This book is a useful resource for both language teachers and students. While it offers a look into the discourse side of language, it more importantly shows how this interpretation of language can be applied to teaching. The English teachers we have known have possibly had their feet firmly planted in the proven methodologies and structures of grammar and syntax. Yet this book offers a presentation of language through exploration and connection to one's environment and ideas about how this uncovers useful information in the process of learning about language. By studying language in this context, teachers and students can discover elements that are often overlooked in studying only grammar, proven theories, and dictionaries.
McCarthy and Carter do not argue that linguistic
patterns exist over large chunks of text. Yet they do emphasize that these
patterns do not limit the boundaries of a sentence. Their view of language
"focuses on complete spoken and written texts and on the social and cultural
contexts in which language operates" (1). They define
terms that are useful when thinking about language in this way: the medium
(also known as modality) is used to transmit the message; and the mode
is the way the sender chooses to send the information. Language structures
of course are also incorporated into this equation, but do not limit the
text in any structured way. For example, this advertisement was taken from
a British newspaper advertising academic posts in colleges and universities:
Keeping in mind that message senders have a particular audience in mind when they create their message, Halliday has developed a theory of language interpretation that incorporates three terms:
Field - What is happening? What is the text
about?
Tenor - Who are taking part?
Mode - What is the language itself doing?
(21)
These terms can help teachers and students interpret and classify texts according to their use and the registers they were intended for.
While McCarthy and Carter are trying to separate the micro from the macro properties of language, they also bring together the properties language patterns can share through a discussion of patterns and genres. Genres incorporate spoken and written texts into the social context in which they will be received. Because learning about language is itself a dynamic process, studying language in this kind of dynamic way can be helpful in understanding the larger concept of complete texts.
Although the authors provide a great deal of information and useful advice throughout their book, they understand that the most useful path that teachers and students can take is a curious one. Being constantly aware and conscious of one's surroundings, judging a sender's choices and recognizing the ideologies and cultural implications that have affected them are an essential foundation for developing a critical awareness of language study through discourse. Because it is a relatively new field, McCarthy and Cater, therefore, also present a number of questions that can be explored in further studies and research in the future.
The final chapter of this book gives advice for designing a discourse syllabus. In addition, McCarthy and Carter have provided activities and notes at the end of each section that try to deconstruct language as a strictly lexical structure and connect it to a larger social context. They also suggest further reading and offer an extensive bibliography. For both teachers and students of discourse analysis, this book serves as a good starting point and an invaluable resource.