Integrating Methodologies of Discourse Studies and Ethnography: Fundamental Principles of Nexus Analysis

This pre-conference workshop presents nexus analysis (Scollon & Scollon, 2004) as a meta-methodology for addressing contemporary research topics in discourse studies.  Drawing upon my own work (e.g., Hult, 2012, 2017a, 2017b, 2017c) as well as work by and with others who have employed this approach (e.g., Compton, 2013; Källkvist & Hult, 2016; Lane, 2010, Ou, Gu & Hult, 2021, 2023; Pietikäinen, 2010; Zidjaly, 2006), I demonstrate how principles of nexus analysis serve to highlight relevant factors that mediate social practices and, in turn, aid in tracing how those factors are influenced by discursive processes on multiple scales (e.g., government, community, schools, and families). 

Nexus analysis combines elements of critical discourse analysis, ethnography of communication, and interactional sociolinguistics yet it is more than the sum of these parts, offering a novel and holistic empirical perspective that is ideally suited for addressing multidimensional research questions (Hult, 2019, Scollon & Scollon, 2004).  In this workshop, I focus particularly on (a) key concepts of nexus analysis, (b) ways in which nexus analysis can guide critical thinking about data collection and analysis, and (c) practical benefits and challenges of applying nexus analysis.  This workshop will be of interest to anyone whose research seeks to understand relationships between individuals and the bigger picture of a socially situated phenomenon.

Sign up by 5 September

References

Compton, S.E. (2013). Implementing Language Policy for Deaf Students in a Texas School District. International Multilingual Research Journal, 7(2), 138-154.

Hult, F.M. (2019). Toward a unified theory of language development: The transdisciplinary nexus of cognitive and sociocultural perspectives on social activity. Modern Language Journal, 103(Supplement 2019), 136-144.

Hult, F.M. (2018). Engaging pre-service English teachers with language policy. ELT Journal, 72(3), 249-259.

Hult, F.M. (2017a). More than a lingua franca: Functions of English in a globalised educational language policy. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 30(3), 265-282.

Hult, F.M. (2017b). Nexus analysis as scalar ethnography for educational linguistics. In M. Martin-Jones & D. Martin (Eds.), Researching multilingualism: Critical and ethnographic perspectives (pp. 89-104). London: Routledge.

Hult, F.M. (2017c). Discursive approaches to policy. In S.E.F. Wortham, D. Kim, & S. May (Eds.), Discourse and education (pp. 111-121). New York: Springer.

Hult, F. M. (2012).  English as a transcultural language in Swedish policy and practice.  TESOL Quarterly, 46(2), 230-257.

Källkvist, M., & Hult, F.M. (2016). Discursive mechanisms and human agency in language policy formation: Negotiating bilingualism and parallel language use at a Swedish university. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 19(1), 1-17.

Ou, W.A., Gu, M.M., Hult, F.M. (2023). Translanguaging for intercultural communication in international higher education: Transcending English as a lingua franca. International Journal of Multilingualism, 20(2), 576-594.

Ou, W.A., Gu, M.M., Hult, F.M. (2021). Discursive ripple effects in language policy and practice: Multilingualism and English as an academic lingua franca in transnational higher education. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 44(2), 154-179.

Lane, P. (2010).  “We did what we thought was best for our children”: a nexus analysis of language shift in a Kven community.  International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 202, 63-78.

Pietikäinen, S. (2010).  Sámi language mobility: scales and discourses of multilingualism in a polycentric environment.  International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 202, 79-101.

Scollon, R., & Scollon S.W. (2004). Nexus analysis.  London: Routledge.

Zidjaly, N. (2006). Disability and anticipatory discourse: The interconnectedness of local and global aspects of talk, Communication and Medicine, 3(2), 101-112.