ABSTRACT
Discourse analysis (DA) is an umbrella term for a variety of approaches to analyzing texts, whether spoken, written, or computer-mediated. At the most basic level, discourse refers to any instance of meaningful language use, and discourse analysis is the study of how individuals use language to construct and interpret meaning (Cook, 2011, p. 431; Johnstone, 2008, pp. 2-3). However, the term discourse (or discourses ) may be extended beyond language to encompass meaning-making more broadly. Gee (2015) distinguishes what he calls little d discourse , defined as any instance of language in use, and big D Discourse , which incorporates not only language, but also actions, tools, beliefs, and so on that are related to how participants perform and recognize social identities. For example, being recognized as a member of a scholarly discourse community may involve not only using language in particular ways (little d discourse), but also activities such as following a specific citation format, publishing in certain journals, and displaying certain kinds of knowledge or beliefs (big D Discourse). Other scholars use the term in Foucault’s sense to refer to “conventional ways of talking that both create and are created by conventional ways of thinking” (Johnstone, 2008, pp. 2-3); for example, one can speak of the discourse of plagiarism with reference to institutional policies that frame it as a breach of moral order (e.g., Li & Casanave, 2012).
