This seminar focuses on discourse and discourse analysis, and their application to the field of second language education. We will review various approaches to discourse analysis, such as pragmatics, ethnomethodology, conversation analysis, interactional analysis, critical discourse analysis. We will consider language and discourse from the perspective of political economy and the construction of identities. Attention will also be paid to gender, gender performance and sexuality as identity constructs, as these are interrelated with language use and language acquisition.