A critical discourse analysis of the language of websites of universities in Ghana

Abstract

This study examined the language of websites of universities in Ghana and how they used language to represent themselves on their institutional websites. It relied on Fairclough‟s (1993; 1995a, 2001) approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for its theoretical and analytical framework. Fairclough‟s approach to CDA allowed three-dimensional analysis which include textual analysis, process analysis and societal analysis. The first six premier universities in Ghana were purposively selected for this study, namely, University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Education, Winneba, University for Development Studies and Valley View University. The findings revealed the following: the universities built their institutional identities through the use of both textual and visual elements; the universities expressed their power to determine what to present to viewers of the website; the language on the websites were institution centred; the universities used similar texts that serve as promotional discourse; the websites contained elements that presented the universities with peculiar African (Ghanaian) characteristics. This study concluded by making some recommendations which would enable the universities in Ghana to know how they were represented on their institutional websites in order to improve their marketing strategies especially toward their visibility on the global front, better positioning on the international ranking and the attraction of international students.