Discourse Analysis and Language Teaching

Abstract

This paper examines how discourse analysis can strengthen language teaching by moving beyond sentence-level grammar toward language as purposeful social action. In English Language Teaching, teachers are expected to keep pace with expanding methods and research, and discourse analysis offers a practical lens for connecting form, meaning, and context in both spoken and written communication. By working with authentic texts and interaction, teachers can help learners notice how cohesion, turn-taking, stance, and politeness shape interpretation and relationships. The paper outlines key concepts, contrasts discourse-based and sentence-based approaches, and proposes classroom applications such as guided text exploration, interactional tasks, and reflective feedback. Emphasis is placed on developing learners’ communicative repertoire and appropriacy across settings. The discussion concludes that discourse-informed pedagogy supports fluency, motivation, and transfer of classroom learning to real-world communication. It gives teachers a principled basis for task-based work.