Discourse analysis is a broad term for the study of language usage. Discourse analysis has been utilized in the humanities and social sciences, including education, linguistics, sociology, anthropology, cognitive psychology, social psychology, communication, and artificial intelligence. As such, discourse analysis includes a range of topics, such as linguistics styles and rhetoric, speakers’ and hearers’ cognition, and language in social contexts. Given that discourse analysis involves both theoretical and methodological elements, each part of the discipline has its own definition of discourse and discourse analysis as well as its own assumptions and methodologies. Data for discourse analysis are also widely ranged; they can be informal or formal conversations, in private or institutional contexts, and in spoken or written versions.

Through discourse analysis, education researchers try to make ...