The construction of English language learning in media texts: A critical discourse analysis of a newspaper advertisement

In this paper, an attempt is made to trace the construction of English language learning in a newspaper advertisement through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). It begins by stating the needs for critical understanding the construction of English language learning in the texts produced by/for English language institutions including media texts.
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The construction of English language learning in media texts: A critical discourse analysis of a newspaper advertisementJOURNAL OF SCIENCE, Hue University, Vol. 70, No 1 (2012) pp. 111-120THE CONSTRUCTION OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNINGIN MEDIA TEXTS: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSISOF A NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENTTruong Bach LeCollege of Foreign Languages, Hue UniversityAbstract. In this paper, an attempt is made to trace the construction of Englishlanguage learning in a newspaper advertisement through the lens of CriticalDiscourse Analysis (CDA). It begins by stating the needs for critical understandingthe construction of English language learning in the texts produced by/for Englishlanguage institutions including media texts. After the expressed stance of analysis,Fairclough’s widely adopted CDA model is introduced briefly followed by theactual moves of analysis of the selected advertisement.1. IntroductionThere is no denying that the number of English language learners is increasinglyon the rise in Vietnam. The reasons for this phenomenon are well known: socioeconomic and political benefits as well as prospects associated with this internationallanguage. Instrumental in boosting this popularity of the English language are theEnglish language institutions which both legitimate their educational practices which, intheir turn, regulate learner’s lives. The practices of the institutions are embodied in theirtexts of all kinds including curriculum guidelines, textbooks, notices and mediarepresentations. In this sense, apart from official documents, advertisements producedby or for English language institutions can serve to represent their version of reality, i.e.,instructional activities and the sort of person the learner is expected to become.Recognizing this opaque relationship between the projected educational reality andmedia texts, i.e., educational advertisements, requires a critical approach to reading. Inthis assignment, I attempt to explore this issue by doing a critical discourse analysis ofan advertisement from an international English institution in Vietnam- the ApolloCentre. This centre put up an advertisement for its Summer English program for younglearners in the April 21, 2006 online version of The Vietnam News Daily (See Appendix),a national English-language newspaper. My assumption is that exploring what theseinstitutions say about their programmes in the advertisement from the perspective ofdiscourse analysis will give insights into how they construct English learning, how theywill implement their intentions and how their ideology and practices may influencelearners’ identity and the wider society.111112The construction of english language learning in media texts…2. The stance brought to the textIn approaching the text, I assume that it was written for certain purposes andmust be meaningful. The language features in the text should embody the Englishinstitution’s representations of the reality and experience of language learning, of itspractices, the learners, and its attitudes to language learning as well as its relationshipswith the reader. In this regard, Halliday (1985) argues that language is a resource formaking meanings in order to realise social purposes – language as social semiotic. Hedefines text as “language that is functional” (ibid., p. 10). Halliday put forward thenotion of choice where language, or any other semiotic system, is construed as‘networks of interlocking options’ (Halliday, 1994: xiv). This resource of optionsenables language users to create a piece of text – either written or spoken – tocommunicate meaning. The meaning conveyed is directly dependent on what optionwithin the system is chosen or not chosen. I believe that the language of the text bearstraces of its institutional and social contexts, reflecting the constraints of contexts.Halliday (1985, p. 11) says text is “ an instance of the process and product of socialmeanings in a particular context of situation … which is encapsulated in the text , not ina piecemeal fashion , nor in a mechanical way, but through a systematic relationshipbetween the environment and the functional organisation of language”. Anotherassumption I have about this text is that the information it gives about the Englishprogramme will give an idea of how the discourse of English learning and teaching isconstrued by the institution. The discourse of English learning and teaching here isunderstood in Foucault’s terms (in Hall, 2001, p. 72): “a group of statements whichprovide language for talking about- a way of representing the knowledge about – aparticular topic at a particular historical moment….”In summary, I attempt to uncover the implicit ideologies of the text as it shapesand is shaped by social practice. In this way, the project needs to examine how the textconstitutes the world of English language learning and teaching and vice ...