527 | Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 527-543, 2020

Using Critical Discourse Analysis to

Explore an Authentic Teaching Material:
A Focus on Language and Power
P-ISSN 2355-2794
E-ISSN 2461-0275

Sukma Septian Nasution*1

Nur Najibah Sukmawati2
Azhar Aziz Lubis3
Tommy Hastomo4
Lodya Sesriyani5
1
English Literature Study Program, Faculty of Letters, Universitas Pamulang,
Tangerang Selatan 15417, INDONESIA
2
Informatics Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas
Pamulang, Tangerang Selatan 15417, INDONESIA
3
English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training & Education,
Universitas Bengkulu, Bengkulu 38371. INDONESIA
4
Department of English, STKIP PGRI Bandar Lampung, Bandar Lampung 35153,
INDONESIA
5
Department of Economics Education, Faculty of Teachers Trainer and Education,
Universitas Pamulang, Tangerang Selatan 15417, INDONESIA

Abstract
Many EFL students show anxiety when speaking English in Indonesia. Therefore,
when it comes to pedagogical context, critical discourse analysis (CDA) has a
significant role to explore linguistics unit, socio-cultural context, and ideology of
the text learners need to understand. This study aims at analysing the relation of
language and power behind a text entitled ‘Driving Age, Increasing’ and making
use of it to pedagogical context. The chosen text is an authentic material adopted
from ‘Debatabase’, a book on building argumentative skills. By using
Fairclough’s model (1989), the text was examined through three steps of Critical
Discourse Analysis (CDA), namely description, interpretation, and explanation.
Then, the analysis is interrelated with the nature of discussion text taught to the
learners. The result of the analysis shows that the text is dominated by material,
verbal, and relational processes, formal, complex, repetitive, evidence-based,

*
Corresponding author, email: dosen01859@unpam.ac.id

Citation in APA style: Nasution, S. S., Sukmawati, N. N., Lubis, A. A., Hastomo, T., & Sesriyani, L.
(2020). Using critical discourse analysis to explore an authentic teaching material: A focus on language
and power. Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 527-543.

Received May 5, 2020; Revised August 10, 2020; Accepted August 15, 2020

https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v7i2.16636
 S. S. Nasution, N. N. Sukmawati, A. A. Lubis, T. Hastomo & L. Sesriyani, Using critical
discourse analysis to explore an authentic teaching material: A focus on language and
power | 528

multi-perspective, and over-wording dictions underpinned in an institutionalized

social activity and unspecialized semantic domain. Further, the relationship
between the author and the readers indicates there is equality in power shown by
the provided equal analytical perspectives and evidence-based arguments to both
conflicting parties toward the issue. As it fits the nature of discussion text, the
paper ends with recommendations for EFL teachers to make use of CDA in
raising learners’ language awareness.

Keywords: Authentic teaching material, critical discourse analysis, language,

power.

1. INTRODUCTION

Currently, uncertain-paced changes in the role of language in various types of

work and professional-client relationships are inevitable (Flowerdew, 2013).
Accordingly, raising learners’ general awareness of the role of language in society has
been a necessary element in current language-teaching practice so that they could make
use of language in a real situation as well as for their future-working demands. In text-
based language learning where the language is perceived as a source of making
meaning (Santosa, 2016), exploring ideological underpinnings of the text is an eminent
part of the goals of learning.
On the other hand, exploring the ideological underpinnings of the text by using
critical analysis of the language might be challenging for English as a foreign language
(EFL) teacher. It happens because their learners are not engaged with or rise in an
English-speaking country. Whereas, introducing the beyond-linguistic-unit elements
to the learners actually can be an elucidating path to improve their general awareness
which is expectedly useful for their lives. Accordingly, it is suggested that EFL
teachers make use of a method that can help learners engage more with and explore
the ideological underpinnings of the text. This is to anticipate what Wallace (1999)
worries that a critical element is critically missing from textbooks and selected texts
being on bland topics unlikely to be controversial. One of the methods to do so is by
using critical discourse analysis.
Teacher education considers the analysis of the ideological underpinnings of
prospective learning materials has been an important part to be explored (Flowerdew,
2013). Accordingly, many experts like Fairclough (1989), Clark and Ivanic (1997),
Cots (2006), and Wallace (1999) suggest the use of critical discourse analysis toward
an authentic text in promoting learners’ language awareness. On the other hand, as one
of the texts learners are demanded to learn, discussion text functions to reveal
arguments from more than one point of view. Accordingly, it is possible to analyse the
linguistic structure and discursive strategies of the text to reveal power struggles, social
inequalities, and other forms of social and political problems at issue (Van Dijk, 2008).
This critical pedagogy is meant as an effort to explain how the structure of the text -
built through various linguistic patterns and structures - works in their specific ways
of conveying social cognition (how people think) - which in turn, contributes to the
development of social narrowing of inequality and injustice of power in society
(Flowerdew, 2013). Accordingly, the use of the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
method enables EFL teachers to share insights on what syntactical chain analysis of
the text cannot reveal. This is significant for learners to have access to shared-
529 | Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 527-543, 2020

knowledge of the text rather than just focusing on its surface structure which eventually
promotes their language awareness. Accordingly, this paper aims at analysing the
relation of language and power behind an authentic text entitled Driving Age,
Increasing and making use of it in learning discussion text to Indonesian students in a
private university.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Key issues in critical pedagogy of learning materials are language and power
(Fairclough, 1989), hegemony (Gramsci, 1971), and identity (Kress, 1993). When it
comes to application to pedagogy, Flowerdew (2013) mentions that the issue is
specific to raising general awareness to the role of language in society, as well as how
power is implicitly there inside the syntactical chains of a text (Fairclough, 1989). In
analysing the language and power of the text, Fairclough (2010) recommended
description, interpretation, and explanation steps of analysis. Description is a linguistic
layer that analyses a text based on its diction, unity of some diction, until syntactical
chain that forms a clause. Interpretation analyses the situational and cultural context
of the text. Explanation concerns with the ideology that is related to shared-knowledge
between the author(s) and the readers.
In the pedagogical context, CDA promotes learners’ critical language awareness.
Practically, EFL teachers can make use of CDA techniques and asks learners to analyse
a text and figure out the hidden meaning and explore the association between
discourse, ideology, and power (Rahimi & Sharififar, 2015). More specifically in text-
based teaching where genre plays a significant role, Fairclough’s insights for raising
language and power relations would give strategic guidance for the improvement of
discourse production through the identification of discourse patterns, clause relations,
and genres (Dudley-Evans, 2001). This effort is meant to confront the power of
difference and diversity by pushing the critical theory and critical pedagogy to a more
intellectually rigorous and powerful position (Kincheloe, 2008) in the education
context.
Education is seen as a major area for the reproduction of social relations
(Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000). It is related to one of the learning objectives where
learners of the fourth semester are demanded to be able to comprehend communicative
competences, generic structures, and language features of discussion texts as one of
some types of argumentative texts. The discussion text can be easily found in essays,
editorials, and public forums (Emilia, 2011) that presents two contradictive arguments
on the issue to inform readers or listeners (Astuti, 2010). The discussion text has three
organizational structures. They are (1) preview of issue, (2) arguments for and against;
and (3) recommendation or evaluation. The preview of the issue commonly starts with
a background that serves information the readers need to understand the following
arguments (Feez & Joyce, 1998). Arguments for and arguments against are
compulsory and a sign that differentiates discussions from exposition texts (Emilia,
2011). Recommendation or evaluation is a logical conclusion that contains the writer’s
recommendation or position (Macken-Horarik, 2002; Knapp & Watkins, 2005).
Further, the discussion text has linguistic features that Emilia (2011) suggests: (1) the
use of generic participant like ‘some people’, (2) the use of modality like ‘really’,
‘can’, ‘should’, (3) the use of simple present tense, (4) the use of mental process like
 S. S. Nasution, N. N. Sukmawati, A. A. Lubis, T. Hastomo & L. Sesriyani, Using critical
discourse analysis to explore an authentic teaching material: A focus on language and
power | 530

‘think’, ‘believe’, and (5) the use of logical conjunction such as ‘however’, ‘therefore’,
and ‘accordingly’.
CDA has gained its popularity that some related studies have been conducted
previously like the one by Al Ghazali (2017). Focusing on underpinning learners’
sociolinguistics competence and language use, he analysed an authentic text exploring
a debate between representatives of the Conservative Party and the Labour Party on a
British culture that does not fit the British community. This text was analysed by using
the Fairclough model of CDA to provide insights to learners to enhance their
sociolinguistic competence and language use. The study found that lexical and
syntactic connotation reflects the attitude of each Party and the newspaper publishing
the article as well. This is related to our study which also concerns improving the
students’ language awareness to a given text in order for them to gain sociolinguistic
and language use competence. Further, both studies also explore power and relation
inside an argumentative text to give insight to the students about discursive conditions
and consequences of domination to free themselves from the compulsions and
limitations that deprive them of their right to think critically and have the freedom of
choice. However, if Al Ghazali explores power domination in the British political and
cultural context of the text, we explore the pros and contradicting statements of
whether maturity or age that matters in driving.
Another study was conducted by Tallapessy et al. (2020) on Postcolonial
Discourse in Coogler’s ‘Black Panther’. Using multimodal discourse analysis, this
study aims at revealing and examining the existence of social issues related to
Bhabha’s (1994) notion of postcolonialism represented in the movie. Using
Fairclough’s (2010) Critical Discourse Analysis, Kress and Leeuwen’s (2006)
Reading Images, Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) Systemic Functional Linguistics,
and Bhabha’s (1994) Postcolonialism, the result of the study shows that postcolonial
discourse is evidently represented in the movie. It affects the characters in terms of
how they see and reflect themselves towards dominance. That study and this study are
similar in terms of language analysis tools where CDA by Fairclough (2010) and SFL
by Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) are used to analyse domination in a text. However,
if their study focuses on revealing post-colonial domination in a movie, our study
concerns with analysing power in an authentic text to be used to teach students about
discussion text.
The relatedness is also found in a study by Ali (2011) that aims at investigating
the significance of developing students’ critical language awareness through explicit
teaching methodology using critical discourse analysis. Trying to encode and decode
the writer’s message to improve the 18 graduate students’ high-order thinking skill in
drawing an inference, evaluating, and explaining, the study reveals that 90% of the
students’ critical language awareness rose after becoming familiar with CDA
techniques. This study is related to ours in terms of the use of CDA in the pedagogic
contexts. However, if Ali focuses on improving the students’ critical thinking using
CDA, we focus on exploring the use of it in a pedagogical context.
From the three related studies, it is found that the use of CDA is mostly
concerned with criticizing texts to reveal whether the authors have any hidden agendas
through their texts, or oversee relatedness of language and power to figure out authors’
coercion to political stance to influence readers. In the pedagogical context, using CDA
is commonly linked with raising students’ language awareness in general by
comparing the text situation with the students’ real situation (Boston, 2002). The study
531 | Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 527-543, 2020

using CDA to analyse a whole element of a genre-based text for students to critically
comprehend units of linguistic, cultural, and ideological values the texts have are still
scarce. When it is brought to EFL learners, the meant study becomes even harder to
find. Accordingly, a critical discourse analysis to a discussion text needs to be
introduced in teaching discussion text to the EFL learners in order for the learners to
reveal how language is used and potentially abused in the exercise of power to make
use of it to discover language for themselves.

3. METHOD

3.1 Research Design

This is a textual analysis using Fairclough’s (1989) model of critical discourse

analysis where the text was analysed into three interrelated processes of analysis. They
are: (1) text analysis or simply the description and transcription processes, (2)
processing analysis or interpretation of interactions, and (3) social analysis which
necessitates explaining the already existing social structures. It is as Zarrinjooei (2016)
who states that the task of systematically analysing the texts for exploring the social
events and relations is on the burden of a critical discourse analyst who is the one
bringing together social and linguistic analyses of discourse.

3.2 Data Collection and Analysis

Some scholars insist on analysing power relations of the text to the social or
institutional contexts (Koutsantoni, 2006). The text which is analysed in this study is
taken from a book by International Debate Education Association (2003). It is a
popular reference book for debaters adapted to be used as a material to teach discussion
text to the fourth-semester students of English Literature in a private university.
Among many topics, a text entitled ‘Driving Age, Increasing’ was chosen because it
is considered general, contextually-related, light, and acceptable to be learned by
English literature students. The text generally discusses whether it is justifiable or not
to lower the minimum age someone is allowed to drive. The complete text is captured
in Figure 1.
Meanwhile, the authentic text shown in Figure 1 is examined using CDA. The
features of CDA are interrelated with the nature of discussion text to meet its
communicative competence, generic structure, and language features which are
materials learners need to comprehend. The features of CDA using Fairclough’s
(1989) model is depicted in Figure 2.
S. S. Nasution, N. N. Sukmawati, A. A. Lubis, T. Hastomo & L. Sesriyani, Using critical
discourse analysis to explore an authentic teaching material: A focus on language and
power | 532

Figure 1. The text to be analysed.

Figure 2. Fairclough’s (1989) model of critical discourse analysis.

533 | Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 527-543, 2020

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Critical discourse analysis stresses language use rather than language usage and
it tries to reveal how language is used and abused in the exercise of power through the
coercion of language (Dar, et al., 2010). To reveal it, Fairclough’s (1989) model is
used. The model consists of three sub-analysis headings. They are description,
interpretation, and explanation. The analysis of the text is critically elaborated as
follows.

4.1 Description

4.1.1 Syntactical chain

Analysing syntactical chain of the text starts from word level to sentence level to
figure out and explain its roles in making meaning. Word and phrase-level analysis
concerns with finding out positive and negative values, process, repetitive, and over-
wordings used by the author. In addition to that, word-level analysis is also used to
figure out the language features of the text to meet the nature of discussion text learners
need to understand. Figure 3 shows the identification of each category.

Figure 3. Word-level identification to the text.

 S. S. Nasution, N. N. Sukmawati, A. A. Lubis, T. Hastomo & L. Sesriyani, Using critical
discourse analysis to explore an authentic teaching material: A focus on language and
power | 534

1. Positive and negative values

Vocabulary is an expressive realization which reflects what speakers or writers

have in their minds. In critical analysis, it can be used to analyse their political stance.
In the pedagogical context, vocabulary is just taught to make students know the
meaning. Rarely was it found that teaching vocabulary is advanced to exploring
positive or negative value the word contains. CDA found that the text has both positive
and negative classification scheme. Table 1 classifies words found in the text into
positive values and negative values.

Table 1. Values classification of vocabularies found in the text.

Paragraph Positive Value Negative Value
1 Adult responsibility Not mature
Irresponsible
Inherently dangerous
2 - Dangerous
Not responsible
Not prepared
Great risk
3 - Less mature
More driving accidence
4 Great way -
Learn responsibility
Gain independence
Autonomous decision
Important adult activity
Greater responsibility
5 The problem is not maturity -
Successfully
6 Maturity -
Stable mentality
Value of responsibility
More driving education

Table 1 shows that vocabularies containing negative values found in different

paragraphs from that of positive values in the text. Negative dictions are employed in
the first, second, and third paragraphs which are actually arguments contradicting the
issue. The author uses the negative choices to struggle with the contradicting
arguments’ power argued by opponents that negative effects of allowing the 16-year-
olds driving are caused by their negative attitudes such as irresponsible, less prepared,
and less mature. In contrast, the positive value of dictions like great, independence,
safety, and responsible are chosen to signify the position of supporting the issue to
allow them to drive legally. The vocabulary can be found in paragraphs one, four, five,
and six. The matter of independence, learning to be responsible, a great challenge to
be mature, and so on are mostly used as arguments to support the issue because the
author would like to strengthen the pros’ power of why the issue needs to be supported.
The portion of negative and positive value is almost equal. This is to show that the
author struggles to be neutral in exploring arguments from both parties to the issue.
This is in line with the definition of Knapp and Watkins (2005) that discussion is a
more sophisticated argument because it involves consideration of the problem from
several perspectives.
535 | Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 527-543, 2020

Further, the opening paragraph and closing paragraph needed analysis. The
opening paragraph contains both positive and negative values. In the pedagogical
context, it is meant to reveal the previewing of issues from both parties. Accordingly,
teachers can share that opening paragraph of a discussion text preview supporting and
confronting ideas. In the closing paragraph, it is found that the author puts more
positive values rather than negative ones. Therefore, it can be concluded that the author
is not neutral, but puts more tendency to supporting the issue. It is in line with the
nature of discussion text wherein the end, the author gives more tendencies to one
party (Santosa, 2011).

2. Process

Process refers to the linguistic representation of numerous human actions,

including speaking, and a few other phenomena that are not exactly actions (Bloor &
Bloor, 2004). In systemic functional linguistics, there are four main processes. They
are material processes, mental processes, relational processes, and verbal processes.
The material process is all doing words like ‘take’, ‘cook’, and ‘kick’. The mental
process involves phenomena best described as states of mind or psychological events
like ‘think’, ‘argue’, and ‘believe’. The relational process is typically realized by the
verb ‘be’ or copular verbs like ‘seem’, ‘become’, ‘appear’, ‘have’, and ‘own’ (Halliday
& Matthiessen, 2004; Martin & Rose, 2007; Santosa, 2016). The verbal process refers
to verbalization of thought like ‘state’, ‘say’, and ‘reply’. Table 2 shows the process
used in the authentic text.

Table 2. List of processes found in the text.

Material Swelled prohibit
Delay Limit
Punish reduce
Mental Support prove
Counter believe
think argue
Relational Continue Requires
Are Have
Is

The text consists of six paragraphs which almost all start with using a mental
process such us ‘believe’, ‘think’, and ‘consider’. The sensers in the text are
characterized to be impersonal like ‘it is believed that’ or to be common people like
‘many people believe that’. Other processes that frequently appear in the text are
material processes and relational process to portray the content of the text. The uses of
the metaphorical subject like ‘some people believe that they also think that’ are
frequent. These are used because the author would like to be free of any responsibility
to have uttered the argument. It also means that it is not only he/she uttering so but
other people do. In the pedagogical context, the teacher can teach learners that
discussion text is, in nature, thought expressed into words. To express their mind,
people use verbs like ‘think’, ‘believe’, ‘agree’, ‘disagree’, ‘dissent’, and other
thinking verbs. Furthermore, a generic participant is used to strengthen the argument.
These findings prove that the authentic text has generic participant and mental
processes which are two of the characteristics of discussion text (Emilia, 2011).
 S. S. Nasution, N. N. Sukmawati, A. A. Lubis, T. Hastomo & L. Sesriyani, Using critical
discourse analysis to explore an authentic teaching material: A focus on language and
power | 536

3. Repetitive uses of certain words

Repetitive words are an effort done by the writer to show the power of
significance that the messages the words deliver are important for readers to consider.
Repetitive words are frequently found in the text within a few points the author
delivers. Figure 4 shows repetitive words found in the text.

25
20
15
10
5 Frequency
0

ty
ng

s
le
sp re

da nse
ou
sib

fe
u
i
iv

at

er
sa

lic
on
m
dr

ng
re

Figure 4. Repetitive words found in the text.

Figure 4 shows that some words are found repetitively. The word ‘driving’ is
used 23 times followed by the word ‘mature’ at 10 times, and the word ‘dangerous’ is
used 3 times. It is plausible that the word ‘driving’ appears most frequently as it is part
of the topic. However, words like ‘mature’, ‘responsible’, ‘safety’, ‘license’, and
‘dangerous’ are also used repetitively. The mentioned words appear repetitively
because the author wants to show that the major contention about the issue whether to
allow 16-year olds to legally drive go on the problems of whether they are mature or
not, responsible or not, safe to drive or not and so on. The author would like to direct
the readers to focus on the afore-mentioned points only and to ease the readers to
predict what the contentions are all about. It is in line with a finding by Locke (2004)
that repetition is used to emphasize a high level of the constituency. In the pedagogical
context, it is related to the cognitive domain where major topics must be repeated to
ensure that flow of the discussion is consistent (Santosa, 2016).

4. Over-wordings

Over-wordings are commonly used by authors or speakers to give prominence to

the issue and to indicate that it is a focus of ideological struggle (Al Ghazali, 2007).
Words classified as over-wordings found in the text are (1) ‘has swelled’, (2) ‘the
leading cause’, (3) ‘increase’, and (4) ‘thousands of life’. The sentence “Therefore,
increasing the driving age will save thousands of lives” is over-wording. To make it
sensible, average people will criticize “How could increasing driving age will save
thousands of lives effectively?” However, the sentences are employed by the author to
emphasize the importance of increasing driving age so it is expected that the readers
will be emotionally influenced by the argument. This is the way the author makes the
struggle for power from the negative side or those who contradict the issue. The author
also shows the power of the positive side of the issue through this sentence “On the
other hand, some other people argue that driving is a great way for 16-year-olds to
learn responsibility in that it allows them to gain independence from their parents”.
537 | Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 527-543, 2020

The sentence is to signify the importance of allowing 16-year olds to legally drive.
This is the way the author struggles to empower the position of the positive side to the
issue to make the arguments sound meaningful and strong (Kristina, 2011). In the
pedagogical context, teachers need to share the significance of over-wordings to
convince other people to trust the argument. Accordingly, the use of a thesaurus is
important not only to enlarge the students’ vocabulary but also to show gradable
meaning empowerment to produce powerful propositions.

4.1.2 The relational aspects

The relational aspect refers to the social relation between the readers and the
author (Kristina, 2011). It can be seen from the use of imperative sentence, and
modality. In the pedagogical context, the relational aspect is useful to raise students’
affection and teach them how to build relations with other people. The relational aspect
of the text is equal relation instead of hierarchical relation. It can be shown by the
absence of imperative words, and both sides use modality (‘should’, and ‘would’)
which means to suggest, to influence but not to instruct. For example, ‘such a law
would be contradictory’. The ‘would’ is employed to influence the readers. In the
sentence, “Therefore, increasing the driving age should never be proposed anymore”,
the ‘should’ is to suggest. Suggesting and influencing are commonly employed and
given to those who have an equal position to the speaker/writer. The equal relation is
chosen because the purpose of the text is to discuss the issue between the author and
the readers. Usually, those who are involved in a discussion are considered to have
equal knowledge or ability in discussing and altogether, solve the problem so they are
respectively equal. In this case, the author is not in the capacity of influencing the
readers to follow his/her way of thinking rather than to show the readers the good and
the bad of allowing 16-year olds to drive legally. In the pedagogical context,
imperative sentence and modality can be extended to teach politeness. Students need
to know the proper use of certain expressions in suggesting, asking for help,
recommending, giving advice, showing ability, probability, and others (Knapp &
Watkins, 2005).
On the other hand, formal and informal languages hold a significant issue in
discussion text. In the pedagogical context, formal and informal languages are
significant for students to know in the order they can adjust with whom they are
communicating with. This is to signify that the author, the readers, and both parties are
scientific and educated people (Kristina, 2011). For example, “The controversy around
increasing the driving age to 18 has swelled over the past several years” is a formal
language commonly used in the formal context of the situation. The argument is
evident-based. In the sentences, “Most of Europe, China, Brazil, and Japan also
prohibit driving for children under the age of 16” and “In New Jersey, where the
driving age is now 17, the accident rate among 17-year-old beginners is nearly
identical to that of 16-year-old beginners in other states” are the examples. This is how
the struggle of power from the author is shown. He/she wants the readers to know that
he can prove why it should or should not be by proving the facts so the readers know
that the author has a world-wide background of knowledge, is careful in issuing the
arguments, and is a scientific person who bases every argument with facts.
 S. S. Nasution, N. N. Sukmawati, A. A. Lubis, T. Hastomo & L. Sesriyani, Using critical
discourse analysis to explore an authentic teaching material: A focus on language and
power | 538

4.1.3 Logical connectors

Logical connectors or cohesions are used to signify the logic of the statement, to
show a cause-and-effect relationship, and to conclude (Leech, 2007). This is to help
and improve the intelligibility of the text as well as an effort from the author to arrange
the arguments from both sides to sound logical and acceptable. The more it sounds
logic, the more it makes sense to the readers.
This text employs many logical connectors such as ‘because’, ‘therefore’,
‘accordingly’, ‘to prove’, and others. These connectors are common to be found in the
discussion text and as Emilia (2011) states are one of the language features of
discussion text. In the pedagogical context, logical connectors are significant to be
introduced for students to be able to arrange their written or oral texts. Teachers need
to enhance students’ skills in producing logical, and well-organized ideas by the use
of logical connectors.
In the lower level, logical connectors are useful to organize proposition within
one sentence. In discussion text, the use of compound and complex sentences are
common. It is typical of spoken text (Santosa, 2011) to show efficiency. Many of the
sentences are in the form of a compound sentence, complex sentence, and even
compound-complex sentences. Such sentences are the type of written text instead of
spoken text (McCarty & Carter, 2001). It is plausible because the author understands
that this text will be consumed by adults and students of senior high school who already
can understand the sentences. The text is rarely in a simple sentence because this is not
meant to be consumed by children who will find it hard to understand. The example
of a complex sentence is “People who support the age increase point to the fact that
16-year-olds are simply not mature or responsible enough to engage in such an
inherently dangerous activity.” In the pedagogical context, on the other hand,
connectors are used to link two or more ideas into one. There are two types of
connectors. They are coordinate conjunction and subordinate conjunction. Students
need to know the usage of each so that they can arrange their ideas well.

4.1.4 Expressive value

Expressive value is related to the appraisal which is concerned with the ways we
express our views and react to the views of others (Flowerdew, 2013). The appraisal
can be identified at the level of the word. Martin and White (2005) classify appraisal
to three. They are (1) graduation: grading and scaling of the interpersonal force
attaching to statements, (2) attitude: how speakers and writers express their attitude
towards people and phenomena, and (3) engagement: how we express our commitment
to what is stated in what we say or write. The text uses many appraisals to soften or
sharpen the evaluation to the 16-year olds. “Irresponsible driver, less mature, lack of
experience” is language evidence to show and portray the attitude of 16-year olds. The
author uses the words as justifiable reasons why and why not to give license to 16-year
olds to drive. On the other hand, ‘should’, ‘would’, ‘to prove’ and many other language
pieces of evidence signify that no pressure from the author to follow one of the two.
This is to show power and solidarity from the author to the readers (Martin, 2004). The
author is, in conclusion, not authoritative. He/she is engaged with an open-minded and
democratic person who welcomes all arguments so long as the argument is logical,
plausible, and evident-based.
539 | Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 527-543, 2020

4.1.5 Textual structure

Santosa (2011) views the interactional convention which is used is varied in two:
logical orientation and contradictory orientation. The logical orientation shows that
this is an inter-side orientation the author builds each side (affirmative and negative)
argument logically. It is plausible because the author struggles to provide the readers
with the logic of why or why not, and should or should not. To make all arguments
sound logical, the author provides proposals and why proposals should be proposed.
On the other hand, he says that contradictory orientation shows that this is an
orientation between positive and negative sides who contradict each other). The
language pieces of evidence are ‘in contrast’, ‘vice versa’, ‘contradicts’, and so on.
Beyond its structure, this text is about maturity and responsibility in driving. The text
portrays what is exactly happening in daily life. Many 16-year olds drive with or
without driving license. Many of them are less mature, not ready, and irresponsible in
driving proven by many accidents and the perpetrators are those drivers. The
contention lies in the cause; is it true that maturity and responsibility are the main
factors of the accident? If yes, is it to postpone them to drive until 18-year olds
effective? This text also shows intertextuality where the data are provided through
other resources which support the arguments. It means that the author uses other texts
to complete his/her text. It is a very important prominent for discussion text because
the existence of evidence is extremely needed and a way to find out the evidence is by
employing other related texts.

4.2 Interpretation

The second sub-heading is called interpretation. Interpretation in the context of

the situation which consists of field (what is going on), tenor (who is involved in the
interaction, and mode (ways or medium in the interaction).
Field refers to social activity, and the topic/content of the test (Santosa, 2011).
The social activity of the text is institutionalized. It means that the activity is conducted
by the rules of the institution. It can be shown by the structures of the text which obey
the rules of making a discussion text. Institutionalizing the activity is aimed at
struggling to show the cultural value of the text. The content of the text is related to
education. The value of education can be seen from the way the author inserts the value
of responsibility, maturity, and caring. On the other hand, semantic domain: the
semantic domain of the text is unspecialized because the author is not the expert of law
or part of driving safety force or psychologist. It can be known from the diction in
which disciplinary knowledge is absent. It is because the readers are senior high school
students who have limited capacity to understand technical words.
Tenor refers to formality, status or power, affection, and contact (Halliday &
Hasan, 1985). It is also who is positioned as agent (the subject of the sentence) and in
what way. The text is situated in a formal condition where procedures of interaction
are predetermined. It can be seen from the generic structure of the text which is
structured well. They are a statement of the issue, argument for, the argument against,
and summary. This is well structured to embody the scientific characteristic. Further,
the status or power of the author to the reader is equal. It is shown through the chosen
modality (‘should’, and ‘would’) which has the capacity to suggest and influence not
to instruct and the absence of imperative sentence. It is intentionally written in such a
 S. S. Nasution, N. N. Sukmawati, A. A. Lubis, T. Hastomo & L. Sesriyani, Using critical
discourse analysis to explore an authentic teaching material: A focus on language and
power | 540

way as an effort to position the readers equal to the author because the aim of the
author is just to discuss the issue. On the other hand, the arousal in the emotional aspect
is ideational instead of interpersonal. It can be seen from the content which is full of
academic content. This is the way the author struggles to show the scientific arguments
to reach the trustworthiness because the participants are two educated factions. Finally,
the frequency of the contact is rare because the choice of words is formal. This is to
maintain the scientific nuance of the text.
The mode is a way or medium of interaction which consists of planning, distance,
and channel (Santosa, 2011). The interaction in the text is previously planned to make
the harmony of the text exists so the readers can understand more easily. On the other
hand, no feedback is given to the author directly because the author is not reachable
by the readers. From the characteristics of the text, the channel is written text as
explained in the description sub-heading.

4.3 Explanation

Explanation refers to a shared-knowledge or ideological inscriptions the author

brings behind the syntactical chain of the text (Kincheloe, 2008). It is the extent to
which the author brings hidden agendas. The author is not in the capacity to instruct
the readers to follow his/her choice. The author is in the capacity of giving scientific
and analytical arguments about the issue. However, there is a tendency shown by the
author in the last paragraph. He/she prefers to just let 16-year olds have a license so
they can drive legally because it is the way they learn responsibility and being mature
naturally. This text is about the law. The reason why the author prefers to support 16-
year olds to have a license to drive is varied and cannot be controlled to either because
he/she experiences the same when he/she was 16-year olds or she/he has motives to
support. However, some analyses bring up to the conclusion that the author is an open-
minded, critical, scientific, and logical person and his/her decision comes from his/her
deepest thought without any intervention from others.

5. CONCLUSION

Criticizing ideological underpinnings hidden in a text enables the readers to

broader information rather than what language structure of the text offers. By using
Fairclough s staging analyses, driving age, increasing, a text used as the object to this
study reveals some extensions. First, the language used in the text is dominated by
formal diction, complex sentence, mental, material, and relational processes, some
repetitive words, multi-perspective arguments, evidence-based supporting sentences,
and over-wording dictions underpinned in a traditional social activity and
unspecialized semantic domain. From the language structures, socio-cultural context
analyses, it is also found that its power to the readers is equal that the author provided,
rather than provoked, scientific and analytical arguments about whether a 16-year old
is allowed to drive. This is in line with the nature of discussion text as a text providing
multi-perspective arguments instead of standing at a particular party. This analysis is
hoped for teachers that they can take its advantages in teaching discussion to their
students where it is justifiable to show a tendency in discussion text without ignoring
all parties’ arguments involved in the issue. Above all, using CDA to authentic teaching
541 | Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 527-543, 2020

material is beneficial and can promote learners’ language awareness for the use of it in
their own lives.
This analysis is critical to the mentioned article discussing an issue. Accordingly,
all the findings are related to the nature of discussion text specifically on how language
and power are delved in order to experience the students how to be critical in reading.
The result of the analysis might have different focus if it is contextualized or oriented
to different purposes. Further, it is suggested that other researchers who wish to
conduct the same topic to focus on evaluating students’ readiness in criticizing proper
texts. It would also be beneficial if other researchers can also work on other form of
texts, such as those published in newspapers, magazines, social media, etc., to further
study how issues are exploited by authors to readers through language and power.
Researchers can also focus on other framework available in CDA to conduct analysis
on the texts.

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