Language learning as discourse analysis: implications for the LSP learning environment

From the mid-twentieth century onwards, three parallel developments in language studies have contributed to shaping the current landscape in Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP). Firstly, discourse analysis has become an increasingly influential area of research within a number of disciplines, including sociology, sociolinguistics, psychology, anthropology, and applied linguistics. Secondly, the communicative approach to language learning and teaching, with its emphasis on practical communicative activities, has led to a need for genuine examples of language use, both written and spoken, to be made available to language learners. The Web provides an excellent source of such material. Thirdly, technological advances have also made developments in corpus linguistics potentially available to all the actors in the language-learning process, including the producers of materials and resources, teachers, and even learners. This may appear to represent an ideal learning and teaching environment for those involved in specialised language use, with easy access to individual examples of specialised texts (used here to refer to both written and spoken language), readily and freely available corpora permitting the analysis of discourse patterns across texts, and publications on language learning and teaching as discourse analysis providing guidance to teachers who are not experienced discourse analysts.