Introduction to Discourse Studies

Introduction to Discourse Studies follows on Jan Renkema’s successful Discourse Studies: An Introductory Textbook (1993), published in four languages. This new book deals with even more key concepts in discourse studies and approaches major issues in this field from the Anglo-American and European as well as the Australian traditions. It provides a ‘scientific toolkit’ for future courses on discourse studies and serves as a stepping stone to the independent study of professional literature.Introduction to Discourse Studies is the result of more than twenty-five years of experience gained in doing research and teaching students, professionals and academics at various universities. The book is organized in fifteen comprehensive chapters, each subdivided in modular sections that can be studied separately. It includes • 400 references, from the most-cited contemporary publications to influential classic works; • 500 index entries covering frequently used concepts in the field; • more than 100 thought-provoking questions, all elaborately answered, which are ideal for teacher-supported self-education; • nearly 100 assignments that provide ample material for teachers to focus on specific topics of their own preference in their lectures. Jan Renkema is a member of the Department of Communication and Information Sciences at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. He is also editor of Discourse, of Course (2009) and author of The Texture of Discourse (2009). In 2009, a Chinese edition of Introduction to Discourse Studies was published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Table of Contents:
1. Acknowledgments; 2. 1. Introduction; 3. Part I. General orientation; 4. 2. Communication as action; 5. 3. Discourse in communication; 6. Part II. Backpacking for a scientific journey; 7. 4. Discourse types; 8. 5. Structured content; 9. 6. Discourse connections; 10. 7. Contextual phenomena; 11. 8. Style; 12. Part III. Special modes of communication; 13. 9. Conversation analysis; 14. 10. Informative discourse; 15. 11. Narratives; 16. 12. Argumentation and persuasion; 17. Part IV. Special interests; 18. 13. Discourse and cognition; 19. 14. Discourse and institution; 20. 15. Discourse and culture; 21. Key to the questions; 22. References; 23. Index

Review :
In the field of discourse studies, pedagogic finesse and intellectual acumen are not always capacities that walk comfortably hand in hand. In this book, however, the author dons both hats with consummate ease in his function as a self-styled human bridge, guiding us across a comprehensive range of text linguistic, social semiotic and pragmatic approaches to meaning beyond the clause. This book really lives up to its aim of providing the prospective student with a scientific 'toolkit' [...]. I certainly recommend this as the main textbook on discourse studies/analysis courses. Renkema discusses an extraordinary number of research studies - not only the classic studies, but many current ones - carefully explaining the goals and methods and results of each one, and specifying what makes the study important for the field. I have rarely seen a text as thorough and as clear as this one, and I recommend it without reservation. This well-presented book has at least five merits: clarity, up-to-date bibliography, interdisciplinary perspective, a synthesis of approaches, theories, and key concepts, and numerous and varied assignments... inspired and inspiring, joining theoretical knowledge with suggestions for applications. In my view, Jan Renkema has set the bar extremely high with his textbook, Introduction to Discourse Studies. So high, in fact, that it is hard to imagine any book in this field as fine as this one appearing anytime soon. This is a masterful and comprehensive piece of scholarship, by the best-selling author of Discourse Studies, representing more than twenty years of research and teaching on the organization and sociocultural implications of discourse. This book, covering a diversity of topics and issues, including discourse types, discourse structure, argumentation, conversation analysis, narrative, electronic communication, institutional discourse, and critical discourse analysis, as well as a "Questions and Assignments" section with each chapter, will make a splendid course text, and will also be a mainstay in the libraries of all scholars interested in any aspect of discourse. This book is a magnificent work which is outstanding for its great clarity and didactic orientation, a book in which the theoretical information and its applications are complemented by questions aimed at development and by a specific bibliography for each chapter. Few works can offer such coherence and system, qualities which will undoubtedly place "Introduction to Discourse Studies" among those valuable classic reference works for academic training. This is the book we have all been waiting for: an excellent and comprehensive, very well written, theoretically innovative overview of and introduction to Discourse Studies, much needed in Linguistics, Cultural Studies and in the Social Sciences. It appeals to students as well as to scholars in many disciplines. For anybody concerned with the analysis of texts and discourses, this book is a 'must-read'.