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5A - Blustery with an Occasional Downpour

An Analysis of Target Discourse in Media Weather Forecasts

from Part II - Tasks and Needs Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2021

By
Ryo Maie  and
Bradford Salen
Edited by
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian  and
Michael H. Long
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
Michael H. Long
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
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Summary

This case study is an analysis of target discourse to collect and analyze discourse samples of radio and television forecasts. We focused on three aspects of an analysis of target discourse: (a) identifying recurrent subtasks to understand the internal structure of weather forecast discourse, (b) analyzing linguistic features that frequently co-occur with the subtasks (i.e., structural ellipsis and technical and sub-technical vocabulary), and (c) developing samples of prototypical discourse that can be put to use in task-based materials. Our intention in this chapter is to be as descriptive and transparent as possible in reporting methods and procedures of analysis, so interested researchers and practitioners can refer to this study when conducting their own analysis of target discourse studies.

Keywords

analysis of target discoursetask-based language teachingweather forecastssub-technical vocabularytarget discourse studiesstructural ellipsis
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Task-Based Language Teaching , pp. 173 - 187
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Further Reading

Chaudron, C. J., Doughty, C. J., Kim, Y., Kong, D.-K, Lee, J., Lee, Y.-G., Long, M. H., Rivers, R., and Urano, K. (2005). A task-based needs analysisof a tertiary Korean as a foreign language program. In Long, M. H., ed. Second language needs analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 225–61.Google Scholar
Bartlett, N. D. (2005). A double shot 2% mocha latte, please, with whip: Service encounters in two coffee shops and at a coffee cart. In Long, M. H., ed. Second language needs analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 305–43.Google Scholar
Hillman, K. and Long, M. H. (2020). A task-based needs analysis for US Foreign Service Officers, and the challenge of the Japanese celebration speech. In Lambert, C., and Oliver, R., eds. Using tasks in diverse contexts. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, pp. 123–145Google Scholar
Long, M. H. (2005). Methodological issues in learner needs analysis. In Long, M. H., ed. Second language needs analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 19–76.Google Scholar
Long, M. H. (2015). Analyzing target discourse. In Long, M. H., ed. Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, pp. 169–204.Google Scholar
O’Connell, S. P. (2014). A task-based language teaching approach to the police traffic stop, TESL Canada, 31(8), 116–31.Google Scholar

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