What does it mean when texts 'really' mean something: Types

of evidence for conceptual patterns in discourse

Dominik Lukeš, UEA, Centre for Applied Research in Education

d.lukes@uea.ac.ukwww.dominiklukes.net

Outline• Caveats

• ‘Really’ meaning (discourse analysis vs. meta analysis)

• Working with boring texts

• Consequences of textual metaphors

• Conceptual discourse analysis – patterns and concepts

• Preclusions

Really meaningDiscourse analysis vs. discourse meta-analysis

CDA is a discipline concerned with the “social effects of the meanings a reader is being positioned or called upon to subscribe to” and attempting through analysis of discourse seen as “language in use” to expose these ‘hidden’ meanings to the possibility of “contestation”. (Locke 2003)

“ ‘I’m not a racist and …’ really means ‘I am a racist but …’. ” (Mark Steel, English comedian)

“ ‘This is bad news, as America keeps losing the race to other countries to attract the world's best and the brightest’

I think he really meant:

"This is bad news, as America keeps losing the race to other countries to attract the world's cheapest” (Anonymous online comment)

Steps in discourse analysis: 1. research questions; 2. sample selection; 3. collection of records, 4. interviews, 5. transcription, 6. coding, 7. analysis, 8. validation, 9. report, 10. application

"Analysis of discourse is like riding a bicycle compared to conducting experiments or analysing survey data which resemble baking cakes from a recipe. There is no obvious parallel to well-controlled experimental design and test of statistical significance.“

Potter, Jonathan, and Margaret Wetherell. 1987. Discourse and social psychology: beyond attitudes and behaviour. London: Sage.

"I used to try to read these [academic] journals. Life is too short. There is too much to do in the real world with real teachers in real schools to worry about methodological quarrels or to waste time decoding unintelligible, jargon-ridden prose to reach (if one is lucky) a conclusion that is often so transparently partisan as to be worthless. (Woodhead, 1998, writing in the New Statesman, former Chief Inspector)"

Commentary by MacLure (2003:12): "The Chief Inspector's appeal to the real is a common tactic in the construction of binary arguments about relevance, an issue that has a long pedigree as a boundary that constructs educational heroes and villains. The 'discourse of derision' referred to above drew much of its force from the claimed irrelevance of teachers' outmoded views and values. Thus teachers have been constructed as both the enemies and the defenders of relevance.“ […] "A discourse-oriented educational research would attend to the multiplicity of meanings that attach to (and divide) the people, spaces, objects and furniture that comprise its focus - the teachers, children, classrooms, textbooks, policy documents - and to the passion and politics that are inevitably woven into those meanings. It would not try to distinguish the 'real' teacher from the rhetorical ones. But it would be immensely interested in how appeals to 'real teachers' and 'real worlds' work as rhetorical power-plays that try to install some version of reality by disqualifying others."

It is our view that the status quo is not an option. Nor do we believe further piecemeal changes are desirable. Too many young people leave education lacking basic and personal skills; our vocational provision is too fragmented; the burden of external assessment on learners, teachers and lecturers is too great; and our system is not providing the stretch and challenge needed, particularly for high attainers. The results are a low staying-on rate post-16; employers having to spend large sums of money to teach the ‘basics’; HE struggling to differentiate between top performers; and young people’s motivation and engagement with education reducing as they move through the system.

Our report sets out a clear vision for a unified framework of 14-19 curriculum and qualifications. We want scholarship in subjects to be given room to flourish and we want high quality vocational provision to be available from age 14. These are different, but both, in their own terms, are vital to the future wellbeing of young people and hence our country. We want to bring back a passion for learning, and enable all learners to achieve as highly as possible and for their achievements to be recognised. We must ensure rigour and that all young people are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for HE, employment and adult life. Despite its weaknesses, the current system has its strengths. Many elements of the reforms we propose can already be found in schools and colleges around the country and we want to build on their good practice. We also wish to retain the best features of existing qualifications and particularly the well-established GCSE and A level route. While they would not be available as separate qualifications, GCSEs and A levels and good vocational qualifications would become ‘components’, which form the building blocks of the new system.

Text with no hidden meanings?

• Are there hidden meanings to expose?

• Are there any meanings?

• How is meaning created?

Metaphors of text and their consequences

sentence single, uncomplicated meaning; hierarchical organization, tight structure, codification

dialogue interaction with audience, turn taking, extra linguistic features, negotiated meaning

oeuvre progression over time, linking with other texts, development and change, cumulative meanings

colony (Hoey) thematic unity, random organization, associative or collective meaning

network like arrangement

interdependencies, flat connections, non-directionality, superstructural meaning

mental (discourse) space

spatial relationships, non-codified hierarchies, visual arrangement, on-line processing, relationship to real world, conceptual meaning

Discourse spacestext world: "a deictic space, defined initially by the discourse itself, and specifically by the deictic and referential elements in it. It falls within the definition of 'mental space' (Fauconnier, 1985). The deictic and referential elements are given by the discourse. The referential elements in their turn, activate relevant areas of memory, including complex conceptual structures known as frames. Frames are whole chunks of experience and situations, codified and stored in memory as single items. These operate to 'flesh out' the discourse from the knowledge and imagination of the participants. This accounts for the fact that every individual will build up a slightly different text world from the same discourse input. At the same time, there are strong restrictions on this so that individual differences remain wihin accepted boundaries.“ (Werth 1999)

One example of dealing with the textMarket model

BoldPhysical structure

ItalicsStudent=adults,

CitizenshipUnderline

Morality, Growth

Small Caps

optionskillsprovisionprovidinghigh attainerslow staying-on rateemployers having

to spend large sums of money to teach the ‘basics’

provision to be available

achieve … highlygood practiceavailablemanagedstakeholders

leave educationbasicfragmentedexternalsystemreducingmove through the

systemunified frameworkgiven roomhigh qualitybring backequipped with the

knowledge, skills and attributes

weaknessessystemstrengthselementsfound in schools and

collegesbuild onbest featureswell-establishedA level route‘components’, which

form the building blocks of the new system

worksound evidencepiloting and modelingsupport throughoutthrough the period of

change

young peopleyoung people’sand hence our

countryyoung peopleHE, employment

and adult life

personalvocationalburdenstretch and

challengestrugglingmotivation and

engagementflourishvital to the future

wellbeing of young people

a passion for learning

enable all learnersrigourevolution and not

a revolutionvitalcredibility of the

current qualifications protected

Conceptual structures• Frames (Goffman)

“prior experience or organized knowledge [that] takes the form of expectations about the world, and in the vast majority of cases, the world, being a systematic place, confirms these expectations, saving the individual the trouble of figuring things out a new all the time. (Tannen, 1993)

• Cognitive models (Lakoff, 1987)• Radial category structures• Metonymic and metaphoric models• Social stereotypes• Typical examples• Ideals• Paragons• Generators• Submodels• Salient examples

Textual evidence for frames

1. Omission

2. Repetition

3. False starts

4. Backtrack

5. Hedges and Hedgelike Words or Phrases

6. Negatives

7. Contrastive Connectives

8. Modals

9. Inexact Statements

10. Generalization

11. Inferences

12. Evaluative Language

13. Interpretation

14. Moral Judgement

15. Incorrect Statement

16. Addition

(Tannen, 1987)

Textual evidence for metaphor

• Markers: metaphorically speaking, literally• Intensifiers: actually, almost, in fact, regular• Hedges: in a way, technically• Metalanguage: in one sense• Mimetic terms: image, likeness, picture• Causal similies: as if, though, • Perceptual, cognitive and other processes: seemed,

sounded, looked ….. etc. • Others: orthography, modals, conditionals, etc.

(Goatly, 1997)

Textual evidence for conceptual patterns

• Evaluations• Definitions• Hypostasis• Analogies (and other tropes)• Lists• Categorical hierarchies• Hypercorrection• Linguistic purism• Cohesive patterns• Elegant variation• Quotations• Prefacing• Freezes• Terminology• Disclaimers

• Sourcing (paragons)• (Pop culture) references• Stories• Images• Exegesis• Expression of expectation• Semantic prosody• Cohesive harmony• Pronoun reference• Participant role description• Summaries• Spelling• Graphical organization of text• Genre context• Social context

Evaluations; Definitions; Hypostasis; Analogies (and other tropes); Lists; Categorical hierarchies;

Hypercorrection; Linguistic purism; Cohesive patterns; Elegant variation; Quotations; Prefacing; Freezes;

Terminology; Disclaimers; Sourcing (paragons); (Pop culture) references; Stories; Images; Exegesis; Expression of expectation; Semantic prosody;

Cohesive harmony; Pronoun reference; Participant role description; Summaries; Spelling; Graphical

organization of text; Genre context; Social context

It is our view that the status quo is not an option. Nor do we believe further piecemeal changes are desirable. Too many young people leave education lacking basic and personal skills; our vocational provision is too fragmented; the burden of external assessment on learners, teachers and lecturers is too great; and our system is not providing the stretch and challenge needed, particularly for high attainers. The results are a low staying-on rate post-16; employers having to spend large sums of money to teach the ‘basics’; HE struggling to differentiate between top performers; and young people’s motivation and engagement with education reducing as they move through the system.

Our report sets out a clear vision for a unified framework of 14-19 curriculum and qualifications. We want scholarship in subjects to be given room to flourish and we want high quality vocational provision to be available from age 14. These are different, but both, in their own terms, are vital to the future wellbeing of young people and hence our country. We want to bring back a passion for learning, and enable all learners to achieve as highly as possible and for their achievements to be recognised. We must ensure rigour and that all young people are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for HE, employment and adult life. Despite its weaknesses, the current system has its strengths. Many elements of the reforms we propose can already be found in schools and colleges around the country and we want to build on their good practice. We also wish to retain the best features of existing qualifications and particularly the well-established GCSE and A level route. While they would not be available as separate qualifications, GCSEs and A levels and good vocational qualifications would become ‘components’, which form the building blocks of the new system.

Our report sets out a clear vision for a unified framework of 14-19 curriculum and qualifications. (Prefacing, Referencing)

our system is not providing the stretch and challenge needed, particularly for high attainers (Metaphorical semantic prosody, Freeze)

Despite its weaknesses, the current system has its strengths. Many elements of the reforms we propose can already be found in schools and colleges around the country and we want to build on their good practice. (Disclaimer, Evaluation, Metaphor)

These [scholarship and vocational training] are different, but both, in their own terms, are vital to the future wellbeing of young people and hence our country. (Classification, Hypostasis)

Some examples

Building the discourse space

status quo [preface, space builder] is not an option … many young people leave education lacking basic and personal skills [evaluation] … The results [elaboration] are a low staying-on rate [terminology, reference] post-16; employers having to spend large sums of money [reference, scenario description] to teach the ‘basics’ [quotation, evaluation]; HE struggling to differentiate between top performers [terminology]; and young people’s motivation and engagement with education [freeze] reducing [evaluation] as they move through the system [scenario].

Blending the discourse space

Blended space: Partial and individual scenario of negated frames from the SQ IS moderated by knowledge of genre and context

Status quo input space:scenario: employers spending money to teach the basics to students who didn’t learn because of poor schooling

Change input space: negating the status quo input space

Generic input spaces: Reader perspective: analyst, teacher, government official

Context: debate over quality of exam results, book layout

Genre: preface to a government sponsored report

Conceptual: selectively activated frames / cognitive models / scenarios

Some questions

• Is there a hierarchy of textual evidence that can help with data selection?

• How does what we know about the world negate or support what we know about the text?

• How are these textual elements processed online?

• How do these elements contribute to the ‘discourse environment’?

• What role does individual processing play?

Tentative Conclusions• Conceptual discourse analysis must precede any

critical analysis

• Conceptual analysis is always partial and captures the constant switching between partially blended models

• Textual evidence of conceptual structures is multilayered and lacks one-to-one correspondence

• Discourse analysis needs to attend to the model and level of magnification used

• ‘Discourse Analysis’ needs to be commit to an empirical view of evidence if it wants to be more than riding a bike.