Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2008
This paper is a summary of the major findings of discourse analysis, and is concerned in particular with the implications it has for the foreign language teacher. The main focus of the article is on the analysis of conventional discourse, which is less strongly structured by non-linguistic factors than other kinds of discourse. Casual conversation is the most basic language activity, and in an analysis of it one is most likely to find what is inherently characteristic of spoken discourse. Written discourse will be referred to peripherally, though much of what will be said also applies to written discourse.