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Open research questions in Discourse Analysis in Language Studies

148 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 4,856 Discourse Analysis in Language Studies papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Drawing on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are proposed for practitioners and researchers in religious discourse and applied linguistics. First, Christian preachers should adopt a more deliberate and context-sensitive use of syntactic structures in sermon delivery. Constructions such as preposing, topicalisation, clefting, existential forms, and passivisation function as resources for highlighting doctrinal content and guiding audience interpretation, thereby enhancing clarity and communicative impact. Second, thematic alignment should be maintained when using marked constructions. Where foregrounded elements correspond with the central message, coherence is strengthened; where they do not, focus and interpretive ease may be reduced. Syntactic prominence should therefore be reserved for core theological elements. Third, cleft and existential constructions should be applied with clear functional intent. While effective for introducing or emphasising key information, excessive or unfocused use may reduce clarity. Their deployment is most effective when tied to specific communicative goals. Fourth, passive constructions should be used with attention to clarity and relevance. Although useful for foregrounding outcomes and backgrounding agency, agent omission should only occur where it is contextually justified to avoid ambiguity. Fifth, theological training institutions should incorporate basic linguistic awareness, particularly in syntax and discourse organisation, into ministerial training to support more effective sermon construction and delivery. Sixthly, further research should extend this analysis to other discourse domains, such as political, academic, and media contexts, and across different linguistic and cultural settings to determine the broader applicability of these patterns. Finally, comparative studies are recommended across Nigerian languages and Christian denominational traditions in order to examine whether similar information-structuring Vol. 22, No.

    Isomorphism in Nigerian Christian Sermons · 2026 · DOI

  • In addition, future research may focus on how teacher feedback influences students’ revision of informal features and their developing awareness of academic discourse. The elements of informal language found in this particular dataset might not be representative of the wider linguistic practices of undergraduate students in the Thai EFL environment.

    Informality features in Thai EFL academic writing: Corpus evidence and instructor perceptions · 2026 · DOI

  • ” What is lacking in generative AI’s empty recitation, besides any real registration of the literary text or prior criticism, is both the social experience of community that was classically essential to epideictic rhetoric (Carter, 1992; Fahnestock & Secor, 1992) and the motivated investment of a literary critic who seeks to interact with that community by presenting new understanding (Banting, 2023).

    Simulated Social Action · 2026 · DOI

  • Building on discussion from the ICCDC, this piece argues that the field does not simply need “new tasks” but rather a principled framework for deciding when canonical tasks remain useful; when they should be adapted; and when new tasks, methods, and metrics are warranted.

    From Foundations to Frontiers: Fit-for-Purpose Discourse Science · 2026 · DOI

  • Based on the results of this research, a number of recommendations are offered for academics, political analysts, policy makers and political communication practitioners. 1. At least multimodal approaches should be added to the analytical range of the study of the presidents’ speech, which is done by scholars acting in the field of discourse analysis and political pragmatics. 2. Longitudinal designs are also encouraged, in which pragmatic patterns are followed throughout the life of a political administration. 3.

    Pragmatic Acts in Selected Speeches of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu: A Jacob Mey's Pragmatic Act Approach · 2026 · DOI

  • Given that the construction of voice of a writer and researcher identity is dynamic, holistic, ever-changing, and dialogic (Zhao, 2012; Zhao & Liu, 2021), there is a need for more longitudinal and ethnographic studies to explore how the construction of writer/researcher identity progresses, is challenged, and (re)negotiated over time over the long term within and upon class instructions (De Costa et al. , 2021a; Haan & Gallagher, 2022; Ortega & Byrnes, 2008). Additionally, further descriptive and exploratory investigation in a wider pedagogical context is necessary to understand the linguistic ecology in a variety of instructional spaces in which writing pedagogy takes place (Staples & Reppen, 2016), enabling the implementation of more effective specific instructions to empower students to become a more credible self in their academic journey of “disciplinary coming” (Hyland, 2015). In closing, in this study, it is observed that the students have shown their expanded awareness of the effect of the use of discursive resources (e.g., self-mention, hedges, nominalization, and thematic patterns) in both of their analyzed texts and their final research report. Matsuda (2015) stresses that such critical awareness can be heard in an agentive voice of a competent writer identity who is able to “balance markedness and un- markedness purposefully and strategically in achieving the particular rhetorical goal” (p. 154). In this light, L2 writing classes should strive to be a space that nurtures the agentive voice in our students who strive to continually expand their sense-making choices and can draw on those choices purposefully, critically, and creatively. When students leave the space, it is thus hoped that it is not just grades earned for credit that students have achieved and carried from a course, but more importantly that just like David, they will be able to say to themselves, “I now feel like a (mini) researcher.” That is because one primary educational vision to pursue with tertiary-level students, particularly international students arriving in classrooms (often (self)perceived as identities of low confidence and deficiency) is, ultimately, to guide them to find and carry empowered scholarly voices as emerging, agentive, and creative readers, text designers, and inquirers in their continued dynamic interaction with the heteroglossia of other coming and established scholarly voices.

    "It feels like a mini researcher" · 2026 · DOI

  • The present study demonstrates that contemporary journalistic automotive reviews constitute a highly structured yet flexible genre that integrates technical precision, experiential evaluation, and persuasive communication within a coherent rhetorical framework. The analysis of a corpus of English‑language reviews allowed us to identify a stable compositional model consisting of an introductory contextual segment, competitor comparison, interior and exterior assessment, technical specifications, driving impressions, and a concluding verdict supported by a fact box. A key conclusion is that the effectiveness of the genre arises from its ability to transform complex engineering data into accessible, reader‑oriented narratives, while simultaneously preserving the authority and expert stance inherent to automotive journalism. Equally significant is the central role of pragmatic markers and discursive cues, which guide readers through dense informational content and enhance the perceived clarity, coherence, and usefulness of the review. The study deepens our understanding of hybrid evaluative genres and the mechanisms through which expertise is communicated in media discourse. The contribution of the research is in the analysis of the "driving impressions" section 199 Studia Philologica. 2026. Issue 26 DOI: https://doi.org/10.28925/2412-2491.2026.26 ISSN 2412-2491 (Online) as a key mechanism of genre functioning, showing how technical parameters are linguistically transformed into experiential and sensory descriptions. The article explains the interaction between three types of information within a single textual system: quantitative technical data, impressions, and evaluative judgments. It shows how these elements are consistently integrated through discourse organisation, rather than appearing as separate layers, which clarifies the hybrid nature of automotive reviews as a genre. subjective Another innovation is the demonstration that logical cohesion and explicit structural segmentation function as necessary tools for processing high-density technical information. The effectiveness of automotive reviews depends not only on expertise, but on linguistic structuring that ensures accessibility and readability for a non-specialist audience. Finally, the article proposes a systematic link between genre structure and communicative function, showing that informative function is realised primarily through technical and factual sections, evaluative function through interior/exterior the overall description and driving impressions, persuasive function organisation culminating in the verdict. through The findings highlight the need to examine media genres that blend technical knowledge with narrative strategies.

    Genre Specificity of Contemporary Journalistic Automotive Reviews · 2026 · DOI

  • <p class="ql-align-justify">Research on academic writing has increasingly emphasized the importance of authorial stance and coherence, yet the role of deixis in constructing such stance remains insufficiently explored, particularly in comparative contexts involving native and non-native English writers.

    Deixis and Authorial Voice in Academic Writing · 2026 · DOI

  • While the findings of this study offer valuable insights, several limitations should be acknowledged. First, the study was initially based on a preliminary corpus of six articles drawn from three media categories (i.e., liberal, neutral, and conservative). Although the dataset was subsequently expanded to fifteen articles, the corpus remains relatively limited in scale, which constrains the extent to which the findings can be generalized across the broader media landscape. Larger datasets may reveal more extensive and consistent discursive patterns. Second, the scope of the study is geographically and linguistically bounded. The analysis focuses exclusively on English-language media sources, which may exclude alternative perspectives, particularly those emerging from international or multilingual contexts that could frame the BLM protests differently. Third, the analysis is restricted to a specific temporal window, namely, from May 26 to June 7, 2020, capturing discourse within the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s death. As such, the study does not account for how media representations may evolve over longer periods or in response to subsequent developments. Fourth, while the corpus-assisted CDA approach enables systematic analysis of linguistic patterns, it is limited in its ability to incorporate broader contextual dimensions beyond the textual data. Complementary methods, such 62 Language, Discourse & Society, vol. 14, no. 1(27), 2026DOI: as ethnographic interviews with journalists or audience reception studies, could provide additional layers of insight and should be considered in future research. Lastly, as with all critical discourse analysis, the interpretive nature of the methodology introduces the possibility of researcher subjectivity. Although the study employs a triangulated theoretical framework to enhance analytical rigor, alternative interpretations may still emerge. Future studies could benefit from collaborative analyses involving multiple researchers, as well as from incorporating extended timeframes and intersectional perspectives. Accordingly, the findings should be interpreted as exploratory in nature and illustrative of discursive tendencies within the selected corpus rather than as definitive generalizations about the entire media landscape.

    From Protest to Propaganda: A Raciolinguistic-CDA Analysis of Media's Role in Shaping Racial Justice · 2026 · DOI

  • The clusters defining these styles have different sizes and variances, with overlapping essays hinting at underexplored developmental trajectories in EFL writing.

    Fingerprints of EFL writing: an AI deep learning approach · 2025 · DOI

  • However, such practices are underresearched, undertheorized, and underdiscussed in L2 writing classrooms, which could be partially ascribed to the disciplinary disposition of the field L2 writing and to the ethical concerns regarding cultural assimilation.

    Public Writing in a Second Language · 2025 · DOI

  • Abstract The acquisition of discourse markers (DMs) by undergraduate students of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) constitutes a research problem that has not been thoroughly investigated from the vantage point of sustainable practices associated with the explicit and implicit modes of instruction.

    The Acquisition of Discourse Markers by ESP Undergraduates: Uncovering Sustainable Practices in Descriptive Essay Writing · 2025 · DOI

  • Lecturers can utilize ECOPA to design engaging language-focused activities and assessments, while scholars can leverage the corpus for further research into the linguistic landscape of public administration.

    Steps for developing the English Corpus of Public Administration (ECOPA) for public administration students: A qualitative corpus approach · 2025 · DOI

  • However, this aspect is still under-explored if we consider two related issues that are quite challenging: the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), which emphasizes the relationship between language and power, and the open-ended meanings of the languages spoken within national jurisdictions that encompass a variety of domains, with their multiple versions, idioms, or ‘Englishes’ of the Outer or Expanding Circle.

    The 'language of the law' and the 'sentiment of the language'. A cultural challenge to enrich global English for comparative legal studies with national identities · 2025 · DOI

  • However, museum translation practice has yet to fully respond to the new trend, and previous studies have largely followed a monomodal, language-oriented paradigm centered on source–target equivalence, while scholarly engagement with multimodal discourse analysis in museum translation remains scarce.

    Museum Text Translation through Multimodal Discourse Analysis: A Case Study of the Wooden Screen at Guangzhou Museum · 2025 · DOI

  • Thus, the list of constraints related to getting scientific content to a wider public may not be complete and fully comprehensive as it is contingent on and limited by the size and representativeness of the research material (the transcripts of public consultations held in Poland) and by the scope of corpus linguistic methodological procedures used in this study (collocation and concordance analysis). First, the results of qualitative research, due to the purposeful selection of respondents, may not be generalizable to the entire population of Poland.

    On the perception of science by Poles: corpus-based descriptive study of public consultation data · 2023 · DOI

  • In light of the anticipated interest in the new Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) English study design released in 2022 to be implemented in 2023, this paper outlines the current state of research on the VCE English subject by mapping areas of interest, types of evidence and gaps in research.

    Where are the students? A close reading of priorities and silences in scholarly and public debates on VCE English (1990–2021) · 2022 · DOI

  • As academic writing is a new and developing theme in the field of scientific sphere of Kazakhstan, while some scientists of the country have studied the theoretical and practical bases of academic writing, there are some issues that should be investigated, including the creation of electronic content using the Internet resources in the period of rapid development of information technology and the problems of teaching academic writing using electronic resources require a profound research.

    The academic writing’s research level and topical issues of creating its electronic content · 2022 · DOI

  • Following a tradition of intersectional feminist epistemologies, I engage with questions of epistemologies and critical pedagogies, speaking to and with several generations of scholars who address and work with questions of diversity and knowledge production that are seminal within International Relations (IR), yet underexplored from the perspective of knowledge-writing practices.

    Doing Academia Differently: Loosening the Boundaries of Our Disciplining Writing Practices · 2021 · DOI

  • These latter ones included students' lack of some academic writing skills and their limited knowledge about thesis writing and research whereas the identified sociocultural challenges included lack of supervisor and family support, lack of cooperation of the research sample, and insufficient academic preparation.

    A Qualitative Inquiry into the Difficulties Experienced by Algerian EFL Master Students in Thesis Writing: ‘Language is not the Only Problem’ · 2020 · DOI

  • Future research may examine the publishing experiences of NNES doctoral students on a larger scale that allows comparisons between different linguistic groups as well as generalisation of the results to a wider population.

    Experiences of Publishing in English: Vietnamese Doctoral Students' Challenges and Strategies · 2019 · DOI

  • Originality/value This paper argues that even though critical multimodality has often been discussed conceptually in L1 literacy scholarship, how to put these conceptualizations into practice has not been addressed systematically.

    A critical multimodal framework for reading and analyzing pedagogical materials · 2019 · DOI

  • This article draws attention to this gap in research: specifically, I report on the findings of a corpus-driven descriptive inquiry into authorial identity, operationalized as the use of first-person pronouns in a corpus of 126 argumentative research papers written by students enrolled in first-year L2 composition courses.

    Carving out a Dialogic Space for “I”: A Corpus-Based Study of Novice L2 College Writers’ Use of First- Person Pronouns in Argumentative Essays · 2018 · DOI

  • An increasing number of studies have investigated lexical bundles in academic writing in recent years, but few studies have explored L2 learners’ interpretations of their own bundle production, particularly sentence initial bundle production.

    Chinese Postgraduates’ Explanation of the Sources of Sentence Initial Bundles in their Thesis Writing · 2018 · DOI

  • The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), now adopted by the majority of states in the USA, provide exemplars of successful papers in the different disciplines, but offer no guidelines for teaching, particularly to inexperienced writers or English language learners.

    Tackling text types through grammar · 2017 · DOI

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148 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 4,856 Discourse Analysis in Language Studies papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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