Fairclough's three-dimensional framework

Corresponding with the three dimesions of a discourse event, Norman Fairclough proposes three dimensions of discourse analysis.  These are linguistic description of the text, interpretation of the relationship between discursive processes (production and interpretation) and the text, and explanation of the relationship between the discursive process and social phenomena (Fairclough 1995: 97).  

CDA has mainly been concerned with linguistic description and social explanation.  It has paid comparatively little attention to interpretation-stage analysis and especially the cognitive processes involved in discourse (O'Halloran 2003).