Perspectives of Discourse Linguistics for Modern Language Teaching

郭華娟

【Abstract】the general idea of discourse linguistics happens to coincide with the basic idea of modern language teaching in many ways. In recent years， discourse linguistics draws a lot of attention in the field of language teaching and the professors of discourse linguistics also pay more attention to put linguistic theory into teaching practice. Language as discourse perspectives is developed under these circumstances. This thesis will discuss some key ideas of discourse linguistics theory and it also includes some perspectives for language teaching.

【Keywords】discourse linguistics； language as discourse； perspectives for language teaching

Language as discourse is a kind of linguistic theory which probes into the implication of discourse linguistics for modern language teaching. Dissatisfied with present practice of putting the research achievement of discourse analysis into language teaching process directly， that is， adding a discourse layer or level to the original vocabulary， grammar， articulation layers， the discourse linguistics tries to establish a new language teaching mode under the guidance of a discourse-based view of language.

一、Brief Introduction

The thesis try to illustrates the central idea of a discourse-based view of language from five aspects： language materials， discourse patterns， discourse management， discourse analysis and discourse competence. It also includes practical application and analysis after the theoretical discussion in each paragraph.

A discourse-based view of language is one which focuses on complete spoken and written texts and on the social and cultural contexts in which such language operates. Initially we need to make a distinction between medium and mode. Medium refers to the overall distinction between linguistic messages transmitted to their receivers via phonic or graphic means. Mode refers to choices that the sender makes as to whether features normally associated with speech or writing shall be included in the message， regardless of the medium. In this way the world of spoken and written language is a complex of relationships between language forms and contexts of use， certainly not a simple division between written and spoken media. Therefore the selection of discourse types for inclusion in the syllabus or in teaching materials will be done with consideration of the social and cultural context of use.

When we explores further the relationship between micro-structural properties of texts （grammar， vocabulary， cohesive relations between sentences） and macro-structural organization of texts， we will discover three kinds of underlying patterns that different texts can have in common： problem-solution， hypothetical-real and general-particular. And foreign language teachers should pay attention to develop students linguistic skills of recognizing typical patterns of organization in texts so that they could make appropriate anticipation in reading and improve their reading comprehension ability.endprint

In discourse linguistics we also need to look in greater detail at some aspects of grammatical and lexical choice. We will discover that the lexico-grammatical system and the discourse patterns of a language are not two separate things. Discourse grammar is a new term which describes the discourse management in opposition to the sentence grammar which focuses on how words or phrases combine with each other to form larger sentences. For example， cohesion devices are regarded as one of the discourse management features because they do more like just linking sentences and utterances on the surface of text， rather they also play its part in creating genres and registers. So do tense， aspect， voice and modality. Therefore， we may need to rethink these kinds of activities we use in class to raise students awareness of discourse functions and distributions of those categories and to focus on appropriate use.

The relationship between literature， culture and language as discourse should also be considered again. As we all know， language learners should not only learn language skills but also learn how it works and cultural consciousness language contains. With this concern， language learners can benefit from the discourse-based view of language since it is concerned with social and cultural context of use. Because literary texts are examples of language in use， that is， they are instances of real communication in real social contexts， it is an effective way to introduce more literary texts into the language classroom so as to foster learners language practical skills and enhance their cultural consciousness.

In the end we should probe into how such language awareness at the discourse level can be incorporated into the syllabus. In language teaching practice we should develop students discourse competence which is a healthier balance between the development of competence in the language system and competence in its use. If we aim to develop learns discourse competence in language teaching process， we need to design a syllabus from the discourse-based view of language.

二、Evaluation

There are three remarkable features of discourse linguistics： the first one is that it talks from a new prospective. In the history of the development of linguistics， there appear various kinds of language views such as behaviorism， structuralism， functionism. Language as discourse is a new perspective of language. It is absolutely different from the traditional language view in that it considers language as discourse， rather than just thinking of discourse as a layer or level of language. Therefore sound， vocabulary and grammar are integral parts of text， playing important roles in text organization. But they are not equal language layer as discourse. The second feature is that it is a challenge to traditional thought. This theory focuses on a description of discourse properties of language and on the relevance of such description for language teaching. It challenges some prevailing assumptions. One main assumption that it challenge is that English language teachers already know enough about the language. The author denies that and encourages language teachers to learn more about the language besides methodology. Another assumption that the theory challenge is that there are discontinuities between first and second language learning. it underlines the continuities and connections and argues that the discourse-based approach to language learning and teaching applies to both L1 and L2. The third feature is that it emphasizes the close relation between linguistic theory and language teaching. The discourse linguistics is concerned with implications of a discourse-based view of language on language teaching.endprint