Discourse Analysis 3301-ZJ-JF008
The course introduces MA students to key issues in discourse analysis, presenting language as a tool for constructing social reality, power relations, and cultural meanings. It covers major approaches to discourse analysis, including structural, functional, and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Particular emphasis is placed on analysing language in media, digital communication, and contemporary technologies, including artificial intelligence. Students learn to identify linguistic strategies, mechanisms of representation, and interpretive frameworks (framing), as well as to analyse discourse from a multimodal perspective.
The course covers the following topics:
1. Introduction to discourse analysis
Topics:
Language beyond the sentence level: text vs discourse.
Discourse as social practice. Introduction to discourse theory: knowledge, power, ideology.
Aim:
Shifting perspective: language as a tool for constructing meaning and social relations.
2. Approaches to discourse analysis
Topics:
Structural and functional approaches. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Discourse and ideology. Basic analytical tools.
Aim:
Understanding different methodological approaches and treating discourse analysis as a set of analytical tools.
3. Language, power, and ideology
Topics:
Representation in discourse. Mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. Naming, labelling, and categorisation. Language as an ideological tool.
Aim:
Analysing how language reflects and reproduces power relations.
4. Framing and media discourse
Topics:
Frames as interpretive structures. Framing in media.
Media narratives and interpretive strategies. Analysis of headlines and message construction.
Aim:
Understanding how media construct reality through language and framing.
5. Discourse in digital media and AI
Topics:
Algorithmic discourse and platform logic. Language in social media. AI-generated discourse. Bias, neutrality, and the illusion of objectivity.
Aim:
Critically analysing contemporary forms of digital communication and the role of AI in discourse production.
6. Multimodal discourse analysis
Topics:
Relationships between text, image, and sound. Visual communication strategies. Memes, images, and communication in social media.
Aim:
Developing the ability to analyse multimodal communication.
7. Applications of discourse analysis (workshop)
Topics:
Analysis of media texts. Comparison of human-written and AI-generated texts. Presentation of analytical findings.
Aim:
Applying discourse analysis tools in practical research contexts.
Course coordinators
Type of course
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
Students will have in-depth familiarity with:
- K_W01 Advanced terminology, theory and research methods used in the fields of discourse linguistics, pragmatics, critical discourse analysis, and methods of text analysis and media communication studies, corresponding to the state of the art in the discipline of linguistics, in accordance with their chosen specialization (and educational path),
- K_W04 concepts and principles concerning the protection of intellectual property and copyright.
Abilities
Students will be able to:
- K_U01 apply the advanced terminology, theories and methods of linguistic research to solve complex and original research problems in linguistic research in the fields of discourse linguistics, critical discourse analysis, pragmatics, and the analysis of media and digital communication in accordance with his/her chosen specialization (and educational path),
- K_U04 apply the concepts and principles of intellectual property protection and copyright law.
Social competences
Students will be ready to:
- K_K01 critically appraise their knowledge and content obtained from various sources,
- K_K02 initiate action in the public interest, think and act entrepreneurially.
Assessment criteria
- completion of short analytical tasks during classes (verification of W, U, K)
- partial written assignments (verification of W, U)
final test in written form (verification of W, U)
- project tasks completed during the semester (analysis of media or digital discourse (verification of W, U, K)
Bibliography
Selected items:
Fairclough, N. (2023). Critical discourse analysis. In The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 11-22). Routledge.
Van Dijk, T. A. (1998). Ideology: A multidisciplinary approach.
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (Eds.). (2015). Methods of critical discourse studies. sage.
Gee, J. P. (2025). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. Routledge.
Entman, R. M. (1993). Framing: Towards clarification of a fractured paradigm. McQuail's reader in mass communication theory, 390, 397.