Thao Le

The high rate of delinquency and gang activity in certain Asian American communities demands that we determine the reasons for this incidence and develop solutions. Why does the problem exist and persist? How can the problem be addressed? Our aim is to address those questions. In this volume, we begin with a review of the standard explanations for delinquency and gang activity that have been offered by academics who have reviewed these phenomena. We supplement those explanations with others that have been offered by professionals who work in the field. We then work through these explanations by providing accounts of delinquency by individuals in specific Asian American communities: Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Hmong, Korean, and Indian. In the process, some of the conventional explanations for delinquency appear to be less important in these communities, while others take on more prominence.

The title of this book 'Critical Discourse Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Perspective' is purposely chosen to emphasise the interdisciplinary nature of critical discourse analysis (CDA). This book has the following key features: The chapter authors bring to the book their diversified backgrounds. They are linguists, educators, computer scientists, health professionals, and social consultants. Although they all share a common interest in CDA, their academic and cultural experiences are different and this intercultural and interdisciplinary feature provides interesting insights into the understanding of CDA and its wider application. Thus, it appeals to a wide range of readers such as students, educators, researchers, health professionals and others. The book is divided into three parts to reflect the main interdisciplinary aspects of CDA: Part One is about some introductory aspects of CDA. It gives readers some basic ideas about CDA as an emerging field. Part Two is on CDA across different subjects and disciplines such as language education, information technology, and heath sciences. Part Three deals with CDA across cultures. It includes the use of CDA in examining social and linguistic issues in different nations and cultures such as Spain, Nigeria, Indonesia, New Zealand. For those who do not have backgrounds in linguistics, two introductory chapters on aspects of linguistics and functional grammar, which are relevant to CDA, are included in this book. They are essential for understanding CDA.