Center for Discourse Analysis & Video Ethnography

Courses

Discourse Analysis and Ethnography

Always check the Course Catalog for the most current information.

Current Course Offerings

EDUTL 8001 – Discourse Analysis and Educational Research I

Introduction to discourse analysis in educational research, theories, field work, data collection, analytic procedures including video and audio analysis, and ethics. First course of a two-course sequence. David Bloome

EDUTL 8002 – Discourse Analysis and Educational Research II

An in-depth exploration and application of discourse analysis theories and procedures for the analysis and interpretation of video, audio, and textual data collected in field-based educational research. This is the second of a two-course sequence. David Bloome

EDUTL 8010 – Critical Discourse Analysis

The course will provide graduate students interested in Education, Applied Linguistics, Cultural Studies and beyond with methods for producing a language of description for modes of representation such as reading, writing, speaking, various types of performance, visual, gestural, and kinesthetic, how these modes interact, play their role in key communicative practices and are rooted in social relationships, especially relationships of power. Though we may consider discourse analysis through an interdisciplinary lens and through traditions that range from interactional sociolinguistics and narrative analysis to conversation analysis, our primary interest is in traditions of critical discourse analysis. Course explores perspectives on discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in social and political contexts. Elaine Richardson.

EDUTL 6301 – Exploring Language and Learning in Classrooms

This course introduces in-service teachers to the use of discourse analysis to improve classroom learning. In classrooms, it is through talking and writing that students learn and teachers teach. Discourse analysis provides teachers with the intellectual, analytic, and pedagogical tools for academic learning. This requires reflecting on and rethinking models of learning, instruction and academic knowledge. This is a “hands on” course to examine and reflect on the use of spoken and written language as used to facilitate academic learning in classrooms. Using videos and transcripts drawn from classroom interactions and events, we will use discourse analysis to reflect on how language is being used and how we might create deeper and richer opportunities for academic learning. Students must currently be teaching or co-teaching in a classroom and be able to video record events in that classroom. Variations of this course are available as independent study, outreach/engagement and as in-service. Melissa Wilson

EDUTL 7431 and 7432 – Ethnography of Literacy and Language

Ethnographers of literacy and language study oral and written language practices embedded in social and cultural contexts. Ethnography offers a fertile framework for research involving the use and acquisition of literacy, language and literacy socialization, language and identity as well as for bilingualism, vernacular dialect speakers, and English language learners. The two-semester course introduces this field of inquiry and is highly recommended for those considering literacy or language-focused studies. In the first semester, students learn about theories and methodologies used in this field; select a topic and population for research; and critically review available literature on that topic and population. In the second, students continue to learn about theory and concepts relevant to the field, focusing more on methodology and carrying out an ethnographic pilot study, including data collection (participant-observation, writing field notes, audio and video taping, collecting documents, and conducting surveys) and data analysis (writing analytic memos, coding field notes and transcriptions of taped discourse, developing models, and reporting on the research). Mollie Blackburn, Sarah Gallo and Laurie Katz.

Past or Future Course

EDUTL 7745 – Classroom Discourse in STEM Learning

Theory and practice on discourse patterns in STEM classrooms, including speaking, reading and writing to learn STEM subject matter in schools or colleges. Azita Manouchehri

ENGLISH 6751.02 – Intro to Graduate Study in Folklore I: The Philology of the Vernacular

also listed as

COMPSTD 6750.02 – Introduction to Graduate Study in Folklore II: Fieldwork and Ethnography of Communication

Intro to fieldwork & ethnology in humanities: interviewing, participant observation, ethics, ethnographic representation. Ethnography of communication as an approach to community-based expressive forms. Folklore GIS course. Gabriella Modan

ENGLISH 7872.01 – Studies in the English Language (select semesters)

Discourse analysis special topics. Gabriella Modan

ES8211 Qualitative research: Analysis of Classroom Discourse

Conversation Analysis and Interactional Competence. Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm

Spanish 5389: US Latino Languages and Communities

This course focuses on the languages of Latino communities in the United States. We will discuss the diversity of Latino experiences in the US and the central role of language in the development of a “Latino” identity, as well as its role in local understandings of ethnicity, gender, and social class, among other categories. Course material is drawn primarily from ethnographies of language, which provide a richly contextualized approach to the relationship between language(s) and culture(s). In order to understand this scholarship within the context of linguistic and anthropological approaches to language, we focus on the theoretical concepts of language ideologies, identity, and critical approaches to race and ethnicity. While the central portion of this course concerns areas with traditionally large Latino populations (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Texas), we will also consider evidence from other types of Latino communities, including the New Latino Diaspora and speakers of indigenous Latin American languages in US. The course structure pairs particular readings with discussions of key theoretical concepts. Students will learn to discuss, compare, and synthesize material from the case studies that we examine. Anna Babel

Spanish 7380: Spanish Sociolinguistics

This course acts as an introduction to the subdiscipline of sociolinguistics, investigating its development as a field of study as well as its ties to related disciplines, such as anthropology and psychology. We focus on the relationship of micro-level linguistic variation to social and cultural patterns, linking sociolinguistic variation to larger-scale political and economic forces. There is a particular focus on research in and studies from the Spanish-speaking world. Participants in the class are expected to take a critical approach to the theories we discuss, actively evaluating their strengths, weaknesses, and appropriate applications. Specific topics include foundations of sociolinguistics and related disciplines; approaches to the speech community; theories of context, such as register, genre, and style; theories of practice; discourse and conversation analysis; performance, voice, and footing; language ideologies and attitudes; semiotics and indexicality; varieties and codes, including multilingualism and language contact; and theories of identity. Time permitting, we may explore other topics that are relevant to students in the class. This class is intended to be flexible and is open to modification depending on the needs and interests of the participants. Anna Babel

Exploring Whiteness

The course is meant to be an intensive course that immerses students in the exploration of whiteness. It will foreground language and pay specific attention to how privilege and power influences identity around issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and popular culture in various contexts. The course is framed by the following questions: How do people negotiate whiteness across race(s), gender(s), class(es), ethnicity(ies), and culture(s) in various contexts? How has language been used to reproduce whiteness in current local and global educational contexts? What are the various ways that whiteness informs actions and interactions in various contexts? What are the various ways that whiteness informs actions and interaction of people from varied cultural backgrounds in various contexts? How do we begin to capture agency and the various ways that people make meaning within and on the margins of whiteness in various contexts and what are the implications of doing so? Stephanie Power-Carter