A critical discourse analysis of racial(14)

critical discourse analysis

114R.Rogers,M.Mosley/LinguisticsandEducation19(2008)107–131

Inouranalysis,wedescribe,interpretandexplainhowmeaningisdistributedacrossmodessuchaslanguage,

movement,gestureandthelayoutofthephysicalspace,aswellasthesocialidentitiesasindicatedbythelanguage

andmovement.Thismethodalsoallowsustoseehowsocialactionintheclassroom(asapartofbookclubs)ispart

oflargersocietalnarratives.

3.4.1.Procedures

Wetranscribedeachofthevideotapesthatpertainedtothebookclubstructure:literaturereadaloudtothegroup

bycourseinstructors,bookclubdiscussionsamongparticipantsandwholeclassdiscussions.Aswetranscribedthe

videotapesweattendedtolanguageandnonverbalcuessuchasposture,eyegaze,silences,movements,andproxemics.

Webeganallofthetranscriptswiththeverbal,becausethatwastheprimarymodeofcommunicationintheresearch

design.Then,weaddedinitalicstheprominentnonverbaldiscoursewhilewatchingthevideosinavideo-software

programthatallowsforaframe-by-framelookatthevideo.Thenonverbaldescriptionwastranscribedsecond-by-

second.Next,weembeddedstillframeimagesintothetranscriptsatmomentswesawasmodallycomplexortellingin

termsofthenonverbalinteraction.Inseveralcases,weputmultipleframestogethertoseeaphoto-storytoseechanges

inproxemics,posture,gesture,andothermarkersofinteractionalpositioningacrosstime.

Werepresentedeachtranscriptinatableorganizedbyideastructure,participantroles,andassociatedmultimodality

(seeTable1).Ideastructurenamedtheideaspresentedorrestatedinthatsectionoftranscript.Forparticipantroles,

weidenti edthenumberandlengthofturnstakenbyeachparticipantineachideaconstructionaswellastheposition

theytookup.Wechoseastillframeandrepresentedthemultimodalinteractionbywritingaboutthenonverbalmodes

employedintheconstructionoftheidea.Returningtoourresearchquestionsandsectionsofouranalysisthatseemed

especiallyprovocative(eithertherewascon ictorsurprise)wecalledonthetheoriesandmethodsofCDAtomore

fullyunderstandtheconstructionofracialliteracy.

TheCDAframeworkweusedrawsonthetheoriesandmethodsofGee(1999/2006),Fairclough(1992),Fairclough

(2004)andNorris(2004).WecallonGee’s(1999/2006)well-knowndistinctionbetween“discourse”and“Discourse”

tosignifytherelationshipbetweenthe“languagebits”anindividualuses—thegrammatical,syntactical,semanticand

nonverbalchoicesmade(“d”discourse)andthesocialpracticestheyconstructorevokethroughtheirlanguageuse(“D”

Discourse).Inouranalysis,therelationshipbetweenthelanguagebits(“d”)andthewaysofvaluing,believing,acting

thatcomprisesocialpractices(“D”)areactualizedthroughtheelementsofgenre,discourseandstyle(Fairclough,

2004;Halliday,1978).Aswedescribegenre,discourseandstylebelowweusethecapital/smallercaseorthographic

conventionsmadepopularbyGee(1999/2006)tospecifyhowlinguisticrealizationsareconnectedtolargersocial

practices.SeeAppendixAforachartofsemioticresourcesacrossparticipantsinthebookclub.

WeuseChouliarakiandFairclough’s(1999)de nitionofgenreas“thesortoflanguage(andothersemiosis)tiedtoa

particularsocialactivitysuchasaninterview”(pp.63).Genresmaybeviewedas“waysofinteracting”andincludethe

organizationalthreadsofinteracting(“g”)suchasturntakingstructures,cohesivedevices,parallelstructure,politeness

conventions,revoicing,narrativesequencing,etc.Analysisoftheorganizationalthreadsofaparticulargenreallows

ustoseethetypeofgenrethatisbeingconstructed(“G”).Forinstance,aninterviewcanbedescribedasagenrebut

dependingonthelinguisticrealizationoftheinterview“g”(e.g.turn-takingstructure,politenessconventions,etc.)the

genreoftheinterview“G”canbedescribedindifferentways(e.g.formalandinformal).

Eachutterancebothraisespossibilitiesandprecludesotherpossibilitiesthatsignifymeta-narratives,ordiscourses.

Discoursesare“waysofrepresenting”ideasandincludewhatLuke(2000)referredtoas“systematicclustersofthemes,

statements,ideasandideologies”(p.456).Discoursesembodytensionsandcontradictions.Meta-narrativesareiden-

ti edthroughideaunits“d”discourse.Theyarealsoidenti edthroughthe“waysofinteracting”thatincludesvalues,

emotions,beliefs,bodilypositions—or“D”discourses.Forinstance,aninterviewaboutanti-racismmayevokevarious

themesaboutanti-racism(e.g.whiteprivilege,af rmativeaction).“D”iscoursesaremateralizedthroughcirculating

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