Abstract
The concept ‘Discourse Analysis’ is associated with a wide range of activities. The fields that contribute to Discourse Analysis include linguistics, principle of information exchange, interactional sociolinguistics, literacy studies and conversational analysis. Understanding a piece of discourse involves textual, contextual, linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge. In education, Educational Psychology has shown that at all levels of educational process, discourse plays an important role. Education itself is a discursive discipline. Lessons, transactions, teacher/learner interactions can be fully understood if the detailed structures, conditions and functions of the discourse processes are involved. This paper discusses discourse analysis in relation to the roles it plays in language education. The introduction portrays the conceptual meanings of discourse analysis. Some steps are provided on how to go about discourse analysis as far as discourse research is concerned. The paper also looks at the functions of discourse as regards the roles language plays in educational and social contexts. The paper then illustrates classroom situations in discourse analysis as regards interactions between teachers and learners. In the end, discourse and education in relation to the goals of educational institutions as well as discourse and educational researchers are relatively discussed; while a general summary promulgating the role of discourse and language in education and general phenomena conclude the paper.