Australian Review of Applied Linguistics - Volume 3, Issue 1, 1980

The aim of this paper is a discussion of some applications of results from discourse studies in the field of education. The major structures of discourse are discussed, in particular the semantic, pragmatic, schematic and conversational structures. These structures are then taken as the abstract basis for a cognitive model of discourse comprehension. A brief sketch is given of the main results of current experimental work on discourse processing. Discourse comprehension appears not only to be determined by knowledge and other factors of the cognitive set of language users (beliefs, opinions, attitudes, etc.), but also changes this set, e.g. in processes of learning.

Applications in the study of education are discussed in the framework of the following issues, representing the ‘textual’ dimensions of education: (i) classroom dialogue and interaction, (ii) reading and comprehension, (iii) textbooks, (iv) teaching discourse and communication, and (v) discourse analysis. It is argued that learning in these various dimensions of education should respect the basic results obtained about comprehension. Language learning is urged to take place within a broad integrated framework for the acquisition of discourse and communication skill.