Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Discourse analysts typically focus on the linguistic features of spoken, written, and multimodal semiotic data, examining them within their broader social and institutional context. Ethnographers, on the other hand, delve deeply into the understanding of real‐life phenomena, studying people's social and discursive practices in situ and over time. These two perspectives have traditionally originated from different scholarly traditions and perspectives. The combination of (different forms of) ethnography and discourse analysis has, however, found common ground in critically oriented approaches in Applied Linguistics over the years. Some leading approaches which will be discussed in this entry include Linguistic Ethnography (LE), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Critical Sociolinguistics (CS), or Nexus Analysis. Studies using ethnographic approaches to discourse delve into topics such as multilingualism, identity, ideologies, and linguistic inequalities, often in educational, political, and economic contexts in the public and private spheres. Ethnographic approaches to discourse offer insights into the interplay of linguistic interactions within socioeconomic, political, and cultural configurations. The synergy between ethnography and discourse analysis holds the potential to understand the social contexts from which discourses arise, the role of social actors in producing, circulating, and consuming discourses, and how these influence people's actions and micro‐linguistic interactions.</jats:p>