Discourse Analysis – Discourse Analysis – Study abroad in Amsterdam.

Course level	Advanced Bachelor/Master/PhD
Block	1 (6 to 17 July)
Co-ordinating lecturer	Bertie Kaal
Other lecturers	VU University Amsterdam: Dr Luuk Lagerwerf, Dr Joyce Lamerichs, Dr Tessa van Charldorp, Dr Fleur van der Houwen, Dr Karen Verduyn, Dr Anna Kaal Lancaster University: Prof. Ruth Wodak, Dr Veronika Koller, Dr Christopher Hart, Prof. Elena Semino
Form(s) of tuition	Some lectures and mainly interactive seminars
Form(s) of assessment	Presentations and written assignment on/of research design
ECTS	3 credits
Contact hours	45
Tuition fee	€1100

Who should join this course?

 

Any student with a social interest in their chosen discipline, especially those reading Social Sciences, Politics, Social Psychology, Healthcare, History, Law, Business and Organization Studies, Media and Communication Studies, Education, Geography, Economics and so on.

Course content

 

Language not only reflects social change but also drives social change. This course provides a framework to make sense of these phenomena through discourse analysis. It offers advanced academic skills. Through examples of various research designs you learn how to incorporate discourse analysis into your own field of study.

Methods covered include:

•     Transdisciplinary research design;
•     Text analysis and content analysis;
•     Ethnography, conversation analysis;
•     Framing and subjectivity;
•     Historical discourse analysis;
•     Context and data selection;

You are required to participate actively in the group discussions and assignments, contributing perspectives from your own discipline so that you learn to account for the choices you make in your research design and its discourse analytic component.

VU University Amsterdam and its Network Institute have a long tradition of fostering transdisciplinary research. The tutors on this course are closely associated with that effort: Amsterdam Research on Text and Talk in Institutional Settings (ARTTIS) specializes in effective communication; the Amsterdam Critical Discourse Community (ACDC), encourages academic dialogue across disciplines; courses in Discourse Analysis and Active Entrepreneurship in the university’s Economics and Business Studies programme. Moreover, your tutors include senior lecturers and professors from the world’s leading centre for critical discourse analysis at Lancaster University (UK). Together we assure of plenty of classroom interaction.

Excursion

 

A one-day visit to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, to observe, analyse and discuss complex discourse processes involving diversity of cultural and institutional values.

Learning objectives

 

• You are able to produce a research framework in a social context, including a discourse analytic component.
• You gain experience in academic self-reflection and learn about research practices in other disciplines.
• You can articulate and account for adding discourse analytic methods in your own field of interest.

Course reading

 

Wodak, R., and M. Meyer (2015), Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (Revised edition). London: Sage.
Additional readings: selected articles on specific sample topics and methods and students’ own topics.

Additional requirements

 

To be considered for admission to this course, please explain (in the letter of motivation supporting your application for the Amsterdam Summer School) how you think discourse analysis could contribute to your specific area of interest. If you are currently working on a relevant project, please also submit an abstract of your project.

 

Flyer

 

Flyer Doing research with discourse analysis: A Discourse Perspective on Making Sense of Social Change 

Find the course also on the Sociolinguistic Events Calendar: http://baal.org.uk/slxevents.html