Discourse: extended stretches of communication occurring in different…

The idea

Discourse is language above the sentence: extended stretches of communication that cohere as a whole. Analysing it means asking how a text holds together, who it addresses and what it does. Genre shapes expectations: a recipe, a political speech and a group chat follow different conventions. Mode concerns channel and medium: spoken, written or multimodal, with different degrees of planning, permanence and interactivity. Context covers purpose, audience, participants and setting. A student might annotate a charity appeal, noting direct address, rhetorical questions, repeated lexical fields and a problem–solution structure, then explain how these features construct a persuasive relationship with readers. Assessment rewards precise, contextualised analysis of how language choices create meaning across whole texts, not feature-spotting.

What earns the marks

• Define discourse as language beyond the single sentence, focusing on how stretches of communication are organised and made coherent.
• Distinguish genre as a socially recognised text type with conventional purposes, audiences and structural expectations, such as a news report, a speech or an advice column.
• Explain mode as the channel of communication, comparing spoken, written and multimodal texts in terms of planning, permanence, spontaneity and interactivity.
• Analyse how context, including purpose, audience, participants and setting, shapes language choices and interpretation.
• Use discourse-level frameworks such as cohesion, discourse markers, adjacency pairs, turn-taking, narrative structure and rhetorical organisation.
• Support claims with short, accurately transcribed quotations and explain the effect of each feature rather than merely labelling it.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Treating discourse as a synonym for a single sentence or paragraph.

  Put it right: Analyse how whole texts or extended exchanges are structured and made coherent.

• Listing genre conventions without linking them to purpose and audience.

  Put it right: Explain how each convention positions or influences the reader or listener.

• Assuming written texts are always planned and spoken texts always spontaneous.

  Put it right: Judge planning and spontaneity from evidence such as editing, false starts, hedges and repair.

Exam tips

• Read the whole text or transcript once for gist before annotating discourse features, so your analysis reflects the complete stretch of communication.
• Integrate context into every analytical point: connect a feature to purpose, audience, mode or genre rather than describing it in isolation.
• Use precise discourse terminology, such as cohesion, discourse marker or adjacency pair, and always explain the effect of the feature you name.