Nghiên cứu phương pháp dạy học các môn lý thuyết thuộc chương trình đào tạo cử nhân ngoại ngữ theo quan điểm lấy người học làm trung tâm

A written text may use different type-face, on different size of paper For example : “Nothing compares 2 ư \ Other examples such as: billboards, titles, headings, subdivisions and sub-he

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

Đề tài đặc biệt ■ ■ cấp Đại học Quốc gia

NGHIÊN CỨU PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY - HỌC CÁC MÔN LÝ THUYẾT THUỘC CHƯƠNG TRÌNH ĐÀO TẠO c ử NHÂN NGOẠI NGỮ THEO QUAN ĐlỂM l ấ y n g ư ờ i h ọ c l à m t r u n g t â m

Mã SỐ: QG 97.02

Đơn vị chủ trì Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ - Đại học Quốc gia Hà nội

sơ Dồ BÀI GIẢNG

Dùng cho sinh viên Khoa Ngôn ngữ và Văn hoá Anh - Mỹ

HÀ NỘI 1999

C H A P T E R 1 A N IN T R O D U C T IO N T O D IS C O U R S E A N A L Y S IS

1 The subject matter of discourse analysis.

Brown and Y ule (1983; viii) rightly remark:

The term “discourse analysis” has come to be used with a wide ran qe o f meanings which cover a wide range o f activities at the

philosophical linguistics to computational linguistics.

Basically, three distinct strands o f discourse analysis are.

The view prevailing:

1 speakers/writers are put in the centerstage of cormrumiciilion

2 speakers/writers who have topics, presuppositions, who assign information structure and who make inferences

3 Iicaiers/icaders interpret and draw inferences

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2 Implications of discourse analysis.

2.1 DA: to explain many problems the structural approach fails to account for such as the use of definite article, reference, substitution and ellipsis Consider:

e.g.: There are too many loose ends, too many left­

overs Too much Hanging over his head.

“Too much” “might” be wrong because it does not count as a

sentence, occurring between two stops

2.2 The use of the definite article in the following example:

/ saw' a dog The dog was black and white.

The substitution of “the” by “tf” will not render the sentence ungrammatical but we will feel that the two sentences do not “text”

e.tf.: I saw Smith having dinner with a woman yesterday!

Depending on the role relationships between the two participants, it would be possible to interpret the utterance as a piece of good news, or a warning to a woman whose husband has been going out with his girl friend

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3 Discourse vs Text.

Text: Originally, the term “text": a type of linguistics unit larger

than the sentence as a result of linguist’s dissatisfaction with the traditional understanding of linguistic levels where the sentence was generally regarded as the largest unit

Two approaches to text

1 “The verbal record o f a communicative act” (Brown and Yule, 1983: 6), or as “the linguistic product o f a communicative

p r o c e s s (Widdowson, 1984: 100)

2 The 2nd approach tends to see text as a semantic or communicative category

Halliday and Hasan, 1976 view text as a “semantic unit”

characterised by cohesion or a framework that is logical and general

De Beaugrande and Dressier (1981: 3) define text as a

co n stitu tiv e c o n d itio n s o f tex tu a l c o m m u n ic a tio n , viz.,

co h esio n , co h eren ce, in te n tio n a lity, a c ce p ta b ility ,

in fo rm a tiv ity , situ a tio n a lity a n d in te rte x tu a ỉity

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Discourse: For Brown and Yule (1983 1)

“ d isco u rse is language in use .

Widdowson made a distiction between text and discourse through the following example:

A: Did you vote Labour or Liberal, Peter ?

B: I didn't register, mate.

Widdowson (1984: 4):

D isc o u rse is a c o m m u n ic a tiv e p ro c e ss by m ea n s

o f in tera ctio n Its situ a tio n a l o u tco m e is a change

in a sta te o f a ffa irs: in fo rm a tio n is co n veyed ,

in ten tio n s m a d e clear, its lin g u istic p ro d u c t is

T e x t (1984: 100).

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4 The functions of language.

4.1 Transactional to express the content of what we say or speak

4.2 Interactional to convey personal attitudes or establishing social relations

Other pairs of terms:

“representative / expressive” (suggested by Buhler (1934));

“referential / emotive” (Jakobson (1960)

“ideational Ỉ interpersonal” (Halliday),

-“descriptive / social-expressive” (Lyons (1977).

Spoken la n g u a g e is p rim arily in terac tio n a l

W ritten lan g u a g e is used p rim a rily fo r tran sactio n al purposes

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5 Spoken and Written language.

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5.2 The representatioti o f discourse: text.

A written text may use different type-face, on different size of paper

For example : “Nothing compares 2 ư \

Other examples such as: billboards, titles, headings, subdivisions and sub-headings

Spoken texts

A tape-recording as a representation Recorded noise, laughter arc irrelevant

In general, a transcription: the best record of the communicative

Brown and Yule raise the issue of whether we should render

/greipbritin/ as “grape britain" or “great britain

Such things as pauses, the speaker’s voice, sex, intonation, gestures

or the paralinguistic means are lost

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5.3 Differences in fo rm s between written and spoken language.

Brown and Yule (1983)

a The syntax of spoken language is typically much less slructured than that of written language

i spoken language contains many incomplete sentences,

often simple sequences of phrases: e.g.: where to, mate?

home.

ii spoken language typically contains rather little

subordination, “and” is a very common co-ordinator in

spoken language

iii in conversational speech, where sentential syntax can be observed, active declarative forms are normally found

a In written language an extensive set of metalingual markers

exists to mark relationships between clauses (that-clauses, when

and while, besides, moreover, however), in spoken language, the

use of “and, but, then” is frequent: / was so tired, and I had to

go home, rather than “because I was tired, I had to go home”.

b in written language, rather heavily premodified noun phrases

occur frequently, such as: The federal ALP caucus aboriginal

affairs committee.

c topic-comment structures are quite common in spoken language

These people, they like drinking beer.

d in formal speech, the use of passive constructions is relatively

infrequent Active constructions are noticeable, as in: Oh

everything they do in Edinburgh + they do it fa r slowly.

e in chat about the immediate environment, the speaker may rely

on gaze direction to supply a referent: (looking at the car)

beautiful, isn't if?

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f the speaker may replace or refine the expressions as he goes

along: this man + this chap she was going out with.

g the speaker frequently uses a good deal of rather generalised

vocabulary: a lot of, got, do, thing, nice, stuff, place and things

like that.

h the speaker frequently repeals the same syntactic form several

times over, as in: / look at fire extinguishers + I look at fire exits + / look at what gangways are available + I look at electric

cables what + are they properly earthed + are they properly covered.

i the speaker may produce a large number of prefabricated

“fillers”: well, erm, I think, you know, if you see what / mean, o f

course, and so on.

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2 Are the following examples discourse or texts: A book, a poem,

a song, a sermon, a letter, a dictionary

3 Can you give an example of a text and reconstruct ihe discourse

of which it is text

4 Which of the following is spoken or written language? A song which is sung by a singer; arguments made at a debate; the lines reproduced by actors and actresses in a play or film, an advertisement on TV (commercial breaks)

5 Which of the following functions is primarily transactional and interactional?

a How do you do?

b I am fine, thank you

c A doctor telling a patient how to take medicines

d You go straight a few blocks and turn right, you can’t miss it

e Someone telling a story to a class of children

6 Just imagine you had a quarrel with a friend Now, you volunteer a letter of apology Which part of the leiler should be interactional and transactional Can you write this imaginary letter?

7 Record a conversation in Vietnamese Transcribe it and find out the elements you think that could be treated as primarily spoken

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8 Following is an excerpt from a BBC interview Identify the spoken features that occur in this interview

Well, although, er, quite a few, er people’re walking around with long faces and many people’er, even though they were pitting a brave face on it, admitting in private that they weren’t getting what they wanted I found one or two things that were happening off­stage, very very encouraging and one of them was a meeting called World Urban Forum that took place before the main Rio Event down in the South of Brazil in a city called Carachiba, which is, er,

a model green city

It’s built itself as Brazil’s green capital and it’s been transformed

by its mayor Hil-nana into a model of wholesome efficiency, which

is remarkable, er, in the deep south of one of the most indebted countries in the world It was a stage for this forum where more than 75 mayors or deputy mayors from big cities around the world were joining together, er, try to raise the profile of urban environmental issues with the Earth Summit in mind

Er, but what emerged from the meeting was that, er the cities who were represented there seemed to be more than ready and certainly very willing to take er, into their own hands when it comes to cleaning up the environment without waiting, er for top-down development aid, or for international treaties or for nationallegislation Since most environmental problems originate incities it is very encouraging to see that that’s where the solutions, practical solutions are now being find, found

This is certainly, er, an emerging trend, er, I saw a big cross- section, different kinds of countries, different kinds of cities hell­bent on doing things their own ways and I talked to er, er, an observer at this meeting, who, off strictly off the record, told me

th a t

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I What is cohesion?

The formal relationship that causes texts to cohere or stick together

It is indicated by grammatical, logical and lexical relationships found among or between the sentences of a text

Halliday and Hasan (1976):

“i4 text has texture and this is what distinguishes it from something

that is not a te x t the texture is provided by cohesive relation”.

2 Coherence

In contrast, coherence refers to the type of semantic 01’ rhetorical relationship that underline texts

Palmer (1983) writes:

“Coherence refers to the rhetorical devices, to ways o f writing and

speaking that bring about order and unity and emphasis

Cohesion and coherence are related but not the same Consider:

e.g.: A: M y car's broken down.

B: There*s a garage down the road.

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The President will be unveiling his plan tomorrow He is

expected to touch upon the issue of social security

One and ones can also be used for a noun phrase or for an

indefinite noun phrase In addition, all, any, each, either, neither,

some and none can behave in the same way.

E.g: I don’t like this vase Give me the black one My

brothers want to go into business None want to go to

university

b Pro-forms for adverbial s

Here, there and then

E.g; My brother works in the States He lives there with his

wife.

Some quasi-proforms: like it or like that,

E.g: She plays the piano with great concentration and with great energy I ’m afraid that she doesn’t study like that (Quirk, 1973)

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c Pro-forms for predicate and predication: “do, can, may, should “ and some complex ones like “do so, so do , so do, do that, do

it".

E.g: John doesn’t smoke Oh, I think he does.

Your wife said she would go to the States this month Of

course, she did it last week.

d “not and so” used for the direct object clause after : assume,

believe, fancy, guess, hope, imagine, think, understand and suppose.

E,g: Is she leaving tomorrow? I think so/not.

3.2 Ellipsis.

The omission of certain elements from a sentence, allowed by context

Substitution vs ellipsis

Ellipsis allows the possibility of recovering omitted elements,

Substitution; such possibility does not exist

E.g: The president called on Congress to approve the

budget He thought it was the right thing to do

(substitution)

When did she arrived? Probably ( she ị did so I or {she

arrived!) yesterday, (ellipsis)

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Ellipsis may happen under 3 conditions and in various combinations such as

i question - response,

ii statement - question, and

iii statement - statement:

Probably (they will lose the game).

c Replacement: the second speaker replaces what has been said by the first with new information

E.g: How much did it cost you?

(it cost me) 79 dollars.

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Parcelling serves the purpose of focusing on certain part of information which could be otherwise lost if it were placed in its usual position

This is possible because of the strength of cohesion that exists in discourse Following is an example of parcelling

E.g: The prosecuting officer takes his seat at a little

table to the left of the chairman He spreads a few

documents out in front of him Not many, but enouqh

fo r a sentence o f death.

3.4 Structural parallelism

Involves identical or very similar structure

E.g: Wherever there’s despair, we bring hope

Wherever there’s fear, we bring confidence

“wherever there's we bring ” recurs in the second sentence

apart from such synonyms as “despair/fear” and

“ hope/confidence”.

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4 Logical cohesive devices.

Demonstrate the logical relationships holding between sentences

4.1 i4 fid.

E.g: It was a convention where there were few blacks

and few beards And that remains (he Republican

problem

4.2 Enumeration.

Enumerators indicate a listing: first, second next, finally; to

begin with, to start with, fo r one thing fo r another; another thing, one final point.

E.g: Since the Americans stopped opposing the granting

of IMF loans To start with, Vietnam got $ 300 million

in loan from the ADB and the WB

4.3 Addition.

The addition relationship expressed by two classes of additive conjuncts: reinforcing and equative conjuncts

Reinforcing: also, too, furthermore, moreover, then, in addition,

above all, and what is more; and neither, nor, and either which

requires the sentences they link to be negative “neither, no?-” do not, and utoon generally requires both to be positive.

Equative: equally, likewise, similarly and in the same way.

E.g: US companies do not realise that their goods are

headed for Vietnam Also, they could not figure out who

the middlemen are

H đ A ! h o c G U Õ C G IA HÀ NỎI

TRUNG TÂM THONG TIN ĨHƯ VIÉN

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lectures in discourse analysts

E.g: I ’ve talked about the situation in Africa N ow , I ’d

like to move on to the next item on our agenda

Other formal transition markers: with reference to, with respect to,

with regard to “incidentally” and “by the wav”.

E.g: The techniques discussed are valuable Sensible

stress is laid on follow-up work Each chapter is

supported by good evidence In all, this is an interesting

and well-written book

Some sentences may also perform the same function like: / shall

conclude/sum up by saying .

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4,6, Apposition.

Apposition markers: namely in other words, fo r example, fo r

instance, that is, and that is to say.

E.g: Some schools receive their share In 1990, fo r

example, Northern State University in South Dakota

started a Chinese Studies Program with $ 72,000 Grant

from the CCK Foundation

Additionally: An other way o f putting it is or An example would

be which serve the same purpose

4.7 Result

Result markers indicate the results or consequences: consequently,

hence (formal), so (informal), therefore, thus (formal), as a result.

E.g: These people refused to pay the rent So, they were evicted

over the weekend

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4.9 Reformulation or replacement.

Some markers: better, rather, in other words, or again.

E.g: They are enjoying themselves Rather, they appear to he doing

4.10 Contrast.

Contrast markers: instead, then, on the contrary, in/by contrast, by

comparison, on the other hand.

E.g: Miss Ha has taught Russian for more than 10 years

now But next year her school will cut Russian from the

curriculum

The contracts do not go to the Americans Instead, they

go to European and Asian companies

4.1 L Concession.

Concession markers : anyhow (informal), anyway (informal),

besides (a blend of reinforcing with concessive), else, however, nevertheless, still, though, yet, in any case, at any rate, in spite o f that, after all, on the other hand, all the same.

E.g: There is no reason that MIT cannot sell what it has

to offer Higher education is a major export, hi any

case, academics are only too happy to receive foreign

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4.12 Comparison.

Some markers: more, as, less, least E.g.

Mary used to listen to records most of the time Sally

was a more hardworking student (than Mary was)

(Quirk, 1973)

5 Lexical cohesive devices

To show same relationship through lexical means, involving synonyms or lexical equivalents, antonyms and association

5.1 Lexical repetition

Tokyo insists that the plutonium is vital to its future.

Over the next decade, Tokyo plans to import 30 tons of

plutonium for its fast breeder reactor program, a technology that doesn’t yet exisl in commercial form

5.2 The use o f synonyms.

The US began dropping out of the program in 1977

France shut down its commercial super Phoenix breeder

in 1990 Germany abandoned its completed reactor in

1991 Last week, Britain cancelled its fast breeder

program because it concluded that the technology was unlikely to become commercially viable for 40 years

Synonyms used are: drop out of, shut down, abandon, cancel:

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5.3 The use a f antonyms

Discrimination is undoubtedly practised against women

in the field of scientific research We don’t find men

complaining that they are not being interviewed for

positions that they are clearly qualified to fill (Quirk,

1973)

5.4 Association

Association occurs in the same semantic field, possessing some common semes and not antithetic ones Eg

civilian society is nothing new The armed forces are

still recoiling from the mere presence, let alone (he

theoretical equality of women while some units have

integrated the genders effectively

Military, conflict, armed forces and units are used

6 Discourse reference

3 types of discourse reference:

i anaphoric, if it points back or

ii cataphoric if it points forward

iii exophoric, helped by the context of the situation

For example, a man looks at the sun and remarks: I t's b ea u tifu l.

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6.1 Anaphoric reference markers only.

The markers of this type include: that, those the foregoing, the

former the latter For example:

Many people think that they can get by without working

hard That's a big mistake.

6.2 Cataphoric reference markers only.

These embrace: as follows, the following, thus, below.

E.g: The two parties hereby agree upon the following

terms and conditions They shall co-operate in good faith in ensure the success of the project

6.3. Both anaphoric and cataphoric reference markers.

These are: here, it, this, these For example:

This should interest you, if you are keen on boxing The

world heavyweight championship is going to be held in Chicago next June (Quirk, 1973) (Cataphoric)

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Homework

1 Comment on the devices at work in the following passage:

There's a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to break down and a time to build up.

A time to weep and a time to laugh.

A time to mourn and a time to dance.

A time to get and a lime to lose.

A time to keep and a time to cast away.

A time to love and a time to hate.

A time o f war and a time o f peace.

2 Identify the cohesive devices at work in the following passage (From R.Close)

b Many a traveller coming for the first time to Istanbul feels a pang of disappointment The domes and minarets look well from afar, and there are still monuments to be seen But when we enter the city there is so much that is ugly and commonplace

c Thirty five years ago, George Sampeter and I sat in the same class We were friends, by which I mean that he was easy with

me and I liked him and was easy with him You will see that I

am using “friends” in the sense in which I would have used it as

a child Now, before I use that word, I must, as it were, look

behind my back.

d An African chief, a man whom I had met in his own country, came to New York when he was well past sixty He had never before left his own country, and he flew over here, rocketed, as it

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were, in a matter of hours from his own simple familiar surroundings to the complex and shifting crowds of a great American city

e On afternoon I was sitting on the wall that divided our garden from the churchyard next door Eight, was I, perhaps, or nine? There is nothing by which I can tell I contemplated the stones a few feet away and saw that several of them were flat up against our wall I remember then that I had seen and thought enough

f In the year 1619, the bakers of Amsterdam applied to increase the price of bread They sent in support a complete description of

a bakery and its weekly costs Thirteen people were in such an establishment: the baker and his wife, six paid employees, two apprentices, and the baker’s three children Food cost more than anything else, more than raw materials and nearly four times as much as wages The cost of clothing was included, too, not only for man, wife and children blit for the apprentices as well

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g Propping up the ivory tower

Taiwanese institutions are investing in American Universities, with

an eye to future gain, By Jonathan Burtan, Time, September 14,

1992 (Excerpt),

Donating half a million dollars to a single college or university is a stretch even for the wealthiest company Yet 12 Taiwanese firms jumped at the chance to each contribute that amount to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management in late 1991 The reason was not difficult to figure out: the $6 million gift, along with a pledge for $4 million more, gives the companies access to the intellectual vaults on M.I.T which is doing some of the world’s most advanced work in science, computers, engineering and management

The enterprises that belong to Taiwan’s Epoch Foundation, a vehicle for the donation, include construction and engineering concerns, insurance firms, and steel and heavy-equipment manufacturers In exchange for their gifts, they, like corporate donors from the U.S., Japan, and Europe, are eligible for advance notice of developing technologies and early licensing opportunities

on patents They also get a chance to hire M.I.T graduates and pay for their own executives to attend M.I.T.’s renowned management- training program

The Epoch Foundation is one of several Taiwanese groups funnelling funds into u s educational institutions; total contributions from Taiwan this year should top $20 million “It’s economic diplomacy,” says Clyde Stoltenberg of the University of Kansas’s Centre for East Asian Studies “I don’t think Taiwan does anything without a consideration of the political aspect.”

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3 Find the examples of discourse reference in the sentences below, and say whether each example is of anaphoric or cataphoric reference

4 Find examples of discourse reference in the following sentences.

a The chief came to New York when he was well past sixty He flew over here, rocketed, as it were, in a matter of hours

b When I was nineteen, I left my native village That was more than 15 years ago

c You want to know where we stand This is our position We are not going to retreat any further

d The above story is purely fantasy How can we buy it?

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I do think Adam's quick.

b speaker: a student, hearers', a set of students, place: sitting

around a coffee table in the refectory, time: evening in March

1980 John, one of the group has just told a joke Everyone laughed except Adam Then Adam laughs One of the students says:

I do think Adam 's quick.

C o n te x t re fers to a ll th e n o n -ỉỉn g u istỉc fa c to r s th a t eith er lim its o r su p p o rt in te rp re ta tio n o f d isco u rse,

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2 Features of context

Firth:

A The relevant features of participants: persons, personalities

(i) The verbal action of the participants

(ii) The non-verbal action of the participants

B The relevant objects

c The effect of the verbal action (Firth, quoted in Brown and Yule, 1984: 37)

Hallidav:

i field (the subject matter of the discourse),

ii tenor (the interpersonal relations between the participants ) andiii mode of discourse (channels or the ways by which discourse isconducted.)

Hvmes : context as a limiter of the range of possible interpretations, and a supporter of the intended interpretation

The use o f a linguistic form identifies a range o f meanings A context can support a range o f meanings.

When a form is used in a context it eliminates the

meanings possible to that context other than those the

consideration the meanings possible in the form other than those the context can support (Hymes, 1962,

quoted in Brown and Yule, 1983: 38)

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H ym es’s list o f features:

i addressor and addressee

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C o n sid er a lectu rin g event:

i addressor: the lectu rer; addressee: the students o r th o se

p resen t in class

ii audien ce: p eople w h o h ap p en to be passing by in the

co rrid o r o r ju s t th o se h ap p en in g to be outside the lectu re

th eatre

iii topic: ab o u t n u c le a r p h y sics o r ju st linguistics

iv setting: is p h y sica lly located in the H anoi U n iv ersity and

the tim e p ro b ab ly Ja n u ary , 1998

V channel: b y sp eech /sp eak in g or som etim es reading aloud

viii event: lectu rin g o r ju s t a lectu re

ix key: an in tere stin g o r p ro b ab ly b o rin g lectu re

X p u rp o se: g e ttin g the stu d en ts to u n d erstan d n u c le a r

p h y sic s o r lin g u istics

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3 Co-text.

Co-text is the stretch of language that occurs before or after the utterance which needs to be interpreted For example:

The same evening / went ashore The first landing in

any new country is very interesting (Brown and Yule,

1983:47)

Another example offered is:

The children o f the Indians are saved, to be sold or

given away as servants, or rather slaves fo r as long a

time as the owners can make them believe themselves

slaves But I believe in their treatment there is little to

complain of (Brown and Yule, 1983: 47).

4 The principle of “local in te rp reta tio n ” and of “analogy”

4.1 The principle o f local interpretation.

“instructs the hearer not to construct a context any larger than he needs to arrive at an interpretation”, (Brown and Yule, opo.cit;

59) Let us consider the example (transcript of a description) offered by them:

a man and a woman sitting in the living room the

m an’s bored goes to the window looks out the window

m and goes out + goes to his goes to a club + has a drink talks to the barman

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4.2 The principle o f analogy.

The principle of analogy en a b les the h ea rer or listen er to

in terp ret d isco u rse in light o f h is p a s t exp erien ce a n d

ba ckg ro u n d kno w led g e W hen the h e a re r en co u n ters a n ew situation h e se le c ts fr o m his m em o ry a type o f exp erien ce

he has g e n era lise d b efore, a n d re la tes it to his b a ckg ro u n d know ledge in o rd er to in te rp ret it T h a t is to say, by analogy w ith p r e v io u s sim ila r d isco u rse.

C onsider th e above exam ple:

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lectures in discourse analysis

2 Analyse the following extract in terms of the features of context

to the extent possible:

Mr President, Mr speaker,

Members of the House and the Senate,

Distinguished Americans here as visitors in this Chamber as I might,

It’s nice to have a fresh excuse for giving a long speech When presidents speak to the Congress and the nation from this podium, typically they comment on the changes and the opportunities that face the United States, but this is not an ordinary time for all the many tasks that require our attention I believe tonight one calls on

us to unite and to act, that’s our economy

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(1mA 2

for students of CFL, HNU 35

LETTERS TO OUR CHILDREN

Americans speak from the heart about the values they hold precious

iVTeach your children wel\”, the song goes N ot an easy

task at a time when streets are violent, fam ilies are

crumbling and any road quickly divides into a hundred

competing pathways Amid this challenge what compass

can parents and grandparents offer, what solace can

they provide? u s News asked nine men and women to

put their thoughts into words, lending hope and counsel

to a generation still finding its way

Lasroh Havens, professor o f psychiatry at Harvard

Medical School, is the author o f the ju st published

L earning to Be H um an, and other books on

psychotherapy and the human condition.

Dear Emily,

Honesty Not honesty in the abstract, but honesty at home and between you and me, what is that like? Well, first, it’s shouting, hurting feeling, one of us stamping out or slamming doors If this is honesty, who wants it?

I wish I could say I always do, but I ’d be lying What I really want

is for us to love one another, to live in peace and never slam another door, even in these teenage years of yours Good luck to

me, and probably bad luck for us

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for students of CFL, HNIJ 36

I have things I think you need to know You have things you think I should know And it's the same throughout our pluralistic world, between the sexes, races, religions There is now a new honesty

about dishonesty: we no longer hide many of the awful things our

leaders and heroes do

Is a real display of feelings ever bad? It is if we take a gun or a knife to one another and that is happening too Yet here I have a hunch, a conclusion from years of watching my neighbours, my patients and myself I believe it is better to speak our minds than to stop free speech, as long as we keep trying to hear

The freedom to speak and the obligation to listen mean that you, Emily, and I, your father, are less likely to use a gun - it is the inability to speak, I think, that is more likely to lead to violence When people don’t believe they can be heard, many do reach for weapons I have seen it again and again, people are swallowing their resentments, letting them cook inside until they explode Further, how can young people gain the self-respect crucial in hot

disputes unless they have been listened to? So I go on speaking and

trying to listen, as you do, believing that something will get heard

I know you often think I ’m impossible or crazy or just plain dumb, which I often am Nevertheless, I have this conviction that out of

honest speech comes the one chance we have to make a real life together This is the most important issue, that human values must

be served, honouring what is real in each other, not thinking we don’t know who the other is, letting real people emerge from behind the pretences of either authority or submission

I was taught to honour my father and mother I do hope I also honour children, the largest unheard minority group throughout the world I know many feel that only by an imposed authority can order be brought to society and the world I don’t believe it, much

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lecturcs in discourse analysis

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as I often wish it prevailed right here at home What I really think

is that respect can honour freedom and restore us to each other

Is it sentimental nonsense? Isn’t the present disorder of our society evidence enough that some voices should be stilled? I don’t think

so And the most compelling evidence is the 20th century itself, when the worst crimes of genocide and the overwhelming violence have been partly the result of just this denial of people’s right to speak

So let us go on speaking our minds and sometimes slamming doors Maybe this will be your generation’s mission - to bring freedom and respect to a world sorely in need of both

Love,

Dad

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lecture* in discourse analysis

My dearest Ian and Brittany,

I hope that in the final moments of your father’s life, his last thought were not of us As he laying dying, I wanted him to think only of the mission to which he pledged himself As you grow older, if I can show you the love and responsibility he felt for his family, you will understand my feelings I did not want him to think of me or of you because I did not want his heart to break

Children were meant to have someone responsible for them No father ever took that more seriously than your dad Responsibility was a natural part of him, an easy path to follow Each day after work his truck pulled into our driveway I watched the two of you run into him, feet pounding across the painted boards of our porch, yelling, “Daddy!” Everyday, I saw his face when he saw you You were the centre of his life

Ian, when you turned one year old, your father was beside himself with excitement, baking you a cake in the shape of a train On your last birthday, he sent you a hand made birthday card from Somalia But your father had two families One was us, and the other was his comrades He was true to both

He loved his job Quiet and serious adventure filled some part of him I could never fully know After his death, one of his comrades told me that on a foreign mission, your dad led his men across a snow-covered ridge that began to collapse Racing across a yawning crevasse to safety, he grinned wildly and yelled, “wasn’t that great?”

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