critical discourse analysis

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a field of integrated approaches from critical linguistics and social sciences. It is first developed by the Lancaster school of linguists of which Norman Fairclough was the most prominent figure. Fairclough (1992, 1995) asserted that discourse is the complex of three elements: text, discourse practice (text production, distribution and consumption), and social practice. In his view, analysis should also be carried out by considering these three elements, and he accordingly suggests a three-dimensional framework consisting of textual analysis, discourse practice, and socio-cultural practice. Remarkable contributions are made by van Dijk and Ruth Wodak to the field of critical discourse analysis. According to van Dijk (1998), critical discourse analysis concerned with studying and analyzing written and spoken texts to reveal the discursive sources of power, dominance, inequality and bias. It examines how these discursive sources are maintained and reproduced within specific social, political and historical contexts. Wodak & Meyer (2001) argued that critical discourse analysis requires a relationship between structures of written or spoken texts and social processes which give rise to the production of texts. Thus, CDA highlights the substantively linguistic and discursive nature of social relation of power in contemporary societies.