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Discourse analysis. The term alone is enough to make even the most seasoned English language teacher break into a cold sweat—or at least roll their eyes and think, “Not another theoretical rabbit hole!” But fear not! Discourse analysis (DA) doesn’t have to be intimidating, overly academic, or something best left to linguists in ivory towers. In fact, it’s a powerful, practical tool that can significantly boost your learners’ speaking and writing skills—which means that we can first use DA in reading and listening training, for students to use their insights when producing their own discourse.
So, grab your metaphorical magnifying glass and let’s explore the myths, facts, and hands-on uses of discourse analysis in the ELT classroom.
Why Discourse Analysis Matters in ELT:
- Helps learners connect ideas logically
- Bridges receptive and productive skills
- Builds real-world communication strategies
- Works across levels, not just for exam prep
Think of it as “the what, the why, the so what” at a glance.
Myth-Busting: What Discourse Analysis Is—and Isn’t
Let’s start by debunking a few common myths:
Myth #1: Discourse analysis is just sentence grammar with fancy terminology.
✅ Fact: Nope! While grammar is part of the picture, discourse analysis zooms out to look at how language functions beyond the sentence—how ideas are linked, how meaning is shaped by context, and how speakers and writers structure their messages for real audiences.
Myth #2: It’s only useful for advanced learners or exam prep.
✅ Fact: Discourse-level awareness benefits learners at all levels, even beginners. Think about how early learners can recognize patterns like ‘adjacency pairs’: “Thank you” will usually trigger “You’re welcome”. “Once upon a time…” usually means ‘get ready to enjoy a story’. That’s discourse in action!
Myth #3: It’s purely theoretical and can’t be applied in regular classes.
✅ Fact: This one couldn’t be further from the truth. Using discourse analysis can make lessons more engaging, contextualized, and authentic—particularly when helping learners improve their speaking and writing. Training students to recognize that “Have you heard the one about…” means that a joke is about to come is equipping them with very real-life skills.
From Input to Output: Why Noticing Precedes Producing
Before students can produce fluent, coherent language, they need to notice and internalize how real communication works. That’s where listening and reading become crucial:
When learners engage with authentic spoken or written texts, they encounter discourse patterns like:
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Turn-taking
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Topic shifts
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Logical connectors
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Cohesive devices
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Narrative and argumentative structure
Let’s explore some ready-to-use classroom activities that develop this noticing ability.
Task: Discourse Detective
Choose a short audio clip or reading passage (e.g., a TED Talk excerpt or a magazine article) and have students work in pairs to identify how ideas are linked. Ask them to underline or highlight:
- Discourse markers: what does a speaker signal if they say “What I mean to say is…”?
- Referencing: does an example of “this” refer back to a concrete object just mentioned, or to the whole previous idea?
- Patterns: which is more common in extended narrative, “used to” or “would”? Myth debunking! Teachers often think it’s “used to” – in fact a common pattern is to use “used to” once or twice to ‘anchor’ the past habit frame, and then a series of “woulds” is likely to ensue, to chain a sequence of past habits.
Students could take an area per group and then quiz each other across groups!
Task: What’s the Move?
Introduce the idea of “moves” in discourse (e.g., introducing a topic, giving an opinion, supporting it, concluding). Play or read a short opinion piece or dialogue, and have students label the moves. This works wonders in preparing learners to structure their own speaking and writing. Text types (aka genres or registers) are typically determined by beginnings, middles and ends that characterize them. Can a student identify what a writer is signalling if they use “in a nutshell”? Or a speaker if they say “that’s a wrap”?
Want more classroom-ready thinking tasks?
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From Theory to Talk: Classroom Applications for Speaking and Writing
Once learners begin to see how discourse works, they can start using those same patterns to level up their own speaking and writing. This doesn’t mean forcing robotic templates onto students—but giving them tools to make their communication more fluent, logical, and listener- or reader-friendly.
If you work with opinion texts, guide students into identifying an argument, a counter-argument, a refutation, a concession: Help them notice how “may” (but typically not “might” or “could”) is concessive: ‘It may sometimes be the case that (concession)…, but in fact, (refutation with your own idea). That’s grammar at the service of discourse!
Here are some ways to get started:
1. Use Models—But Break Them Down
Don’t just give students a model essay or dialogue and say, “Do this.” Instead, dissect it together. What’s the structure? How does the speaker/writer move from one idea to the next? Where are the connectors? What kind of tone is used?
If you work with opinion texts, you can guide students into identifying an argument, a counter-argument, a refutation, a concession? Help them notice how “may” (but typically not “might” or “could”) is concessive: ‘It may sometimes be the case that (concession)…, but in fact, (refutation with your own idea). That’s grammar at the service of discourse!
💡 Extra tip: Turn the model into a jigsaw. Give different groups different sections and ask them to identify their “role” in the overall discourse.
2. Encourage Rehearsed Improvisation
For speaking, encourage students to plan their discourse, not just their vocabulary. Use tasks like:
- Role-plays with moves: Give students cards with discourse moves (e.g., "Agree and add an example") and let them build conversations. The rest of the group or class might later have to guess which discourse function each student had on their card.
- Discourse card games: Cards with connectors or transitions (e.g., "As a result," "On the other hand") that they must incorporate into a discussion. This helps them internalize the flow of communication—not just the words.
💡 Extra tip: If you can record the conversations you can then listen back and analyse the use, position, even the prosody of each transition signal.
3. Foster Reflection and Reuse
After writing or speaking tasks, revisit the output together. Ask:
- “Did you guide the reader/listener clearly? Why (not)?”
- “Did your ideas flow logically? Why (not)?”
- “What connectors or patterns did you use?”
You can even have students highlight discourse features in each other’s work, turning analysis into a peer-feedback tool.
Extra tip: Colour coding may be used to signal either the function of words or phrases, in categories like “addition, contrast, topic change, listing” or to identify patterns: problem-solution; question-and-answer; general-to-particular. Always train your students to see through patterns. This is discourse at work!
Final Thoughts: Discourse as a Bridge, Not a Barrier
🪄 Discourse analysis isn’t about making language learning more complicated. It’s about revealing the hidden patterns that make communication effective. When learners understand how language works in context—how stories are told, arguments are built, and conversations unfold—they’re better equipped to speak and write with confidence.
So next time you’re prepping a lesson on writing an opinion paragraph or practicing small talk, take a moment to step back and ask: What does this kind of discourse *look* like? What’s its shape, its rhythm, its purpose?
Bring that awareness into the classroom, and your students will not only learn English—they’ll learn how to use English.
Now go forth and analyse.
(Lightly. Lovingly. Discoursefully.)
About the author:
Leandro Paladino is a teacher educator and academic leader with over 30 years’ experience in English language teaching. He has taught English grammar and Discourse Analysis at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has supervised and assessed numerous dissertations. Leandro has delivered workshops and conference presentations nationally and internationally and worked as a speaker and materials writer for major publishers. He is deputy editor of the EAL Journal (UK) and a trustee of NALDIC. He also co-coordinates IATEFL’s Young Learners and Teenagers SIG, helping lead its events, journal, and blog. He designs and oversees teacher development and multilingual education programs.
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