The last thirty years have seen the world transformed according to market models of competition and consumption. These changes have had profound consequences across the professions in areas as diverse as education, healthcare and social services. The Discourse of Commercialization examines what it means for professionals oriented towards service provision to work within this environment. Drawing on a multi-perspectived study of English Language Teaching colleges, the book explores how teaching practices are permeated and challenged by a 'discourse of commercialization' through which market priorities become normative in teachers' professional lives. For anyone who wants to understand and address issues raised by the commercialization of professional practice with a particular focus on education, The Discourse of Commercialization provides an analysis that can inform organizational practice and change.
Author(s): Jonathan Crichton
Series: Palgrave Studies in Professional and Organizational Discource
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 233
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
List of Figures and Table......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 11
1 Introduction......Page 12
Commercializing education......Page 15
The question of tension......Page 21
Discourse analysis and the researcher......Page 23
Cicourel’s challenge and Candlin’s proposal......Page 26
Outline of the book......Page 28
Connecting language, context and social theory......Page 31
Key features of the approach......Page 40
Developing the perspectives......Page 44
Design of the study......Page 53
Selecting and analysing data......Page 56
Summary of the study......Page 59
Motivational relevancies and multiple memberships......Page 60
Three narratives......Page 61
Motivating themes......Page 69
Theoretical starting points......Page 70
Summary of the analyst’s perspective......Page 78
Analysing the diaries......Page 79
Relations between teachers, managers and students......Page 81
Evaluation and appraisal......Page 97
Implications for other practices......Page 109
Links to the social-theoretical resources......Page 117
Summary of the participants’ perspective......Page 119
Analysing the brochures......Page 120
The construction of a community of consumption......Page 124
Teaching, learning and other products and attractions......Page 129
The college as producer......Page 139
Students and readers as consumers......Page 150
Summary of the semiotic resource perspective......Page 161
The discourse of commercialization and contemporary society......Page 162
Bourdieu’s critique......Page 164
Explaining meso- and micro-relations......Page 167
The influence of macro-actors......Page 170
Subordinating the social to the economic......Page 173
Summary of the social/institutional perspective......Page 191
7 Understanding Practice and Informing Change......Page 192
Characterizing communities of consumption......Page 194
Broadening the field: comparable sites......Page 199
Issues of policy, practice and change......Page 204
Appendix 1: Diary Coding System......Page 207
Appendix 2: Brochure Coding System......Page 209
References......Page 213
Index......Page 225
