Course description: The module aims to integrate the more theoretical approaches in critical and cultural theory that originate in European scholarship with the more empirical tradition that has developed in Anglo-American linguistics. It will incorporate the following components: (1) An introduction to theories, approaches and perspectives in critical discourse analysis including analysis of lexical choice, modality, transitivity, text patterns, figures of speech (including metaphor) and style; (2) Description, interpretation and explanation of the ideologies that underlie specific texts (interviews, speeches, media reports etc.) through analysis of relevant linguistic features (e.g. lexis, modality, transitivity, metaphor and argument structure); (3) An Introduction to some methods that can be used in the critical discourse analysis including the discourse-historical approach, the discourse-space approach, critical metaphor analysis and rhetorical theory; (4) An explanation of how some existing concepts such as cohesion, coherence, narrative structure, genre and classical rhetoric may be adapted to a critical linguistics perspective; and (4) An understanding of how the systematic analysis of metaphor (critical metaphor analysis) can contribute to our understanding of discourse.
