THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS FOR ELT (English Language Teaching).

Language teachers should always worry about the reasons why someone would like to learn a second or a foreign language. Teachers should ask themselves – what is teaching a language after all? Who is my student? What are they learning actually?
One might say these are far too basic questions to sustain any relevance, but it’s exactly here that they get their importance; these questions are essential and they can enable teachers to have a second thought over their practices.
The disciplines of Pragmatics and Discourse analysis have their influence in several ELT approaches and methodologies, particularly in pragmatics with the theories of acts of speech. Many textbooks were designed under the belief that the acts of speech represent acts of use; for instance: how to ask for something, how to apologize, how to deny, alert or express a judgment. According to Austin (1992),” men act by speaking”. For Fiorin (2002),”the studies of language use are absolutely necessary because there are words and sentences whose interpretation can only occur at a concrete speaking utterance.” Many mistakes committed by the students should not be considered or understood simply as a transgression to some structural or grammatical rules, but mistakes may also occur when the learner is not aware to the social implications in the usage of certain words at a specific context, which may cause different effects of meaning in interactions.
The underlying theories in Pragmatics, as well as in Discourse Analysis studies may become an important tool for those engaged in the studies of language teaching.
Once in contract with the French branch of Discourse Analysis and to the conceptions pointed out by Michel Pêcheux, we can be able to make use of this theoretical background which involve aspects of history, ideology, psychoanalysis and philosophy in order to see the richness of knowledge inserted to a language learners’ utterances. It is a way to study the learners’ unconscious dimensions which according to Jacqueline Authier(1990) says that “the individual is more the result of spoken acts than the speech itself.” So it is indeed very important for teachers to have a broader view of the diverse contexts in which learners are inserted and how that implies different effects into the relevance of their teaching practices. Discourse Analysis may also contribute to the development of teachers’ works especially in terms of deeper thoughts towards issues related to the complexity of different voices or discourses preceding one’s position over teaching and learning processes and a possible commitment of practices influenced historically, ideologically or even philosophically. By getting to know Discourse Analysis, language teachers may apprehend now and in the future theoretical support, guidance or directions to improve comprehension and overcome the challenges of language learning.