A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES IN DISCOURSE STUDIES: CORPUS-BASED AND TRADITIONAL PARADIGMS
Keywords:
corpus-based discourse analysis, traditional discourse analysis, methodology, mixed-methods, triangulation, reproducibility.Abstract
This article presents a comparative analysis of corpus-based discourse analysis (CBDA) and traditional discourse analysis (DA), examining their methodological foundations, applications, and respective strengths and limitations. While both approaches investigate the relationship between language and social context, they diverge significantly in their execution. CBDA leverages quantitative, computational techniques to identify patterns across large datasets, prioritizing generalizability and reproducibility. In contrast, traditional DA employs qualitative, interpretive methods to achieve deep contextual sensitivity and nuanced understanding of specific texts or interactions. Through a synthetic review of literature and case studies, this paper argues that the two approaches are fundamentally complementary. The findings suggest that the future of discourse studies lies in the strategic integration of both methodologies through mixed-methods designs and triangulation, which can mitigate the limitations of each while leveraging their combined strengths for a more holistic and robust analysis of discourse phenomena.
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