,
which is power that is actively asserted.

Let’s look at an example.

Consider a situation where a teacher threatens a student
with detention if they don’t stop speaking in class. This
would be an example of repressive power (i.e. it was actively
asserted).
Normalised power, on the other hand, is what makes us not
want to talk in class. It’s the subtle clues we’re given from
our environment that tell us how to behave, and this form of
power is so normal to us that we don’t even realise that our
beliefs, desires, and decisions are being shaped by it.
In the view of Critical Discourse Analysis, language is
power and, if we want to understand power dynamics and
structures in society, we must look to language for answers.
In other words, analysing the use of language can help us
understand the social context, especially the power
dynamics.

While the abovementioned approaches are the two most

popular approaches to discourse analysis, other forms of
analysis exist. For example, ethnography-based discourse
analysis and multimodal analysis. Ethnography-based
discourse analysis aims to gain an insider understanding
of culture, customs, and habits through participant
observation (i.e. directly observing participants, rather than
focusing on pre-existing texts).
On the other hand, multimodal analysis focuses on a variety
of texts that are both verbal and nonverbal (such as a
combination of political speeches and written press
releases). So, if you’re considering using discourse analysis,
familiarise yourself with the various approaches available so
that you can make a well-informed decision.