This book covers a broad range of issues in the studies of text and discourse. It combines a theoretical framework with empirical engagement, and brings together various approaches to these two phenomena from the structural, functional and cognitive perspectives. While this topic has been widely discussed in recent years, such studies have mostly focused on specific language and discourse types. This work, however, presents the analysis of texts from American, British, Azerbaijani, French and Russian discourses across various types and genres, and adopts an exclusive focus on pragmatic and cognitive aspects. The study of these two aspects can help reveal not only global and local (cultural) identities, but also the specific features of their discourse types and genres. As such, the book also pays extensive attention to the role the studies of text and discourse can play in exploring globalization and intercultural communication.

′This volume is the most comprehensive overview to date of sociologically orientated approaches to text and discourse analysis and is worth reading even for those who are interested only in purely linguistiv approaches to text and discourse. Its main merit, I think, is that it intorduces approaches which up to now have hardley been admitted into the universe of scientific discourse′ - Discourse Studies Methods of Text and Discourse Analysis provides the most comprehensive overview currently available of linguistic and sociological approaches to text and discourse analysis. Among the 10 linguistic and sociological models surveyed in this book some of the more important are Grounded Theory, Content Analysis, Conversation Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis. The book presents each approach according to a standardised format, which allows for direct systematic comparisons. The fully annotated lists of sources provide readers with an additional means of evaluation of the competing analytical methods. Interdisciplinary and international in its aims, Methods of Text and Discourse Analysis suggests the benefits both linguists and sociologists will derive from a more intimate knowledge of each others′ methods and procedures.

The papers in this volume focus on the application of systemic functional grammar to the analysis of texts, both highly-valued and everyday, both written and spoken. The texts are studied in terms of the linguistic resources that contribute to the realization of its meaning potential.

Aimed at equipping a new generation of scholars and students with the essential tools for analyzing discourse, this handbook provides an overview of key research fields and an introduction to the various methodologies, concepts and areas of investigation in discourse.

"Providing both the practical steps for doing discourse analysis and the theoretical justifications for these steps, this book is for students and researchers undertaking discourse analysis."--BOOK JACKET.

With the advent and increasing popularity of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) and e-learning technologies, the need of automatic assessment and of teacher/tutor support for the two tightly intertwined activities of comprehension of reading materials and of collaboration among peers has grown significantly. In this context, a polyphonic model of discourse derived from Bakhtin’s work as a paradigm is used for analyzing both general texts and CSCL conversations in a unique framework focused on different facets of textual cohesion. As specificity of our analysis, the individual learning perspective is focused on the identification of reading strategies and on providing a multi-dimensional textual complexity model, whereas the collaborative learning dimension is centered on the evaluation of participants’ involvement, as well as on collaboration assessment. Our approach based on advanced Natural Language Processing techniques provides a qualitative estimation of the learning process and enhances understanding as a “mediator of learning” by providing automated feedback to both learners and teachers or tutors. The main benefits are its flexibility, extensibility and nevertheless specificity for covering multiple stages, starting from reading classroom materials, to discussing on specific topics in a collaborative manner and finishing the feedback loop by verbalizing metacognitive thoughts.

The 35 papers in this volume provide a comprehensive picture of crucial aspects of connectedness. The papers are divided into three main groups: the papers in the first group deal with particular questions of the text-constituting role of anaphora, deixis, coreference, modality, conjunctions and particles, theme, topic, ellipsis, etc., the second group of papers discusses the connectedness in texts/discourses of different types (narrative texts, stories, horoscopes, anecdotes, poems, comics, etc.), and, finally, the papers in the third group discuss general theoretical/methodological questions concerning connectedness.