Text, Narrative & Discourse Analysis - JSM693

• Title: Text, Narrative & Discourse Analysis
• Guaranteed by: Department of Sociology (23-KS)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2025
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 9
• Examination process: summer s.:combined
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:1/1, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unlimited / unlimited (15)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• Key competences: critical thinking, data literacy
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Additional information: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=5941
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
• Guarantor: doc. Mgr. Martin Hájek, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): Mehmet Ozan Aşık, Ph.D.; doc. Mgr. Martin Hájek, Ph.D.
• Class: Courses for incoming students

Annotation

One of the important features of contemporary society is that it produces a large amount of self-descriptions; by the words of Niklas Luhmann, the modern society is an intensively self-observing and self-reporting system. The aim of this course is to provide students with knowledge of relatively broad issues of methods of analysis of these self-descriptions, which are mainly texts in their nature (media texts, biographic narratives, conversations, open-ended questions in questionnaires, expert discourse texts etc.). The successful student will become fluent in the vocabulary of narrative, discursive, content, and computer-assisted text analyses and bring those tools to bear on various kinds of texts.

Last update: Jusić Mirna, M.A. et M.A., Ph.D. (26.02.2024)

Aim of the course

The aim of this course is to provide students with knowledge of relatively broad issues of methods of analysis of these self-descriptions, which are mainly texts in their nature (media texts, biographic narratives, conversations, open-ended questions in questionnaires, expert discourse texts etc.). The successful student will become fluent in the vocabulary of narrative, discursive, content, and computer-assisted text analyses and bring those tools to bear on various kinds of texts.

Last update: Hájek Martin, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (22.01.2022)

Course completion requirements

Course requirements and assignments.

Assignment guidelines:
1. Seven pieces of homework (42 points)
2. Term paper: A paper based on student's research. Each student should carry out an analysis on the topic of their choice. Extending a selected piece of homework is recommended but not necessary. Using one's own data is welcome. Paper due: 10/6/2026 (30 points)
3. Oral examination: (a) a presentation of the paper (10 mins.); (b) peer-review of the colleague's paper (5 mins.); (c) discussion (15 mins.)
(15 + 5 + 8 = 28 points).

The use of AI for brainstorming and literature searches is permitted, but plagiarism, including the use of AI-generated text, is strictly prohibited. We also discourage the use of AI-enhanced text polishing. We much prefer to read your authentic work, with all its imperfections, than a machine-processed literary product.

To succesfully finish the course, any student has to achieve at least a half of the points in the assignments, i.e., 21 pts. for homework, 15 pts. for the term paper, and 14 pts. in oral examination.

Evaluation:
91 - 100 points: excellent (A)
81 - 90 points: very good (B)
71 - 80 points: good (C)
61 - 70 points: satisfactory (D)
51 - 60 points: sufficient (E)
less than 50 points: failed (F)

Last update: Hájek Martin, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (07.02.2026)

Literature

Recommended textbook:
Bischoping, K. & Gazso, A. Analyzing Talk in the Social Sciences: Narrative, Conversation and Discourse Strategies. Sage. 2016

Basic class reading:
Baker, P. Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis. 2006. Chapter: Frequency and Dispersion.
Bazerman, Ch. What Writing Does and How It Does It. 2004. Chapter: Intertextuality.
Chatman, S. Story and discourse. 1980. Chapter: Introduction.
Fairclough, N. Discourse and Social Change. 1992. Chapter: A social theory of discourse.
Foucault, M. The Order of Discourse. 1970.
Grice, P. Studies in the Way of Words. 1991. Chapter: Logic and Conversation.
Hall, S. Culture, media, language. 1980. Chapter: Encoding/decoding.  
Hall, K. Performativity. 2000.
Squire, C. Approaches to narrative research. 2008.
Titscher (ed.). Methods of text and discourse analysis. 2000. Chapter: What is a Text?
van Leeuwen, T. The representation of social actors. 1995.

Last update: Hájek Martin, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (07.02.2026)

Syllabus

Class schedule: Friday, 12:30–13:50, Room B228.
Attention: The classes on 20 February and 13 March start at 13:00 and finish at 14:20.  On 10 April, there is a double class from 12:30 to 15:20. 

20.2.2026, 13:00
1. Introduction 

27.2.
2. Textuality
HW: inter/trans/textuality in a fb post

6.3.
3. Reading as an activity
HW: reading strategies of a yt video

13.3., 13:00
4. Narrativity
HW: fb stories analysis

20.3.
5. Hermeneutic narrative analysis

27.3.
6. Quantitative text analysis using Voyant tools
HW: analysis of the social media comments

3.4. Easter holiday - no class

10.4. double class
7. CDA 1: Basics (van Dijk, van Leeuwen, Wodak)
8. CDA 2: socio-political context of text production and consumption, sociotechnical conditions of text mediation
HW:

17.4.
9. Foucauldian discourse analysis

24.4.
10. Conversation analysis
HW: fb/yt content and comments analysed as conversation

1.5. May Day holiday - no class

8.5. Liberation Day holiday - no class

15.5.
11. Performativity of discourse
HW

22. 5. optional class
12. Ideas for final papers presentation and discussion

Last update: Hájek Martin, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (07.02.2026)

Learning outcomes

The successful student will become fluent in the vocabulary of narrative, discursive, content, and computer-assisted text analyses and bring those tools to bear on various kinds of texts.

Last update: Hájek Martin, doc. Mgr., Ph.D. (25.11.2025)