Journal 2 (second module)

 In the session of today, I learned a few new things and elements from the spoken discourse umbrella. First of all, I would say that I used to think that a text was a written information specifically longer than one sentences; however, it is important to highlight that a text is any kind of information that conveys meaning thought different mediums, not just written. Every piece of text we get from our daily life is analyse by us even without realizing. For example, the usu of symbol in the traffic, we analyse those texts according to our own real-life experiences and our context. 

Besides, something relevant for the session of today was that it was emphazised and cleared the difference among conversation, talk, and discourse. Those three tend to be confused each other but they have some contrasting aspects. For example, conversation is only a two-ways of spoken language while talk can be both a one-way or two-ways spoken language; and the difference from discourse is that it can be more inclusive because it not only focuses on spoken language but any other kind of language such as visual, written, aural, audiovisual, etc. Also, it is a more technical term than talk.

I would say that all about discourse analysis and primarly spoken discourse analysis is important and essential for us as human and teachers because we need to make explicit what we normally take for granted, for example that we are good at talking just because it is use in our daily life. Besides, it's essential for our life to analyse not just what people say but “how” they say it. To achive this analysis of the discourse it is importante to take into account not just the formalist and structural part of the language but the functionalism, that is, to convey a real and in-depth analysis, we need to focus on the form as well as the function of the language. 

Glossary:

Conversation: Conversation has generic (all kinds of spoken interaction) and more specific uses (natural interaction).  It implies interaction. 

Talk: It only refers to spoken language-use and it can be both one-way and two-ways of language use.

Discourse: It is a more general type of conversation so it refers to any kind of language by any channel or medium.

Formalism/structuralim: It consists of looking for patterns, structures, and organizations of a text.

Functionalism: Language is used and interpreted in real-world context, that is, real world knowledge is essential for interpretations and analysis.