SUBJECT OUTLINE

58102 Language and Discourse

Course area

UTS: Communication

Delivery

Spring 2015; City

Credit points 8cp

Result type

Grade, no marks

Subject coordinator
Associate Professor Katrina Schlunke
Email: katrina.schlunke@uts.edu.au
Consultation Times: I am available at diverse times so email me, talk to me after the lecture or catch me after a tutorial to make a
time. In an emergency I can be called on 0405066159
(Note: please email your tutor in the first instance for general queries regarding attendance, subject content, extensions
and assessments)

Subject description
This subject introduces three key communication concepts, develops a thematic study and teaches skills in the medium of sound.
The concepts are Discourse, Genre and 'Multimodality'. Through multimodal analysis and practice, students understand
communication as combinations of representations, cultural forms and specific communicative resources (verbal and non-verbal,
visual and auditory, etc), assembling complex relations of thoughts and feelings. The thematic research explores the different ways
in which important social and cultural issues are represented in a range of media. Students extend their learning by
experimentation in multimodal writing in different genres, such as 'report', 'story', argument', 'appeal', etc, and they reach out for
different audiences with sound practice. The subject equips students with the concepts and methods to reflect critically on their own
experience of language phenomena through the issues systematically explored.

Subject objectives
a. Explain how language and representation is used in various forms of discourse
b. Analyse a variety of texts using the concepts of genre, discourse and multimodality
c. Create and edit sound files
d. Reflect on their own experience of language and discourse
e. Justify arguments and statements

Teaching and learning strategies

Lectures will introduce the key theoretical terms which students will discuss further in weekly tutorials. Exercises carried out in
tutorials will clarify weekly readings and develop students capacities to use introduced concepts in a variety of settings and with a
diverse set of texts.

Content
The functions of language, critical discourse analysis and Foucauldian genealogies of discourses; the recognition of a broad range
of genres; theories of representation and difference; modes of analysis of multimodal texts, ways of conceptualising complex ideas
in different contexts including sonic ones and strategies for analyzing and intervening in dominant discourses.

Program
Week/Session

Dates

Description

30 July & 31st July

Introduction
This week introduces you to the normalising power of discourse and provides an
overview of the aims, objectives and assessments of the subject. It also introduces in a
limited way the key vocabulary of the course (which will be revisited in later weeks)
namely discourse, representation, genre, mutimodality and cultural forms.

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6th & 7th August

Language and Representation

This week explains the relationship between language and representation and how they
can be analysed using the semiotic approaches of Roland Barthes. We consider the
claim made by Barthes that 'myth' is the ideological function of naturalising meaning.
This then leads us into Michel Foucault's concept of discourse which will be further
developed in the following week.
Set Readings:
O'Sullivan, T. (et al) 1994, 'Language and Language Function', in Key concepts in
communications and cultural studies, Routledge, London, pp. 161-166.
Hall, S. (ed.) 1997, 'Introduction', in Representation: cultural representations and
signifying practices, Sage in association with The Open University, London, pp. 1-6.
Barthes, R. 2006, 'Myth Today', in A. Jaworski & N. Coupland (eds), The discourse
reader, Routledge, London, pp. 108-21.
Further Reading:
van Leeuwen, T. 2008, 'Metaphors of Voice Quality', in N. Anderson & K. Schlunke
(eds), Cultural Theory In Everyday Practice, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne,
Vic, pp. 268-276.

13th & 14th August

Discourse
Foucault's concept of discourse has many elements to it. It encompasses the production
of a topic and a subject (the kinds of subjectivities produced by that topic), defines
objects of knowledge and governs how something can be meaningfully talked about or
represented. This week explores in depth all those aspects of discourse, providing some
examples to help in identifying discourses and the elements that make them up.
Set Readings:
Hall, S. 1997, 'From Language to Discourse', in Representation: cultural representations
and signifying practices, Sage, London, pp. 44-47.
Frow, J. 2005, 'Discourse', in New keywords: a revised vocabulary of culture and society,
Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 91-94.
Barker, C. & Galasinki, D. 2001, 'The Regulation of Language', in Cultural studies and
discourse analysis: a dialogue on language and identity, Sage, London, pp.12-14.
Further Reading:
Foucault, M. 2006, 'The Incitement to Discourse', in A. Jaworski & N. Coupland (eds)
The discourse reader, Routledge, London, pp. 491-98.

20th & 21st August

Genre
Genre refers to the way in which we organise particular kinds of literature and cultural
productions. We do so by identifying plots, stereotypes, contexts and emotional effects.
Genre describes particular combinations that we may call 'the soap opera', 'a romance
novel' etc. Genres depend upon conventions. We explore what they are and how they
work while also looking at how they shape our knowledge of the world.
Set Reading:
Mikula, M. 2008, 'Genre', in Key concepts in cultural studies, Palgrave, Basingstoke, p. 7.
Frow, J. 2006, 'Genre and Interpretation', in Genre: the new critical idiom, Routledge,
London, pp. 100- 114.
Bode, L. 2010, 'Transitional tastes: teen girls and genre in the critical reception of
Twilight' in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 707-719.
Further Reading:
Radway, J. 1999, 'Romance and the work of fantasy: struggles over feminine sexuality

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and subjectivity at century's end', in M. Shiach (ed.), Feminism and cultural studies,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 395-415.
Useful Further Resources
Driscoll, C. 2013, 'Girl Culture and the "Twilight" Franchise', in A. Morey (ed.), Genre,
reception and adaption in the 'Twilight' series, Ashgate, London, pp. 94-110.
Mills and Boon Author Guidelines:
(Nocturne)https://www.millsandboon.com.au/author-guidelines#nocturne
Notes:
Assignment 1: 'Elements of Discourse' - Hard Copy DUE in tutorial
(Don't forget to attach a signed Cover Sheet)
Make sure you have alreday uploaded an electronic copy to Turnitin.

27th & 28th August

Multimodality
Multimodality is the mixture of textual, audio, and visual modes in combination with
media and materiality to create meaning. Everything from the placement of images to
the organisation of the content creates meaning. Examples include magazine articles
that use words and pictures, or websites which contain audio clips alongside the words,
or film which uses words, music, sound effects and moving images. This week will
explore the ways in which multimodality works with us to produce meaning.
Set Readings:
Machin, D. 2013, 'What is multimodal critical discourse studies?', in Critical Discourse
Studies, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 347-355.
Zhao, S. 2014, 'Selling the indie taste: a social semiotic analysis of frankie magazine', in
E. Djonov & S. Zhao (eds), Critical Multimodal Studies of Popular Discourse, Routledge,
New York, pp.143-159.
Further Reading:
van Leeuwen, T. 2005, 'Multimodality, genre and design', in S. Norris and R.H. Jones
(eds), Discourse in action introducing mediated discourse analysis, Routledge, London,
pp. 74-88.

3rd & 4th Sept

The Language of Race and Racism

This week we look at the ways in which specific forms of language, orders of
representation and styles of knowing produce a variety of racial discourses. We consider
various manifestations of these discourses and their results, including 'whiteness' and
government policies that removed Australian Indigenous children, racial hatred law, and
acts of resistance and 'reknowing'.
Set Reading:
Moreton-Robinson, A. 2004, 'Whiteness, epistemology and Indigenous representation',
in Whitening race: essays in social and cultural criticism, Aboriginal Studies Press,
Canberra, pp. 75-88.
Langton, M. 2005, 'The valley of the dolls: black humour in the art of Destiny Deacon', in
Destiny Deacon: walk and don't look back, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, pp.
66-76.
O'Connell, K. 2008, 'Pinned like a butterfly: whiteness and racial hatred laws', in
AustralianCritical Race and Whiteness Journal, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 1-12.
Further Reading:
Koerner, C. 2010, 'Whose security? How white possession is reinforced in everyday
speech about asylum seekers', in Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies
AssociationJournal, vol. l6, no. 1, pp. 1-14.

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Useful Further Resources

Moreton-Robinson, A. 2007, Whitening race: essays in social and cultural criticism,
Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Schlunke, K. 2005, Bluff Rock; Autobiography of a Massacre, Fremantle Arts Press: Perth

10th & 11th Sept

Affective, Embodiment and Transmission

Affect is commonly associated with feeling and emotion. This week we explore the
affective turn and some of the diverse thinking around how affect works, individually
and socially. We consider what this might mean for communication and where this might
take us as we prepare to extend our focus to sound. Through an examination of affect
and emotion, which exceeds, informs, and sometimes confounds representation, we
explore the notions of embodiment and transmission, considering them in relation to the
operations of language and discourse.
Set Readings:
Gibbs, A. 2001, 'Contagious feelings: Pauline Hanson and the epidemiology of affect, in
Australian Humanities Review, vol. 24.
Hardt, M. 2007, 'What affects are good for', in The affective turn: theorizing the social,
Duke University Press, Durham and London, pp. ix-xiii.
Further reading:
Gregg, M. & Seigworth G.J. (eds) 2010,'An inventory of shimmers' in The affect theory
reader, Duke University Press, Durham and London, pp. 1-25.
Useful Further Resources
Brennan, T. 2004, 'Introduction' in The transmission of affect, Cornell University Press,
Ithaca, N.Y., pp. 1-24.
Riley, D. 2005, 'Introduction' in Impersonal passion, Duke University Press, Durham and
London, pp. 1-7.

17th & 18th Sept

Sound and Speech

This week we encounter the world of sound and speech. This lecture introduces some
basic ideas about voice, soundscape,sound as text, and the nature of listening. Through
listening to examples, we explore the nature of the speaking voice, the power of sound,
and the distinctive features of radio as an audio medium.
Set Listening:
Noise: a human history 2013, radio program, BBC Radio 4, episode 23,
London, 26 April: (links on UTS Online).
Set Reading:
McLeish, Robert (2005) Writing for the Ear' in Scriptwriting (chap 4) pp 46-52.
Murray Schafer, R. (1977) The Industrial revolution (chap 5) in Tuning of the World pp
71-87.
Further Reading:
Hendy, D (2014) 'The Great War and British Broadcasting: Emotional Life in the
Creation of the BBC' in New Formations, Spring, Issue 82, p.82(18)
Useful Further Resources:
Lacey K. 2013, Listening publics: the politics and experiences of listening in the media
age, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Notes:
ASSIGNMENT 2 Discourse Analysis - Hard Copy DUE in Tutorial
(Don't forget to attach a signed Cover Sheet)

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Make sure an electronic copy already sent through Turnitin.

24th & 25th Sept

STUDY WEEK No Classes.

AND VICE-CHANCELLORS WEEK 1st & 2nd No Classes
Begin 'attuning' to the world while watching how discourse organises that world.

10

8th & 9th Oct

Radio Genres
This week we track the birth and development of a particular radio genre - radio news
and current affairs. It explores how it is that we learn to recognize the genres of radio
through listening, and how discourses operate within the radio/audio text. And it asks:
Why were BBC radio news presenters required to wear ties and dinner jackets when
reading the news alone in the studio?
Set Listening:
The high price of childbirth in Afganistan, 2011, radio program, ABC Radio National PM,
Sydney, 26 July.
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/201107/20110726-pm5-kabuldaughters.mp3
Set Reading
Crisell, Andrew (1994) 'Radio Signs and Codes' in Understanding Radio, Routledge,
London, pp. 42-63.
Hutchby, I. 2001, 'Witnessing: the use of first-hand knowledge in legitimating lay opinions
on talk radio' in Discourse Studies, vol. 3, p. 481.
Further Reading
Shingler, M. & Wieringa, C. 1998, 'Words, speech and voices', in On air: methods and
meanings of radio, Arnold, New York, pp. 30-50.
Useful Further Resources:
Starkey, G (2004) 'Glossary (Radio)' in Radio In Context, Pagrave, London, pp.233-249

11

15th &16th Oct

Interventions and Making Sound Files

This week's lecture will include a demonstration and overview of the resources you have
access to in undertaking and completing your final assignment. It will also include
textual, visual and sonic productions that have been used to intervene in dominant
discourses in different historical contexts. The tutorial will be spent listening to the first
efforts of students and receiving further advice and guidance
Notes:
Please bring a sound file in progress or solid notes of your final assessment plans
to workshop in the tutorial.

12

22nd & 23rd Oct

Radio Documentary as Discourse: a case study

A discourse analysis of a Walkley award winning radio documentary. A disturbing
detective story about the world of backyard abortion in Australia during WWll and its
effects on one family.
Set Listening:
The Search for Edna Lavilla is available for listening at
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/radioeye/stories/2007/1928449.htm
Set Reading:
Starkey, Guy (2004) , Analysing radio: applying media theory to radio contexts, in
Radio in Context pp 25-32.
Michelle Arrow (2007) , 'Review of Eurydice Aroney and Sharon Davis The Search for
Edna Lavilla, History Australia, Vol 4 (2), pp 47.1 47.2.

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Further Reading:
Baird, B (2006) 'Maternity, Whiteness and National Identity' in Australian Feminist
Studies, 21:50, pp.197-221.
Useful Further Resources
Davis, Sharon &Aroney, Eurydice (2007) Radio Script: The Search for Edna Lavilla,
(Refer UTS Online)

13

29th & 30th Oct

Discursive Soundings and Overview

This final lecture puts the whole subject into perspective, thinks about discourse in our
ordinary world and thinks through sound to reconsider the normative productions of
discourse.
Students will exhibit their Sound Files in the tutorial
Notes:
Assignment 3: 'Sonic Intervention' Exegesis DUE in tutorial. Sound File must
uploaded to UTSOnline BEFORE your tutorial.
Please include a stamped SAE with your exegesis if you want it returned

Assessment
Assessment task 1: Elements of Discourse
Objective(s):

a and b

Weight:

20%

Task:

Identify a major discourse operating in the contemporary world and its key elements.

Length:

750 words (including all in-text references and bibliography)

Due:

Week 4

Criteria:

Relevance of choice of discourse

Clarity of description of elements
Coherence of points
Relevance of referenced material
Quality of researched materials

Assessment task 2: Discourse Analysis

Objective(s):

a, b and c

Weight:

30%

Task:

Identify and analyse two different texts that manifest two different discourses about a given subject.

Length:

1000-1500 words (including all in-text referencing and bibliography)

Due:

Week 8

Criteria:

Appropriateness of the choice of texts for analysis

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Criteria:

Appropriateness of the choice of texts for analysis

Depth of analysis of texts
Coherence of argument
Lucidity of style
Relevance of referenced material
Accuracy of referencing

Assessment task 3: Sonic Intervention

Objective(s): a, b and c
Weight:

50%

Task:

Choose a contemporary event from the last three months. Identify its organising discourse and create a counter
or alternative, sound based text, using your knowledge of genre, multimodality and the examples provided in
previous weeks. The sound file should be produced with a care for quality and can use original voice using the
UTS booths or equivalent as well as existing sound files. Your sound file must be accompanied by a written
exegesis that explains the key purpose of the piece, identifies your imagined audience and tells us how the
sounds you have chosen have produced an intervention within the organising discourses of the original
text/event. The exegesis must also include a reflection upon your conceptual and technical process in producing
the piece.

Length:

Sound Recording: 2-3 minutes

Exegesis Word Limit: 1000 words (including all in-text referencing and bibliography)

Due:

Week 13

Criteria:

Relevance of sound recording to selected audience

Clarity of sound recording
Imaginative use of sounds
Relevance of referenced material
Clarity of written purpose
Depth of intellectual imagination displayed

Further
Weight: 50% consisting of 25% Sound Recording and 25% Exegesis
information:

Use of plagiarism detection software

Turnitin

Minimum requirements
Attendance is essential in this subject. Classes are based on a collaborative approach which involves workshopping and
interchange of ideas. Students are required to attend a minimum of ten classes.

Required texts
These core readings are all available via e-readings on the UTS Library website

Recommended texts
Jaworski, A. & Coupland, N. (eds) 2006, The discourse reader, Routledge, London.
Hall, S. (ed.) 1997, Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices, ,Sage,in association with The Open
University, London.
Anderson, N. & Schlunke, K. 2008, Cultural theory in everyday practice, SOxfordUniversity Press, South Melbourne, Vic.

References
Anderson, N. & Schlunke, K. 2008, Cultural theory in everyday practice, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Vic.
Baudrillard, J. 2002, Screened out, trans. C. Turner, Verso, London.
Chion, M. 1994, Audio-vision, trans. C. Gorbman, Columbia University Press, New York.
Foucault, M. 1972, The archaeology of knowledge, LTavistock London.
Foucault, M. 1977, Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison, Allen Lane, London.
Foucault, M. 1980, Power/Knowledge: selected interviews and other writings 1972- 1977, Harvester Press, London.
Frow, J. 2006, Genre new critical idiom, Routledge, London and New York.
Hall, S. (ed.) 1997, Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices, Sage in association with The Open University,
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Hall, S. (ed.) 1997, Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices, Sage in association with The Open University,
London.
Jaworski, A. & Coupland, N. ( eds ) 2006, The discourse reader, Routledge, London.
Lakoff, R.T. 2000, The language war, Columbia University Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles.
McHoul, A. & Grace, W. 1993, A Foucault primer, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
Moreton-Robinson, A. 2007, Whitening race: essays in social and cultural criticism, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Rabinow, P. 1984, The Foucault reader, Penguin Books, London.
van Leeuwen, T. 1999, Speech, music, sound, Macmillan, London.
van Leeuwen, T. 2005, Introducing social semiotics, Routledge, London.
Crisell, A. 1994, Understanding radio, Routledge, London.
Starkey, G. 2004, Radio in context, The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media, Intellect pub.
Talja, S. 2001, Music, culture, and the library: an analysis of discourses, ScarecrowPress, Lanham, MD.
Scannell, P. 1996, Radio television and modern life: a phenomenological Approach, OBlackwellPublishers, Oxford.

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Disclaimer
This outline serves as a supplement to the Faculty's Student Study Guide. On all matters not specifically covered in this outline, the
requirements specified in the Student Study Guide apply:
www.fass.uts.edu.au/students/assessment/preparing/study-guide.pdf
This outline was generated on the date indicated in the footer. Minor changes may have been made subsequent to this date.

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