Discourse Analysis

Kirkpatrick, A. (2005). China’s first systematic account of  rhetoric: An introduction to 
      Chen Kui’s (陈騤) Wen Ze (文则). Rhetorica,  23(2), 103-152.



    

Chen Kui published the Wen Ze, The Rules of Writing) in 1170. Chinese scholars commonly describe this as the first systematic account of Chinese rhetoric. This paper will place the Wen Ze in its historical and rhetorical context and provide a translation and discussion of key extracts from the book. In providing a summary of the key points of The Rules of Writing, this paper presents the main principles of Chinese composition and rhetoric as laid out by Chen Kui. It will also provide evidence that rhetorical styles are a product of their times. Like fashions, they flourish and fade and then flourish again.

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Kirkpatrick, A. (2004). Medieval Chinese rules of  writing and their relevance today. 
      Australian Review of Applied Linguistics,27(1),  1-14. 



    

Chen Kui was a scholar-official of the Southern Song dynasty. He published the Wen Ze (here translated as The Rules of Writing) in 1170. This book is commonly described by Chinese scholars as China's first systematic account of Chinese rhetoric. The book comprises ten chapters, covering aspects of rhetoric and composition, including the use of rhetorical devices, the functions and methods of citation, and the importance of using everyday language. Despite its acknowledged importance by Chinese scholars, 'The Rules of Writing' remains comparatively unknown, even within China. This article focuses on three topics discussed by Chen Kui that will be of interest to applied linguists and to teachers of academic writing, especially those involved in the teaching of academic discourse to international students of Chinese background. The three topics are: the appropriate use of language; the sequencing of argument when writing discursive texts; and the methods and uses of citation. It is argued that writing styles are a product of the age in which they develop, and that these styles change significantly over time, no matter in which culture they may be set. Principles of Chinese rhetoric as discussed here have their counterparts in other rhetorics. They are not uniquely Chinese.

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Kirkpatrick, A. (2002). Chinese rhetoric by the  book: What the textbooks and handbooks 
      say. In L. Lu, W. S.   Jia, R. Heisey (Eds.), Chinese communication studies:   
      Comparison and contrast (pp. 245-260).Wesport, CT,  Ablex. 

Kirkpatrick, A. (2002). Contrastive rhetoric in  Chinese and English. In G. B. Lu (Ed.), 
      Xing shijie jiegui: Hanyu wenhua xue  (Connecting the world: Studies in Chinese culture) 
      (pp. 421-446). Taiwan:  Xuesheng Shuju. 

Kirkpatrick, A.,  & Yan, Y. L. (2002).  The use of citation conventions and authorial voice in a 
      genre of Chinese  academic discourse. In D. Li (Ed.), Discourses in search of members. 
      In  honour of Ron Scollon (pp. 483-508). New York: University Press of America.

Kirkpatrick, A.,  & Xu, Z. C. (2002).  Chinese pragmatic norms and China English. 
      World Englishes,21(2),  269-280. 



    

In this paper we shall first consider a selection of discourse and rhetorical norms of Modern Standard Chinese and then contrast them with a comparable selection of discourse and rhetorical norms of an 'inner circle' variety of English. As the transfer of discourse and rhetorical norms from a first to a second language commonly occurs, we predict that a Chinese variety of English is characterised by a number of discourse and rhetorical norms derived from Chinese. We argue that the presence of these L1 discourse and rhetorical norms should not be seen as 'deviations' from Anglo norms, but that, as Chinese speakers are more likely to use the language with other English speakers in the East Asian region rather than with speakers of inner circle varieties of English, the Chinese variety of English is actually a more culturally appropriate model of English than any superimposed 'Anglo' norm. Our discussion also considers the importance in China traditionally attached to 'models' and 'standards' and speculates on the extent to which educators and officials in China are likely to accept a Chinese variety of English as a model for the classroom.

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Koh, A. (2006) Working against globalisation. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 
      4(3), 357-370.

This article discusses how the media and schools are used as disciplinary apparatuses to resist and work against globalisation in Singapore. Aihwa Ong calls the deployment of state ideological apparatuses, such as the media and schools, acts of ‘reassemblage’, when technocrats resort to assemble institutions, diverse Government practice and political values to engage in citizenship production. The National Education curriculum package introduced to Singapore schools is one example of ‘reassemblage’, which aims to reinvent subject‐citizens who are perceived as lacking cultural mooring and a national identity. I argue that in the context of globalisation, this cultural experimentation of constructing a national identity and creating a sense of belonging is fraught with ruptures, as ‘youthscapes’ and new communication technologies are potentially the liminal spaces where other sources of identities are up for grabs. These liminal spaces further allow youths to perform ‘elective belonging’ rather than a sense of belonging bound by the ‘national’ and ‘local’.

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Koh, A. (2005) ‘Heteroglossic’ discourses on  globalization: a view from the ‘East’. 
      Globalizations,  2(1), 228-239.



    

In view of the broad scope of literature on globalization, this paper provides a synoptic reading of some of the globalization literatures, organized as 'discourses'. The analysis of the discourses on globalization is confined to three overlapping discourses, namely, regional, ideological and economic discourses. Specific references and examples of local uptake of globalization will be drawn from Singapore and the wider Asia pacific region, as Beck (2002) has reminded us that we cannot even think about globalization or discuss it effectively without the reference to specific locations and places. Hence the subtitle of this paper, 'A View from the East', is deliberate to signal the often forgotten fact that Singapore, as well as the wider Asia Pacific region, is 'part of the "global" sphere that the West has dispersed itself into.

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Koh, A. (2005). Imagining the Singapore  “Nation” and “Identity”: The role of the media 
      and national education. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 25(1), 77-93.



    

This article presents an analysis of two state ideological apparatuses in Singapore to understand how the city-state constructs its sense of nationhood and national identity. The analysis shows how Singapore uses the media to represent its impoverished national identity, and through a state-led curriculum intervention, uses National Education to re-mediate its lack of a national identity. The conclusion points to the difficulties and paradoxes of Singapore's national project of constructing a preferred (national) identity over other identities.

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