Context of Culture and Context of Situation - Essay Example

Design and Execution of Critical Analysis Name: Institution: Date: Design and Execution of Critical Analysis Introduction The terms context of culture and context of situation were coined by Bronislaw Malinowski. Language can be fully understood when the two aspects are interpreted explicitly or implicitly by the interlocutors. Language exists within a culture. Knowledge is usually transmitted in social contexts via relationships that are defined in value systems and culture ideology. Meanings are realized within the context of the situation (Fairclough, 2003). Texts are understood within the context of situations in which they are spoken or written. A static presentation of situations makes it impossible to account for various communicative situations that result in difficulties like misinterpretation, misunderstanding, inter-cultural clashes, and incomprehension. Malinowski explains that the central character of any language is the mode of action as opposed to the instrument of reflection. Meanings that can be understood have to be accompanied by a situation in any translation of a written text into another language. Grammar results in the potential in which people act and enact their being (Halliday & Hasan, 1985). The potential is enabling and the same time constraining hence grammar makes grammar possible and on the other hand sets the boundary on what can be meant. Discourse is a group of patterned way of thinking or ideas that can be identified in verbal and textual communications, and can further be located in broad social structures. Discourse analysis offers insight into the specific functioning bodies of knowledge in their particular situated contexts through generation of interpretative claims regarding the power effects of a specific discourse on group of people, devoid of claims of generalization to other contexts (Fairclough, 2013). Discourses can be simply defined as ways of representing while genres are ways of acting. Genres refer to semiotic ways of interacting and acting like job interviews or news, editorials in newspapers or reports, or advertisements over the internet or TV. Discourses on the other hand are semiotic ways in which aspects of the world are construed. Many contemporary analytical approaches adopt Foucault’s conception of discourses as rule-bound statements sets which impose boundaries on what gives meaning (Locke, 2004). The text in this essay has been written by the leaders by the Coalition in Australia during an electioneering year targeting to persuade the electorate to vote for them in the September 2013 polls. Context of the Text Text refers to spoken or written language that is produced in a discursive event. Context of situation comprise of three important aspects namely tenor, field, and mode. Field addresses what is happening, the nature of social action that is being engaged in. it addresses the question of what action is being undertaken (Fairclough, 2013). Tenor defines who is engaged in the action; the characteristics of the participants, their roles and their status: what type of role relationship exists in the participants, including temporary and permanent relationships of one type or another, both the whole cluster significant relationships in which they are engaged in and the types of speech role that are involved in the dialogue. The verbal and nonverbal actions of the participants are important. Mode defines the part of language that is being played, what result that the participants expect the language to yield in that situation. The three aspects of situational context are collectively referred to as register. Whereas social activities persist to be interpreted by the discourses in which they are composed, the discourses themselves and the texts that result from them can only be properly understood with reference to social activities within which they are embedded, and whose goals and functions are shaped to attain (Halliday & Hasan, 1985). The text being discussed is a political text hence it represents a political discourse analysis. This political text was written in August 2013 ahead of the general election that was to be held in September the same year. The Rudd-Gillard government had been accused of excessive spending. It is in the wake of election campaigns ahead of the polls held later in September. In the course of the campaigns there was a widespread perceptions that the Coalition are better placed to cut down spending as compared to Labor government, but Rudd-Gillard government had had substantially cut down spending. Opposition leader, Tony Abbot, had observed that the answer to every problem for the Labor government was more spending. This particular text points out the weaknesses of Rudd-Gillard government education policy and offers an alternative to the problems bombarding the education sector (Taylor, 1995). Previous Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd had been engaged in bitter rivalry over the position of the Prime Minister in their government. The Coalition points out excessive spending as one of the major weakness of Rudd-Gillard government. Text Introduction In summary, this is a document which is the Coalition’s policy for schools dubbed as Student first. This document that is form of prose articulates important issues with regard to education that Rudd-Gillard government has failed to address and what the Coalition intends to do when given the mandate through the ballot by the electorate. The Coalition states how it will improve schools as well as education outcomes for students. The Coalition pledges to permit more say for parents and teachers, improve teaching quality, offers a sound national curriculum, and ensure that there is certainty over funding for school. The Coalition punches holes in the policy used by the current government and laments that it has led to Australian schools going backwards since it was given the mandate on 2007. Instead of coming up with elaborate solutions to dwindling performance, the government led by Rudd-Gillard has focused its attention on discussions about models of funding and the amount of funds available to schools. The Coalition points out that more money is not the solution but better education outcomes. The Coalition reckons that the Labor government is obsessed with Commonwealth takeover of local schools instead of urgently dealing with the fall standards of education (Simpson, 1993). This represents misplaced priorities on the part of Rudd-Gillard Government. The Coalition explains that the plan by the Labor government will only result into an inflexible and rigid system that will undermine autonomy, as well as local level responsiveness that plays a pivotal part in realization of better outcomes of education in the long-run. The Coalition through this document offers an alternative approach to dealing with issues surrounding the education sector. The Coalition is of the opinion that schools are best managed by people who are on the ground and can make decisions addressing local issues. School communities will be given greater opportunity of deciding what is best for their school since it will not be fair if all important decisions are made at the capital, Canberra. The Coalition promises to implement real change that will allow all Australian local communities and schools to have the best chance with regard to improvement of education outcomes. This is political text in form of report outlining what the Coalition intend to do about transforming the education system in Australia for better outcomes to be realized. The audience being addressed by this text is the electorate who are supposed to vote in the September 2013 elections. The Coalition targets to persuade the electorate to vote for them for offering better and alternative solutions to the problems driving education in Australia backwards. By saying ‘if elected’, the Coalition state the position under which they will be able to deliver on their promises. They have good ideas for the Australian education sector but they can only implement those ideas if elected. Therefore, the electorate is the first audience being address by the political text. Secondly, the Coalition addresses the ruling government over the mistakes or flaws they have committed in the education sector. By spelling out the pitfalls and misplaced priorities of the education systems and the neglecting of the local communities opinion, the Coalition was telling the government to change its approach to issues to do with education policy. The Coalition advises that schools are best run by people on the ground (Taylor, 1995). The teachers and students are also addressed by the text. The text is referred to as student first; hence the policy being fronted will put the welfare of the students above everything else in matters to do with education. The Coalition promises certainty in funding. The Coalition promises to provide Australian schools, students, teachers and their parents with funding certainty that they deserve. The purpose of the text is to win the confidence and trust of the electorate ahead of the September 2013 elections for better chance of ascending into power. Once the Coalition had the confidence of the Australian public, they would have been assured of being voted in the elections that happened in September. The electorate in Australia is literate and hence the Coalition has taken advantage by articulating their ideas in the text in a detailed manner outlining point by point what the government has failed to do and what they intend to do. The Coalition promises plenty of opportunities for students, teachers and the local community. The Coalition has pointed out the looming pitfalls of the current education policy which it reckons does not address the current needs of Australia. Australian students have to compete successfully on the global front. Analysis at theoretical level Theoretical approach to critical discourse analysis entails a realist social ontology, a dialectical observation of the relationship between agency and structure, and the relation between discourse and other ‘moments’ or elements of social events and social practices (Young, 2009). The foreign policy of Australia is affected by what goes on the ground. The Coalition in the text raises important issues that delay the success of Australian foreign policy with its partners. The Coalition observes that encouraging students to study second languages in schools will help Australia gain prominence in the international community. The students will be encouraged to continue studying foreign languages in year 11 and 12. Students abandon foreign languages in secondary schools because they worry so much about competing with native speakers. The Coalition will prioritize the development of the curriculum for national languages for 13 foreign languages for mainstream schools by 2015. Changes processes are construed devoid of responsible agents; they are construed in a timeless and historical present. The coalitions details bit by bit what they intend to do for improvement of teaching languages in Australian schools. Statements concerning the new order are construed authoritatively and categorically as unmodalized truths, and there is distinct movement from the ‘is’ to it ‘ought’ (Toolan, 2002). This is seen where the Coalition state what the situation in the education is like and what ought to be. The Coalition will ensure that Australian school students will access world-class national languages curriculum by 2015. According to the Australian Academy of Science the interest in science for Australia students is going down and achievement standards are slipping and the government cuts funding for science education programs primary and high school. The Coalition states that they will ensure restoration of focus on science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The Coalition pledges to maintain funding for science programs as opposed to the option cutting down funding being done by Labor. The Coalition promises in social change that will transform the education sector in Australia. The aim of the text is to create hope and persuade the electorate to be convinced that the Coalition is the best to take over the government in the September 2013 polls. Critical theory can be explained as a critique of historically-embedded political and social institutions that oppress the public while at the same time showing practical intent to bring down such oppression. The critical social theory practical intent has the target of providing people with the means to change the oppressive situations whether perceived or hidden. A critical theory that does not have a practical dimension is bankrupt on its own. Critical social theory expounds how groups of people exist with regard to historically dominant ideologies responsible for structuring their experience (Duranti & Goodwin, 1992). The particular process attributed to critical theory is occasioning self-liberating practices within groups of people applying oppressive conditions awareness. The fundamental goal of critical theory is emancipation of people as a consequence of being aware of any other alternate interpretation that entails a preferable future. The Coalition political texts explains what the Rudd-Gillard government is not doing right and offers an alternative of doing things right. They want to have the support of the public so that they rise to power to make critical decisions. Applying notions of ideology together with false consciousness, critical theory identifies ways in which a social phenomenon can be made to be less oppressive (Toolan, 2002). The Coalition has enumerated many issues that have not been tackled well by the Rudd-Gillard government and have led to education standards going backwards. Various teaching courses in Australia as pointed out by the Coalition emphasize on theoretical skills rather than practical skills required in preparation of teachers for actual life in their career. The Coalition suggests that teacher training courses have to adequately prepare teachers for the prevailing realities in modern day classrooms. The Coalition will attain this will call on the Ministerial Advisory Group to offer advice to state governments to changes required for improvement of teacher training courses. Analysis at methods level Methodological approach involves working in a ‘transdisciplinary’ manner using dialogue with other theories and disciplines that address contemporary processes regarding social change. Transdisciplinary as opposed to interdisciplinary indicates that methodological and theoretical development of critical discourse analysis and the theories/disciplines it is in dialogue with is communicated through that dialogue, a concept of working with the categories and ‘logic’ of the other in the development of one’s methodology and theory. The objective is to identify using analysis the semiotic, linguistic, as well as interdiscursive features of ‘texts’ that form part of social change processes (Fairclough, 2003). The field in this case involves a political text that addresses the challenges facing the Education sector in Australia and seeks to persuade the Australia’s electorate to vote for the Coalition since they offer hope, opportunity and reward. The text was written in August at the height of the election campaigns ahead of the polls the following month. Fallacies can be pointed out in the Coalition text does not translate to the text being perceived as fallacious. The goal of the Coalition is to make the construal identities and the argument persuasive to the best of their knowledge. Contemporary society is normally post-traditional. Consequently, traditions have to be justified against other alternative possibilities as opposed to being taken for granted. Critical discourse analysis of texts has to be a significant part of social scientific analysis of entire range of cultural and social processes and practices (Kinginger, 2008). The Coalition through this political text enumerates several issues that necessitate social change. The poor standards in schools and the non-prioritization of foreign languages will hurt the change of Australian students to compete in the global front and Australia to have influence beyond its borders. Trade and trading partners like South Korea, Japan, China, India and Indonesia are some of the countries that the Coalition is calling for proactive measures to ensure learning of languages of Australia’s partners to enhance development. Presentation of analysis Texts construe identities and the same time pursues to make the construals persuasive (Fairclough, 2013). The political text by the Coalition has been summed in three words at the end of the text: hope, reward and opportunity. This text is persuasive as much as possible and uses the policies created by Rudd-Gillard to launch attacks on their government. The electorate has to be fully informed in order to make a sober decision in the elections that were later held in September. This is a nonfiction genre in form a report that communicates important message to the political class and the electorate in an electioneering year. It is at the imminence of election that this document policy by the coalition is written. The document aims to persuade and create hope in the electorate if they embrace the coalition and vote for it in instead of the Labor government that has failed on its promises and policies. The Coalition purports to be representing real social change that will benefit all Australians regardless of where they are. They are want important decisions to involve people who are affected on the ground by the education policy than leaving everything to be decided at the capital. The Coalition reminds the electorate that Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd made a mockery of their attempt to provide the ‘Gonski’ reforms. The government went ahead to agree to five different funding models with about five different jurisdictions. The ruling government shows total confusion in the matters of education. Seven different deals have been contracted with five governments of Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales and the Capital Territory and additional two main non-government school bodies. The Coalition on the other hand promises to change this mess and bring order in the education sector. Regardless of the deal with the Rudd-Gillard Government the Coalition was set to ensure that Commonwealth schools funding committed by the previous government for 2014 was will be given to all States and Territories (Wodak, 2002). The Coalition will match the Commonwealth funding for schools promised by the ruling government over the forward estimates. The Coalition promises improved teacher quality as well as support. The Australia’s electorate is in a better situation to understand the situation on the ground rather than any other foreigner. The language being communicated in the text has to be aptly interpreted by the audience being addressed. The standards of teaching that had hitherto existed in Australia are better known to Australians citizens. The promises that the Labor party had made in 2007 and failed to deliver are also clear in the minds of the electorate. The audience can identify by the points being raised in the text by the Coalition. When the Coalition refers to better teacher standards, the Australian citizens can identify better with the phrase than any other foreign. The Coalition talks about ‘blunt’ approaches in admission standards being applied by the ruling regime. The Coalition state that they will improve admission standards through encouraging qualities that contributes to good teachers like community service and communication skills. The text was meant to raise the hope of Australians and incite them against the ruling regime that does not take the educations of their daughters and sons serious (Taylor, 1995). Gapping flaws in the formulation of policies and exclusion of people on the ground are some of the concerns that have been raised by the Coalition through the text. The electorate has to identify with these problems and agree with the Coalition in order to vote out Rudd-Gillard government. The Coalition went ahead and won the September election that determined the 44th Parliament of Australia. Kevin Rudd, the former Prime Minister, was defeated by the leader of the Coalition Tony Abbot. Seemingly the dialect using in the political text and other campaign messages worked for the Coalition by persuading the electorate. The electorate gave the mandate to the Coalition to form the government in September 2013. The mode being the results expected by the tenor (the participants) was achieved while the field being communicated was precise and comprehensive to the electorate. The electorate understood the language being used in the text and were convinced that the Coalition were ready to lead Australia to the new social change in the education sector and other areas that needed improvement or change (Wodak, 2002). The text achieved the mode of its tenors by using an effective field that appealed to the electorate in the September 2013 polls. Kevin Rudd government was defeated by the opposition led by Tony Abbot. Conclusion Texts can be understood or their meanings rightly deciphered when they are interpreted within the social or cultural context. Use of language is shaped dynamically. Methodological and theoretical approaches have been used to interpret meanings of texts within their social and cultural context. The critical theory calls for social change where there is oppression by a social phenomenon. In this case, Australia education sector needs an overhaul and the Coalition is asking the electorate to give them the change to be agents of this social change. This text is best understood in its cultural and social context as described by Fairclough. Foreigner can best understand a spoken or written text within its social or cultural context. References Duranti, A., & Goodwin, C. (1992), Rethinking context: Language as an interactive phenomenon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Fairclough, N. (2003). Analyzing discourse: textual analysis for social research, London; New York: Routledge. Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R. (1985), Language context and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective, Geelong: Deakin University Press. Fairclough, N. (2013). Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language, New York: Routledge. Kinginger, C. (2008). Language learning in study abroad: Case studies of Americans in France, Malden, MA & Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Locke, T. (2004), Critical discourse analysis, London: Continuum. Simpson, P. (1993) Language, Ideology and Point of View, New York: Routledge. Taylor, C. (1995), Philosophical Arguments. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Toolan, M. (2002) Critical Discourse Analysis, London: Routledge. Young, F.R., 2009, Discursive practice in language learning, London: Wiley-Blackwell. Wodak, R. (2002). ‘Discourse and politics: The rhetoric of exclusion.’ In R. Wodak & A. Pelinka (Eds), The Haider Phenomenon in Austria (pp. 33-60). New Brunswick/London: Transaction. Read More