Skip to main content

Language-Based Approaches to the Study of Education Policy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Discursive Perspectives on Education Policy and Implementation

Abstract

This chapter provides background to some of the methodological perspectives taken up in this volume, with a general emphasis on discourse analysis and a more particular emphasis on critical discourse analysis, discursive psychology, and conversation analysis. Of these approaches, policy scholars have used critical discourse analysis extensively, and thus it represents the dominant approach to language-based policy research. We describe how the analyst approaches their work within each of the selected methodological perspectives, provides insights into the key features of the approach. We integrate examples from the published literature to illustrate how policy scholars can use these approaches to study education policy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 27.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anderson, A., Aronson, B., Ellison, S., & Fairchild-Keyes, S. (2015). Pushing up against the limit-horizon of educational change: A critical discourse analysis of popular education reform texts. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 12(3), 338–370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antaki, C., Billig, M. G., Edwards, D., & Potter, J. A. (2003). Discourse analysis means doing analysis: A critique of six analytic shortcomings. Discourse Analysis Online, 1. Retrieved from http://extra.shu.ac.uk/daol/articles/open/2002/002/antaki2002002-paper.html

  • Augoustinos, M., Tuffin, K., & Every, D. (2005). New racism, meritocracy and individualism: Constraining affirmative action in education. Discourse & Society, 16(3), 315–340. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42888940

  • Ball, S. J. (1993). What is policy? Texts, trajectories and toolboxes. Discourse, 13(2), 10–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, B., & Bound, A. M. (2015). A critical discourse analysis of ‘no promo homo’ policies in U.S. schools. Educational Studies, 51(4), 267–283. doi:10.1080/00131946.2015.1052445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benwell, B., & Stokoe, E. (2006). Discourse and identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billig, M. (1991). Ideology and opinions: Studies in rhetorical psychology. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonacina-Pugh, F. (2012). Researching ‘practiced language policies’: Insights from conversation analysis. Language Policy, 11(3), 213–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burr, V. (2003). Social constructionism. London: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the interaction of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 139, 139–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drew, P., & Heritage, J. (1992). Analyzing talk at work: An introduction. In P. Drew & J. Heritage (Eds.), Talk at work (pp. 3–65). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, D., & Potter, J. (1992). Discursive psychology. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, D., & Potter, J. (2001). Discursive psychology. In A. W. McHoul & M. Rapley (Eds.), How to analyse talk in institutional settings: A casebook of methods (pp. 12–24). London: Continuum International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and social change. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairclough, N., Mulderrig, J., & Wodak, R. (2011). Critical discourse analysis. In T. Van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse studies: A multidisciplinary introduction (pp. 357–378). London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1990). The history of sexuality—Volume 1: An introduction. New York: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel, R., & Lester, J. N. (2013). Sentinels guarding the grail: Value-added measurement and the quest for education reform. Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 20(9). Retrieved from http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1165

  • Gabriel, R., & Paulus, T. (2015). Committees and controversy consultants in the construction of education policy. Educational Policy, 29(7), 984–1011. doi:10.1177/0895904814531650

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, G. N., & Mulkay, M. (1984). Opening Pandora’s box: A sociological analysis of scientists’ discourse. Nueva York: CUP Archive.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, S., & Speer, S. A. (2015). Natural and contrived data. In C. Tileagă & E. Stokoe (Eds.), Discursive psychology: Classic and contemporary issues (pp. 57–69). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurst, T. M. (2017). The discursive construction of superintendent statesmanship on Twitter. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 25, 29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchby, I., & Wooffitt, R. (2008). Conversation analysis. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation analysis: Studies from the first generation (pp. 13–31). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Jørgensen, M. W., & Phillips, L. J. (2002). Discourse analysis as theory and method. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lester, J. N. (2011). Exploring the borders of cognitive and discursive psychology: A methodological reconceptualization of cognition and discourse. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 10(3), 280–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lester, J. N., & O’Reilly, M. (2015). Is evidence-based practice a threat to the progress of the qualitative community? Arguments from the bottom of the pyramid. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(7), 628–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lester, J. N., & O’Reilly, M. (2016). The history and landscape of conversation and discourse analysis. In The Palgrave handbook of adult mental health: Discourse and conversation studies (pp. 23–44). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lester, J. N., Lochmiller, C. R., & Gabriel, R. (2016). Locating and applying critical discourse analysis within education policy: An introduction. Education Policy Analysis Archives. doi:10.14507/epaa.24.2768

  • Maynard, D. (2013). Everyone and no one to turn to: Intellectual roots and contexts for conversation analysis. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The handbook of conversation analysis (pp. 11–31). Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCabe, R. (2006). Conversation analysis. In M. Slade & S. Priebe (Eds.), Choosing methods in mental health research: Mental health research from theory to practice (pp. 24–46). Hove: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulderrig, J. (2012). The hegemony of inclusion: A corpus-based critical discourse analysis of deixis in education policy. Discourse & Society, 23(6), 701–728. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43496421

  • O’Reilly, M., Dixon-Woods, M., Angell, E., Ashcroft, R., & Bryman, A. (2009). Doing accountability: A discourse analysis of research ethics committee letters. Sociology of Health & Illness, 31(2), 246–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patton, L. D. (2014). Preserving respectability or blatant disrespect? A critical discourse analysis of the Morehouse Appropriate Attire Policy and implications for intersectional approaches to examining campus policies. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 27(6), 724–746. doi:10.1080/09518398.2014.901576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piazza, P. (2014). The media got it wrong! A critical discourse analysis of changes to the educational policy making arena. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22(36). doi:10.14507/epaa.v22n36.2014

  • Potter, J. (1996). Representing reality: Discourse, rhetoric and social construction. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J. (2004). Discourse analysis as a way of analysing naturally occurring talk. In D. Silverman (Ed.), Qualitative research: Theory, method and practice (2nd ed., pp. 200–221). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J. (2005). Making psychology relevant. Discourse & Society, 16(5), 739–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J. (2012). Discourse analysis and discursive psychology. In H. Cooper (Editor-in-Chief), APA handbook of research methods in psychology: Vol. 2. Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (pp. 111–130). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J., & Hepburn, A. (2005). Qualitative interviews in psychology: Problems and possibilities. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 2, 281–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J., & Hepburn, A. (2008). Discursive constructionism. In Handbook of constructionist research (pp. 275–293). New York: Guildford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J., & Wetherell, M. (1987). Discourse and social psychology: Beyond attitudes and behaviour. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, R., Malancharuvil-Berkes, E., Mosley, M., Hui, D., & Joseph, G. O. G. (2005). Critical discourse analysis in education: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 75(3), 365–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, R., Schaenen, I., Schott, C., O’Brien, K., Trigos-Carrillo, L., Starkey, K., & Chasteen, C. C. (2016). Critical discourse analysis in education: A review of the literature, 2004 to 2012. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 1192–1226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rorty, R. (1989). Contingency, irony, and solidarity. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Saarinen, T. (2008). Persuasive presuppositions in OECD and EU higher education policy documents. Discourse Studies, 10(3), 341–359. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24049534

  • Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schegloff, E. (1999). Discourse, pragmatics, conversation, analysis. Discourse Studies, 1(4), 405–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seedhouse, P. (2004). Conversation analysis methodology. Language Learning, 54(s1), 1–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. (2004). Researching educational policy and change in ‘new times’: Using critical discourse analysis. Journal of Education Policy, 19(4), 433–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ten Have, P. (2007). Doing conversation analysis: A practical guide (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tileagă, C., & Stokoe, E. (2015). Discursive psychology: Classic and contemporary issues. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Dijk, T. A. (2001). Critical discourse analysis. In The handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 349–371). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Dijk, T. A. (2003). Introduction: What is critical discourse analysis? In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. E. Hamilton (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 352–371). Malden: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wetherell, M. (1998). Positioning and interpretative repertoires: Conversation analysis and post-structuralism in dialogue. Discourse & Society, 9(3), 387–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wetherell, M., & Edley, N. (1999). Negotiating hegemonic masculinity: Imaginary positions and psycho-discursive practices. Feminism & Psychology, 9(3), 335–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winch, P. (1967). The idea of a social science and its relation to philosophy. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittgenstein, L. (1958). Philosophical investigations (2nd ed.) (trans: Anscombe, G. E. M.). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wodak, R. (2001). The discourse-historical approach. In R. Wodak & M. Myers (Eds.), Methods of critical discourse analysis (pp. 63–94). London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, L. A., & Kroger, R. O. (2000). Doing discourse analysis: Methods for studying action in talk and text. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wooffitt, R. (2005). Conversation analysis and discourse analysis: A comparative and critical introduction. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lester, J.N., White, F.A., Lochmiller, C.R. (2017). Language-Based Approaches to the Study of Education Policy. In: Lester, J., Lochmiller, C., Gabriel, R. (eds) Discursive Perspectives on Education Policy and Implementation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58984-8_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58984-8_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58983-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58984-8

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics