Textual analysis is the method of analysing and understanding the text. It includes the close reading of fictional texts, images, symbols, and all forms of written literary texts. A researcher needs to look keenly at the text to identify the writer’s context and its message.
What is a Text?
- A text can be anything from which you can extract any meaning or information.
- A text can be a written book, case study, records, journals, newspapers, magazines, ornaments, objects, emails, or transcribed conversations.
- It also includes analysing events, places, videos, images, or movies to get in-depth knowledge about their creation and purpose.
Why do we call it a Text?
You might be thinking, Why don’t we call it a book, video, or magazine? Why do we call it a text?
The word text means the post-structuralist approach to thinking about the development of meaning.
The Purpose of Textual Analysis
The purpose of your textual analysis depends on the object of your study, such as:
- Analysis of a video or movie may aim to determine the target audience, dialogues, cinematography, visual and sound effects, and the message conveyed through his work.
- Analysis of texts and short stories focuses on the language, narrative, choice of words, imagery, perception of the writer, and organisation of the text.
- You can analyse a monument based on its architectural history, stories related to it, and visitors’ navigation.
- You can analyse images in terms of the photographer’s creativity, use of a camera, sense of selecting locations, skills of capturing images, etc.
- You can analyse paintings in terms of their artistic level, use of colours, perception of the painters, the message hidden in the image, etc.
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Textual Analysis of Cultural and Media Studies
A researcher uses a variety of sources, including videos, social media content, newspapers, maps, buildings, advertisements, and images. Textual analysis plays a key role in the fields of cultural and media studies.
A researcher aims to analyse, interpret, and understand the controversial issues and messages embedded within the text and tries to connect them with other texts or events.
These kinds of texts are analysed from the following aspects:
- Content of the texts
- Language and word choice
- Location
- Elements of creativity
- Target audience
- Association with other texts or events
It focuses primarily on the creative and qualitative approach of the text. A researcher identifies the context and hidden message of the text.
Example:
When we watch a TV ad, it is not just about the product. For example, an ad showing a happy family eating pizza is also telling us that pizza equals love, togetherness, and the strength of a family. This is called the textual analysis in cultural and media studies. Where we look at the hidden messages, like how ads or shows shape what we think about family or success.
Textual Analysis in the Social Sciences
It includes the textual analysis of the interview transcripts and surveys, and other media, including TV programs, chats, and social media content. It takes a quantitative approach to measure the characteristics and organisation of the text. You can measure the text’s repetitions, types of colours displayed, tone of the speakers, etc.
Content analysis, thematic analysis, and discourse analysis are the most frequent ways to analyse these texts.
Example:
A researcher is working on the speeches made by leaders to understand how they talk about teamwork. By reading the words carefully, the researcher identifies themes such as “unity,” “equality,” “helping each other,” and “community.”
This represents how language can shape people’s actions. Textual analysis helps social scientists understand and know what type of messages are being shared and how these messages affect society.
Literary Text Analysis
The literary text analysis is breaking a text’s structure and content into smaller parts to seek an in-depth understanding.
A researcher includes stories, poetry, plays, novels, and books.
It focuses on identifying:
- The association between various individual texts.
- The similarities between the concepts of the two separate texts.
- The relationship between the texts and political, social, aesthetic, economic, or religious contexts.
Example:
The central theme of the story of The Tortoise and the Hare is that slow and steady wins the race. In this story, the hare represents pride and overconfidence; on the other hand, the tortoise represents patience.
Here, the author teaches us that being consistent is more important than rushing things. Moreover, the setting of the race adds excitement, and the characters’ actions clearly illustrate the lesson about the importance of hard work and persistence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Textual analysis deals with interpreting meaning, themes, and cultural significance within a text; on the other hand, content analysis focuses more on counting, categorizing, and quantifying elements like words, symbols, or phrases.
Yes, textual analysis can be applied to non-literary texts.
Many researchers often use it to study advertisements, political speeches, social media posts, and films to understand the underlying messages and ideologies.
Context plays a vital role because a text’s meaning can change depending on cultural or social factors. Ignoring context can lead to the misinterpretation of the author’s intent.
