ERIC Number: EJ1407633
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1368-2822
EISSN: EISSN-1460-6984
A Tutorial on Discourse Analysis in Healthy and Pathological Ageing
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, v59 n1 p94-109 2024
Background: Age is a key factor when dealing with language and speech disorders, as it entails a progressive loss of neuroplasticity even in healthy individuals. Apart from this, ageing also affects our word-retrieval abilities, and thus, our discursive skills, particularly in people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, descriptions and/or measures of communicative performance always need to be interpreted through the lens of variation across the lifespan. Aim: This paper's main objective is to create a general tutorial for researchers willing to start delving into discourse analysis, both in healthy and pathological ageing. Methods: An eight-step tutorial on discourse analysis in the elderly is presented. Each of these steps starts with general recommendations and progresses to more specific topics that may be relevant when conducting this type of research. All of the steps have been extrapolated from an extensive literature review on discourse analysis. Main Contributions: This work presents an easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorial on discourse analysis in the elderly. It is aimed at clinical researchers who are taking their first steps in discourse analysis. It may also be useful for those who are already familiar with the methodology but may be interested in reading a general overview on the topic. Moreover, it offers new insights into the following topics: types of research questions, advantages and disadvantages of the different research methodologies and ethical considerations for data production in clinical linguistics. Conclusions: Discourse analysis in the elderly is a highly complex issue that may require researching from different approaches and disciplines. This implies following a well-planned and thorough process, which we have detailed through the following eight steps: (i) reviewing literature; (ii) formulating the research question; (iii) designing the study; (iv) producing data; (v) selecting technological tools for data treatment; (vi) transcribing the corpus; (vii) annotating the corpus and (viii) analysing and interpreting the results.
Descriptors: Aging (Individuals), Discourse Analysis, Older Adults, Pathology, Clinical Experience, Research Methodology, Ethics, Teaching Methods, Psycholinguistics
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A