Language-based approaches to the study of education policy

Abstract

This chapter provides background to some of the methodological perspectives taken up in this volume, with a general emphasis on discourse analysis and a more particular emphasis on critical discourse analysis, discursive psychology, and conversation analysis. Of these approaches, policy scholars have used critical discourse analysis extensively, and thus it represents the dominant approach to language-based policy research. We describe how the analyst approaches their work within each of the selected methodological perspectives, provides insights into the key features of the approach. We integrate examples from the published literature to illustrate how policy scholars can use these approaches to study education policy.