Transcript Discourse analysis power and politeness

Adult literacy teacher education
04 February 2014
 identify
features of communication which
maintain/challenge social and power
structures (using Critical Discourse Analysis)
 recognise the role of Politeness Theory in
understanding spoken communication
 What
is happening in this exchange between
a Black American doctor (D) and a white
American policeman (P)?
P: What’s your name, boy?
D: Dr Poussaint. I’m a physician.
P: What’s your first name, boy?
D: Alvin.
from Ervin-Tripp 1980 in Thomas et al 2004:163
 Examine
the transcripts from Fairclough
1995:32-51 (pp 53/4 of guide) and
consider:
How are social/power relations reflected in
what is said and how it is said?
 What are the underlying “rules” of the
exchanges, regarding control of topic, turntaking, politeness markers etc.?
 Fairclough gives the third exchange the title
“resistance” – why?

 The
following material is designed to help
you analyse and reflect on discourse patterns
in your classroom(s):


A transcript from a language experience activity
in a literacy classroom (p.40 of guide)
A reflective grid “Speaking and listening in the
classroom” (p.49 of the guide)
Key concepts in Politeness:
 Positive face

the need to be liked/admired/accepted
 Negative

face
the right to be left alone/allowed freedom of
action/not to be imposed upon
 Face-threatening



acts e.g.:
apologies threaten speakers positive face
requests threaten listener’s negative face
suggestions threaten...?
 looks
at interaction in Korean/ African-American
service encounters
 both groups identified the other as
“disrespectful
 Bailey identifies mismatch in politeness
strategies
African-Americans valued +ve politeness strategies involvement
 Koreans valued -ve politeness strategies - restraint

 Examine
the transcript and see if you can
identify examples to support Bailey’s theory
 In
short sequences of naturally occurring
discourse utterances often occur in pairs:


You ain‘t got no bourbon?
No we don‘t have bourbon.
 For
every first part of an adjacency pair
there is a preferred and a dispreferred
response
 Where are the preferred/dispreferred
responses in the Bailey dialogue?
 Think
back to the “speech events” we listed
last month, that your students wish/need to
take part in.
 Will raising awareness of the “unwritten
rules” of discourse (e.g. politeness and
power) help your learners to develop


 If
speaking and listening skills?
assertiveness?
so, how might you go about this?
 BAILEY,
B. (1997) Communication of respect
in interethnic service encounters Language
in Society 26: 327-356
 FAIRCLOUGH, N. (1995) Critical Discourse
Analysis: the critical study of language
Harlow, Essex: Longman
 THOMAS, L. et al (2004) Language, Society
and Power 2nd Edition London: Routledge