Introduction

Midway through the last chapter, I noted that the current state of discourse analysis and its related sub-fields leaves something to be desired. Their rather rarefied undertakings - however engrossing they may be for the direct participants - are worrisome on at least two counts. First, their intrinsic assumptions and qualities are often dubious. Second, their increasing presence in several areas of language study - fortified, no doubt, by that perennial academic prejudice for the abstract over the applied - dilutes attentions and energies that would be better directed elsewhere. It is these concerns that fuel the brief treatment found in this chapter. It may not initially appear to be of a piece with other parts of the discussion, but a cautionary note or two about an approach that has steadily gained ground in recent years may perhaps be useful as a general underpinning for what follows.

Stubbs (1984) provided an early discussion of the applicability of discourse analysis to studies of language in education. Writing at a time when such analysis was a ‘recent and open-ended field’ (Stubbs, 1984: 204) - it is no longer so recent, of course, but it is probably even more open-ended - he notes that contemporary linguistics has neglected language use in specific areas (e.g. education, medicine, law and religion). It is not that these areas have been entirely neglected, but rather that linguistics has left them to other disciplines (notably sociology).