The discourse of speech-language pathology

Abstract

As speech-language pathologists we seek to understand the communication of others, but rarely turn our attention to how we communicate. In this paper I consider what our discourse about our own profession may communicate about the culture of speech-language pathology. To consider our professional discourse, I use the approach of critical discourse analysis to examine the discourses produced about and by those involved with communication difficulty as “artefacts” of the cultural ideology in which they are embedded. Through analysing discourses and the contexts in which they are produced, we can begin to identify the underlying socio-cultural forces that are instantiated and maintained through such discourses. This paper introduces the concepts central to critical discourse analysis, and examines some key examples of the discourse artefacts of speech-language pathology in relation to scope of practice in order to reflect on what these discourses may tell us about our professional culture.

Keywords:

• Speech-language pathology
• professional issues
• discourse analysis

Notes

*Invited Elizabeth Usher Memorial Address to the joint conference of the New Zealand Speech-Language Therapists' Association and Speech Pathology Australia, Auckland, New Zealand, May 2008.