Starting from the point of view that language is essentially a social phenomenon, this book explores the interconnectedness of linguistic and social matters in a wide vareity of texts ranging from casual conversations to extracts from coursebooks. Kress demonstrates that, rather than being powerless in the face of a monolithic language system, the individual language user is constantly engaged in the processes of linguistic reconstitution and change.

Writing: Texts, Processes and Practices offers an innovative and multidisciplinary approach to writing in a variety of academic and professional settings. The book is composed of a series of original research-based accounts by leading authorities from a range of disciplines. The papers are linked through a unifying perspective which emphasises the role of cultural and institutional practices in the construction and interpretation of written texts. This important new book integrates different approaches to text analysis, different perspectives on writing processes, and the different methodologies used to research written texts. Throughout,an explicit link is made between research and practice illustrated with reference to a number of case studies drawn from professional and classroom contexts. The book will be of considerable interest to those concerned with professional or academic writing and will be of particular value to students and lecturers in applied linguistics, communication studies, discourse analysis, and professional communications training. The contributors to this volume are: Robert J. Barrett Vijay K. Bhatia Christopher N. Candlin Yu-Ying Chang Sandra Gollin Ken Hyland Roz Ivanic Mary R. Lea Ian G. Malcolm John Milton Greg Myers Guenter A. Plum Brian Street John M. Swales Sue Weldon Patricia Wright

Drawing on sociocultural theories of learning, this book examines how the everyday language practices and cultural funds of knowledge of youth from non-dominant or minoritized groups can be used as centerpoints for classroom learning in ways that help all students both to sustain and expand their cultural and linguistic repertoires while developing skills that are valued in formal schooling. Bringing together a group of ethnographically grounded scholars working in diverse local contexts, this volume identifies how these language practices and cultural funds of knowledge can be used as generative points of continuity and productively expanded on in schools for successful and inclusive learning. Ideal for students and researchers in teaching, learning, language education, literacy, and multicultural education, as well as teachers at all stages of their career, this book contributes to research on culturally and linguistically sustaining practices by offering original teaching methods and a range of ways of connecting cultural competencies to learning across subject matters and disciplines.

Text and Practices provides an essential introduction to the theory and practice of Critical Discourse Analysis. Using insights from this challenging new method of linguiistic analysis, the contributors to this text reveal the ways in whcih language can be used as a means of social control. The essays in Text and Practices: * demonstrate how critical discourse analysis can be applied to a variety of written and spoken texts * deconstruct data from a range of contexts, countries and spheres * expose hidden patterns of discrimination and inequalities of power Texts and Practices, which includes specially commissioned papers from a range of distinguished authors, provides a state-of-the-art introduction to critical discourse analysis. As such it represents an important contribution to this developing field and an essential text for all advanced students of language, media and cultural studies.

Newspaper coverage of world events is presented as the unbiased recording of `hard facts`. In an incisive study of both the quality and the popular press, Roger Fowler challenges this perception, arguing that news is a practice, a product of the social and political world on which it reports. Writing from the perspective of critical linguistics, Fowler examines the crucial role of language in mediating reality. Starting with a general account of news values and the processes of selection and transformation which go to make up the news, Fowler goes on to consider newspaper representations of gender, power, authority and law and order. He discusses stereotyping, terms of abuse and endearment, the editorial voice and the formation of consensus. Fowler's analysis takes in some of the major news stories of the Thatcher decade - the American bombing of Libya in 1986, the salmonella-in-eggs affair, the problems of the National Health Service and the controversy of youth and contraception.

In its first edition, Social Linguistics and Literacies was a major contribution to the emerging interdisciplinary field of sociocultural approaches to language and literacy, and was one of the founding texts of the ‘New Literacy Studies’. This book serves as a classic introduction to the study of language, learning and literacy in their social, cultural and political contexts. It shows how contemporary sociocultural approaches to language and literacy emerged and: Engages with topics such as orality and literacy, the history of literacy, the nature of discourse analysis and social theories of mind and meaning Explores how language functions in a society Surveys the notion of ‘discourse’ with specific reference to cross-cultural issues in communities and schools. This fifth edition offers an overview of the sociocultural approaches to language and literacy that coalesced into the New Literacy Studies. It also introduces readers to a particular style of analyzing language-in-use-in-society and develops a distinctive specific perspective on language and literacy centered on the notion of "Discourses". It will be of interest to researchers, lecturers and students in education, linguistics, or any field that deals with language, especially in social or cultural terms.

Genre theory has been used to describe patterns within certain types of mass media, especially patterns associated with written and spoken language. These same methods can be applied to interviewing and the planning and creation of focus groups. Elicitation Strategies for Interviewing and Fieldwork: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the application of textual strategies associated with initiating or eliciting texts and strategies for keeping responders on task. While highlighting topics such as microgenre, interview protocol, and cultural context, this publication explores interview techniques as well as the methods of using these strategies to keep interviews relevant. This book is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, journalists, communication specialists, and interviewers seeking current research on interview strategies and textual strategies important to recognizing and evaluating patterns within responses.