Discursive Practices in Disciplinary and Professional Contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v2i1.5Keywords:
Discourse Analysis, Genre Analysis, Professional Communication, Organizational Discourse, Discursive Practices, Professional Discourse, Disciplinary Discourses, Multi-perspective Genre AnalysisAbstract
Analysis of professional discourse, which often forms the basis of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) theory and practice, has often been constrained by its focus on textual characteristics, paying little attention to professional practices in specific disciplinary, institutional, or organizational contexts within which these discourses are embedded. This has led to a divide between discourse and genre analysts, on the one hand, and organizational analysts and professional communication theorists, on the other, even though all of them seem to pursue similar objectives. One of the consequences of such mutually exclusive perspectives is that they often take only a partial view of discursive, professional, institutional, and organizational practices. Just as professional communication scholars pay less attention to language use, similarly ESP practitioners do not view professional practices critically. Organizational theorists, in a similar fashion, tend to ignore discursive practices to focus entirely on text-external factors for the study of organizational behaviour. This paper argues that discursive practices within specific professional cultures have multiple perspectives and hence their analysis requires integration of discursive practices with disciplinary, professional, organizational and institutional practices, which are often realized through specialized discourses. The main purpose of the paper therefore is to review recent work in some of these diverse to propose an integration of text-internal as well as text-external perspectives on the analysis of professional discourses, so that we can have a more informed and comprehensive view of the discursive realities of disciplinary and professional practices.
References
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Swales, J. M. (1981) Aspects of Article Introductions. Aston ESP Research Report No. 1. Language Studies Unit, University of Aston, Birmingham, UK.
Swales, J. M. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. M. (1998) Other Floors Other Voices: a textography of a small university building. London: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Tadros, A. (1985) Prediction in Text. Birmingham: The University of Birmingham, English Language Research.
Trimble, L. (1985) English for Science and Technology: a discourse approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Widdowson, H. G. (1973) An Applied Linguistics Approach to Discourse Analysis. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Edinburgh.
Barton, E. (2004) Discourse methods and critical practice in professional communication. Journal of Business and Technical Communication January 2004, 18(1): 67–111.
Bazerman, C. (1994) Systems of genres and the enhancement of social intentions. In A. Freedman and P. Medway (eds) Genre and New Rhetoric 79–101. London: Taylor & Francis.
Bazerman, C. and Paradis, J. (eds) (1991) Textual Dynamics of the Professions: historical and contemporary studies of writing in professional communities. WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Berkenkotter, C. and Huckin T. N. (1995) Genre Knowledge in Disciplinary Communication-Cognition/Culture/Power. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Bhatia, V. K. (1982) An Investigation into Formal and Functional Characteristics of Qualifications in Legislative Writing and its Application to English for Academic Legal Purposes. PhD thesis. University of Aston in Birmingham.
Bhatia, V. K. (1993) Analysing Genre – Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman.
Bhatia, V. K. (1995) Genre-mixing and in professional communication: The case of ‘private intentions’ v. ‘socially recognised purposes’. In P. Bruthiaux, T. Boswood and B. Bertha (eds) Explorations in English for Professional Communication 1–19. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.
Bhatia, V. K. (2004) Worlds of Written Discourse: a genre-based view. London: Continuum.
Bhatia, V. K., Candlin, C. N. and Gotti, M. (eds) (2003) Arbitration in Europe: legal discourse in a multilingual and multicultural context. Bern: Peter Lang, GmbH.
Boje, D., Oswick, C. and Ford, J. (eds) (2004) Language and organization: the doing of discourse. Academy of Management Review 29(4): 571–577.
Candlin, C. N. and Maley, Y. (1997) Intertextuality and interdiscursivity in the discourse of alternative dispute resolution. In B.-L. Gunnarsson, P. Linnel and B. Nordberg (eds) The Construction of Professional Discourse 201–222. London: Longman. ().
Chia, R. (2000) Discourse analysis as organizational analysis. Organization 7(3): 513–518.
Deetz, S. (1982) Critical interpretive research in organizational communication. Western Journal of Speech Communication 46: 131–149.
Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Fairclough, N. (1993) Critical discourse analysis and the marketization of public discourse: the universities. Discourse and Society 4(2): 133–168.
Fairclough, N. (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis: the critical study of language. London: Longman.
Featherstone, M. (1991) Consumer Culture and Postmodernism. London: Sage.
Foucault, M. (1972) The Archaeology of Knowledge, London: Tavistock
Freedman, A. and Medway, P. (eds) (1994) Genre and New Rhetoric. London: Taylor & Francis.
Goffman, E. (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York, Doubleday.
Goodrich, P. (1987) Legal Discourse. London: Macmillan.
Grant, D., Keenoy T. and Oswick C. (eds) (1998) Discourse and Organization. London: Sage.
Grant, D. and Hardy, C. (2003) Introduction: struggles with organizational discourse. Organization Studies 25(1): 5–13.
Grant, D., Keenoy, T. and Oswick, C. (eds) (2001) Organizational discourse: key contributions and challenges. International Studies of Management and Organization 31(3): 5–24.
Halliday, M. A. K., McIntosh, A. and Strevens, P. (1964) The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching. London: Longman.
Hasan, R. (1985) The structure of a text. In M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasan (eds) Language, Context, and Text: aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective 52–69. Victoria: Deakin University Press.
Hoey, M. P. (1983) On the Surface of Discourse. London: Allen & Unwin.
Hyland, K. (2000) Disciplinary Discourses: social interactions in academic writing. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
Iedema R. and Wodak, R. (1999) Introduction: organizational discourses and practices. Discourse and Society 10(1): 5–19.
Marshak, R., Keenoy, T., Oswick, C. and Grant, D. (2000) From outer words to inner worlds. Journal of Applied Behaviour Science 36 (2): 229–244.
Miller, C. R. (1984) Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech 70: 157–178. Also published in A. Freedman and P. Medway (eds) (1994) Genre and the New Rhetoric 23–42. London: Taylor and Francis.
Oswick, C., Keenoy, T. W. and Grant, D. (2000) Discourse, organizations and organizing: concepts, objects and subjects. Human Relations 53(9): 1116–1123.
Phillips, N. and Hardy, C. (2002) Discourse Analysis: investigating processes of social construction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Philips, N., Lawrence, T. B. and Hardy, C. (2004) Discourse and Institutions in Academy of Management Review 29(4): 635–652.
Sarangi, S. (2000) Activity types and discourse types and interactional hybridity: the case of genetic counselling. In S. Sarangi and M. Coulthard (eds) Discourse and Social Life. London: Longman, Pearson Education.
Sarangi, S. (2002) Discourse practitioners as a community of interprofessional practice: some insights from health communication research. In C. N. Candlin (ed.) Research and Practice in Professional Discourse. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.
Sarangi, S. and Roberts, C. (1999) The dynamics of interactional and institutional orders in work-related settings. In S. Sarangi and C. Roberts (eds) Talk, Work and the Institutional Order: discourse in medical, mediation and management settings. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Scollon, R. (1998) Mediated Discourse as Social Interaction – A Study of News Discourse. London: Longman.
Swales, J. M. (1974) Notes on the Function of Attributive en-Participles in Scientific Discourse. Papers for Special University Purposes No.1. ELSU, University of Khatoum.
Swales, J. M. (1981) Aspects of Article Introductions. Aston ESP Research Report No. 1. Language Studies Unit, University of Aston, Birmingham, UK.
Swales, J. M. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. M. (1998) Other Floors Other Voices: a textography of a small university building. London: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Tadros, A. (1985) Prediction in Text. Birmingham: The University of Birmingham, English Language Research.
Trimble, L. (1985) English for Science and Technology: a discourse approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Widdowson, H. G. (1973) An Applied Linguistics Approach to Discourse Analysis. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Edinburgh.
Published
2008-01-09
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Articles
How to Cite
Bhatia, V. K. (2008). Discursive Practices in Disciplinary and Professional Contexts. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 2(1), 5-28. https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v2i1.5
