investigation language

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Language investigation course book

© www.teachit.co.uk 2012 13200 2

Introduction

During your English Language study so far you will have acquired a broad knowledge of a

range of factors that impact upon our language use. You will also have acquired the

skills to comment upon this language and will be able to using a range of terminology

accurately and effectively.

Over the next few months you will be working towards completing your ENGB4

Investigating Language module. During this time you will be expected to use and

develop your knowledge of the English language to produce an independent investigation

into an area of language that interests you. In addition to this, you will create a media

text that provides an insight into the area that you have been investigating; introducing

and commenting upon this area of language for a non-specialist audience.

This module requires a great deal of independence, organisation and focus. You will be

expected to spend approximately 60 hours completing your final pieces so it’s important

that you chose a topic that grabs your attention.

You won’t be abandoned though. Your teacher(s) will be there to provide guidance and

advice through a combination of whole-class lessons, individual tutorials and informal

chats. You need to keep a record of these meetings and submit this as an appendix in

your final coursework folder (see appendices A and B f or t he for ms t o help you do

this) .

In addition, this booklet will help to guide you through the whole process from start to

finish. It is designed to be a step-by-step guide to the general approaches that you will

need to employ and will help you to structure your work efficiently and effectively.

Language and

technology

Language

change

Language

acquisition

Language and

dialect

Language and

occupation/

ower

Language and

gender

English

Language





Exam board outline for ENGB4

The aim of this unit

The aim of this coursework unit is to develop your ability to explore and analyse

language data through a variety of methods. It should enable you to build upon the key

concepts and ideas gained during the course of your studies, as well as providing you

with the opportunity to demonstrate expertise in an area of individual interest.

Your coursework file will comprise of two individual pieces of writing:

a language investigation

a media text.

Language investigation

You should choose your own area for study in consultation with your teacher(s). The

topic selected should be manageable given the time and word limits. Investigations may

be based on areas that have been studied during the course so far; or may be based in

any area that is seen to yield interesting questions about language study.

The length of your investigation should be 1750-2500 words, excluding appendices and

data.

Media text

You will use the broad subject focus of your investigation to produce a media text (e.g.

newspaper article, magazine article) highlighting the language ideas and issues

surrounding your chosen topic.

This task will encourage you to develop your editorial writing skills (these have already

been tested in ENGB2). This piece should be based on your knowledge and should be

aimed at a non-specialist audience. This piece needs to be linked to your investigation

but does not need to reflect your findings. You will be able to undertake wider reading

and you should provide a bibliography to identify your preparatory reading material.The length of this piece should be 750-1000 words.

Assessment objectives

The following objectives are assessed through your completion of your ENGB4Investigating Language coursework. They are weighted in different proportions.

AO1 Select and apply a range of linguistic methods, to communicate relevantknowledge using appropriate terminology and coherent, accurate writtenexpression.Investigation: 20%

AO2 Demonstrate critical understanding of a range of concepts and issuesrelating to the construction and analysis of meanings in spoken and writtenlanguage, using knowledge of linguistic approaches.Investigation: 20%

AO3 Analyse and evaluate the influence of contextual factors on the productionand reception of spoken language, showing knowledge of the keyconstituents of language.Investigation: 10%

AO4 Demonstrate expertise and creativity in the use of English in a range ofcontexts informed by linguistic study.Article: 30%





Investigation overview: preparatory stages

Investigation overview: analysis and organisation

Carry out a detailed and logical analysis of your data

Draw your ideas together and decide upon your conclusions

Reflect on the validity and effectiveness of your data and methods

you have chosen to explore it

Write up and re-draft your investigation, assemble appendices and present your

final piece

Choose the area that you will be researching for your investigation

Collect your data. Complete any background reading and undertake any

other research

Refine your title – give yourself a clear focus for your investigation

Identify the key frameworks you will use to help you structure your investigation





This is one way in which you can ‘chunk’ your work. Breaking-down your project will

help to ensure that the major task of creating your investigation is made manageable

and logical. Rather than rigidly adhering to this process you should use it as a series of

guidelines.

Notice how much preparation is required prior to writing your final piece.

Choosing your investigation

Selecting an area for your investigation is a matter of personal choice. This is often the

most daunting part of the whole process, so don’t worry if you feel a little overwhelmed

and undecided.

You will need to think carefully about what aspects of your English language study have

so far interested you. This project will take a lot of time (approximately 60 hours of

work) and the more enthusiastic you are about your chosen area of study the better.

Think about what you enjoy doing, what interests you and what you have enjoyed

studying.

You also need to think about practical issues. For example;

Will you be able to collect suitable data?

Will you be able to refine your ideas?

Will you be able to create a focused and interesting title for your investigation?

Do you have a good understanding of this area? Or, will you be able to acquire the

knowledge base needed?

When making your choice, it’s worth considering the following questions to help you

think of possible areas that may yield an effective project:

Do you have a part time job?

Do you have a hobby?

Do you like to read magazines?

Do you listen to the radio?

Which television programmes do you watch?

Do you watch or play any sports?

Do you belong to any clubs or organisations?

Do any of your friends or family members speak differently to you (accent/dialect)

Do you have younger brothers/sisters? (language acquisition)

Do you have your old primary school exercise books/reports?

Do you know anyone who speaks English as a second language?

What topics interested you the most last year?

Do you enjoy analysing speech or writing?

See Appendix C f or a comprehensive l ist of ar eas used by st udents in pr evious

invest igat ions.





Collecting your data

Once you have decided upon an area for your investigation, you will need to collect your

data. It is important that your data is carefully and accurately collected; the success of

your investigation depends upon it.

How you collect your data will vary depending upon your chosen area. It may be quite

complicated and can be quite time consuming so make sure you are prepared for this.You may need to:

record and transcribe spoken data (from audio or screen)

collect a range of written texts

visit local libraries

search the internet

create questionnaires

set up interview scenarios.

Once you have collected your data you should ideally have it electronically stored sothat you can easily make multiple copies. You may need to scan pieces onto the

computer but should always keep the originals as well.

You will need to include in your final project appendices:

a clean (original) copy of your data

an annotated version of your data.

Anomalies

When collecting your data you need to ensure that your collection is consistent andkeeps anomalies and variables to a minimum. You need to think very carefully about

any other contextual factors which may prevent you from accurately comparing data, or

may prevent it from being truly representative.

Ethics

When collecting your data you need to ensure that you have permission to use it in your

investigation; you may need to send letters or emails to do this. You should also ensure

that all your data is ethically collected. For example, you should not record people

speaking without their knowledge.

Any letters/emails that you write should be included in your appendices along with any

responses that you receive.





Handling spoken data

Some of the most rewarding and interesting projects require students to analyse spoken

texts. Recording and transcribing data can be a time consuming process but is one that

can yield interesting, unique and lively data. See Appendix D for a l i st of Tr anscr ipt

Convent ions.

Your spoken data may be transcribed from a media source, for example:

a television programme

live sports commentary

advertisements

a radio show.

It may involve the use of real speech for example:

teacher talk in the classroom

responses to a series of questions where the focus may be dialect

the speech of a child talking to their parents

children retelling a story.

It may involve represented speech:

characters in a soap opera speaking

news readers telling the news

a politician making a speech.

In all the cases you should consider the following:

1)

Quantity: It is likely that you will record a lot more data than you will need in the

end and transcribing everything that you record will take hours. So, the first step is

to select which parts of your recordings are most relevant to the question that youare exploring.

2)

Detail: You then need to consider how much detail you will need to include in your

transcript. A transcript should enable the reader to recreate the spoken data in

their head without the need to refer to the original recording.

3) Conventions: There are no absolute rules that dictate how a transcript should be

presented and what it should include. In all probability you will need to show

aspects of speech, through the use of symbols that would not be obvious on the

page. For example; pauses, hedges, intonation. However, what you show will be

very much dependent on the area of language that you are exploring. You may like

to adopt the conventions demonstrated in the Appendix C. In all cases you shoulduse a key.

4)

Phonetic alphabet: Often transcripts will require you demonstrate how something is

said rather than simply what is being said; in many cases you will indicate this using

standard conventions of phonetic spelling e.g. yeah instead of yes. However, for

some areas of exploration, particularly if you are focusing on dialect or acquisition,

you will need a more accurate and rigorous way of showing demonstrating

pronunciation. For this you will use need to use the phonetic alphabet. See

Appendi x E.





The factors that impact upon spoken language

Creating questionnaires

Questionnaires can be a very useful way of collecting a variety of interesting and

relevant data. However, the quality of your data will only be as good as the quality of

your questionnaire so they need plenty of thought and some careful creation. You will

also need to ensure that you can collect enough data to make your findings valid. In the

‘real world’ this often means hundreds or thousands of responses; in the world of your

investigation you should aim to look at approximately 50 sets of responses.

This is a brief outline of the process you will need to go through to create a good

questionnaire.

Prosodic

features

Paralinguistic

features

The

context

Grammatical

features

Features of

interaction

Spoken

language





Objectives

Sampling group

Creating

Conducting

your

questionnaire

Interpreting

your results

You need to identify the objectives of your survey

This will probably require you to complete background

research and identify theories you would like to test

You will need to identify who will ask to complete your

survey; are you looking at a wide range, small range or

random sample?

Consider: age, gender, interests, context

Make sure your questions are clear and obtain

information that is useful to your investigation without

being leading

Consider: wording, layout, anonymity, clarity,

How will you conduct your questionnaire?

Consider: obtaining a range of responses, the personal

information you may need to collect (e.g. gender, age)

How will you collate your results?

Consider how your results would best be presented e.g.

tables, graphs, charts

Is there any statistical analysis that you can perform?





Finding a focus for your investigation

Once you have collected your data you will need to look at creating a defined question

for your investigation. It is worth remembering that the best approaches are often quite

narrow allowing you to explore an idea in real depth.

The first steps towards this are: to familiarise yourself with your data and consider its most defining features

to undertake any background reading required, research the area that you will be

investigating.

In light of this you will then need to formulate a title/question to address. In effect you

will be creating an abstract or hypothesis for your investigation. This isn’t a

complicated process but it does require some thought and there is no individual model

that will fit every task. At the outset it is worth considering these simple questions in

relation to your chosen area:

what?

how?

why?

You may also like to think about:

when?

where?

who?

Often projects take one of the following forms, or use the following phrases in their

title:

An analysis of implies close attention to detail

A comparison o looks at two or more sets of data which have similarity and

difference

A study of implies wider ranging consideration

An exploration implies something wide ranging with discovery as an end result

An enquiry into implies that you have an open question which you will attempt to

answer

Research into implies that the data collection is in itself important

The language of implies that the investigation will attempt to define the trends in

language use in one particular area





Data analysis

In light of your question and focus you will now need to approach your data in depth. To

do this you should undertake some, or all, of the following processes:

analyse and annotate your data in detail

order and organise for data logically

group ideas, comments, quotations and examples appropriately

compare and contrast the data that you have collected

perform a statistical analysis on questionnaires/‘counted’ parts

present results in an appropriate manner.

Using diagrams

This may be an English language investigation but there is no reason why you can’t

include tables, graphs or pie-charts if you feel that this would be the most appropriate

way to present your data effectively. Take a look at the following examples, thesecome from the real investigations of previous students:

Example A

Project title

A study of legalese in the ‘Weekly Law Reports’.

Comments

This investigation demonstrated the genuine interest of the student in the law. A

detailed and focused piece, it examined the use of legalese in real depth. The data was

taken from the weekly law reports which are short summaries of influential cases

written by lawyers for their peers and the judiciary. These written texts were taken

from the internet and required the student to obtain permission from the editor of the

reports to reproduce and use these texts in her project. She undertook a great deal of

personal research to help support and explain her findings.

The framework headings chosen

Latin and archaic features

legal terminology and jargon

grammatical structure

how discourse features aid the purpose of the weekly reports

Tradition and purpose vs. plain English campaign.





Reportnumber

Examples of archaiclexis

Latinate lexisSpecific occupationalterminology

1So held, thus, monies,whom, gave rise,intention of which

dictaDefendant, actionable,statutory rights, tor,liability

2 So held Per se, prima faciePecuniary, liable,legitimate, pursuant, co-

defendant, recorder

3 In so far as, so held, nor onusReserved judgement,claimant, ‘stop notice’,legislature

4Whom, so held itmattered not

Via, inter aliaContravention,defendant

5 So held Per incuriamInterlocutory appeal,appellants, crown,contraventions

6So held, thus (x2),thereafter

In Re Pursuant

7So held, thus, behest,whereby, so as to allow,in which it was

In personam, in re,bona fide

Creditor, respondent,fiduciary duties, trustee,legislation

Thanks to Krysia for allowing parts of her investigation to be used in this booklet.

Example 2

Project title

An investigation into the language and presentation of Dulux advertising within a colour

guide booklet.

Comments

This investigation was great! Original, lively and focused it handled the subject area

with confidence and explored ideas in real depth. What really made this project stand

out was the fact that the student researched very carefully the language of advertising

and applied broader theories to their data with real sensitivity and intelligence. The

data used comprised of the Dulux colour guide booklet (very easily obtainable from

B&Q), as well as the results of approximately 50 responses to a questionnaire* that the

student designed with a variety of theories in mind. The analysis used a number of

graphs and tables (see examples below) to efficiently illustrate its findings and it drew

some interesting and substantiated conclusions.

*The questionnaire has been used as an example of research methods and can be found

in the appendices of this booklet. This questionnaire was distributed to a variety of

people of both sexes and all ages.

The framework headings chosen

connotations and denotations of paint names

the persuasive techniques used in heading descriptions

lexical techniques within paint names

graphology and discourse structure throughout the colour guide

pragmatics and the cultural significance of paint names and pictures.





A graph to show the connotations of the paint colour name ‘Red Stallion’.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Male

Female

A graph to show the number of people who considered the paint colour ‘Red Stallion’ to

be gender specific.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Masculine Feminine Neutral

A Graph to show the number of

people who consider the paint

colour 'Red Stallion ' gender specific.

Thanks to Jade for allowing parts of her investigation to be used in this booklet.





Formulating frameworks

In order to write the analysis section of your investigation and to ensure that your final

coursework is structured appropriately you will need to define the frameworks you are

applying to your data very carefully. Throughout your course so far you have already

become adept at applying language frameworks to any texts that you encounter. The

difference here will be that you need to select the frameworks that you believe are themost relevant to your data and your investigation yourself.

These frameworks will vary widely depending upon the area that you are investigating.

Your application of the frameworks should be systematic, exploratory and sensitive. As

a general rule you should choose to focus on four/five key frameworks. These will

enable you to divide your analysis into sections and encourage you to work ‘across’ texts

rather than in a linear fashion ‘through’ texts.

Each of your framework choices should be formed as a sub-heading or question. Within

each of these frameworks you will then be required to analyse your data in detaildrawing on your knowledge of linguistic terminology to give accuracy and precision to

your comments. You will also be required to use frequent, specific examples from your

data to support your comments.

The following table shows the over-arching concepts under which you can form more

specific questions.

framework questionsDiscourseStructure

How is the text arranged, sequenced and organised?

GraphologyHow is the text presented, visually, on the page? What visualcomponents is it dependent on? How do these help to establish meaning?

PragmaticsWhat actual and implied meanings do texts have in the particularcontexts in which they are written?

SyntaxWhat is distinctive about the sentence structure and word order in atext?

Morphology What is interesting about the structure of individual words in a text?

Lexis/semantics

What is distinctive about the vocabulary used in the text? How does thetext use language to create meanings?

PhonologyHow are the meanings and connotations produced in a text? What isinteresting about the sounds involved in a text?

Orthography How is the text written (typeface/hand-writing etc.), spelt andpunctuated?

In your project you should aim to demonstrate your understanding of a range of

different approaches to language. For instance, there is little mileage in your whole

analysis concentrating on graphological features. However, two of your frameworks may

fall under one of the broad headings named in the table above.





Structuring your investigation

Your final investigation should be clearly structured in the following way. It should

include the following sections in this order.

The title page

Very straightforward, you simply have to let us know who you are and what yourinvestigation is about so check that it includes the following information:

title of your investigation

your full name

module name and code (AQA A2 English Language; Unit 4 Investigating Language;

ENGB4)

candidate number

centre number

school name.

Contents page

As with your title page, this simply gives clarity to your work so ensure that it fulfils

these criteria:

provides a clear outline of the structure of your investigation

lists the content of your appendices.

Introduction

The introduction is an opportunity for you to outline your reasons for selecting your task

and provides the chance to give a little background information to help contextualise

your ideas and approaches. You should include:

your reasons for choosing this focus for your investigation

your hypothesis/research question

how your topic fits into a wider context for language use

how your research relates to some theoretical aspects of language, including

reference to what you have read on these aspects

Your aims and objectives.

Methodology

In this section you should outline how you have collected your data and how you went

about ensuring that your data collection was not open to anomalies. You should include:

the methodology that you have chosen for your data selection

problems (if any) that you encountered during the process of collecting your data

techniques that you used to ensure that your data was valid.





Analysis

This section will use the majority of your word count. In most cases your analysis should

be clearly divided into manageable sections, with clear sub-headings. In some cases

writing the analysis as one ‘essay’ can prove more effective; if you think this is going to

be case make sure that you plan your ideas carefully and maintain a clear structure inyour work. Either way your analysis should:

demonstrate a clear exploration and analysis of your data

use appropriate linguistic terminology and concepts

demonstrate a critical understanding of the relevant ideas and theories surrounding

the topic area

demonstrate an analytical understanding of the key contextual influences upon the

data.

be clear and logical in its structure.

Conclusion

Your conclusion should draw together the key ideas that you have identified and explain

you major findings. It will include your interpretation of your data.

Evaluation

You should evaluate how successful you feel your project has been and identify any

areas that you feel you could have improved. This section can be incorporated into your

conclusion if you prefer.

Bibliography

Include a list of all the texts that you have used, including internet sites. Make sure

these are correctly referenced. For guidance see the bibliography/reading list at the

back of this booklet.

Appendices

Any material that you would like to reference. This should include your data.

Media text

In the same file as you investigation, you should include your media text and any style

models that you have annotated to help you complete this piece.





Creating your media text

The second section of your coursework requires you to create a media text. Your media

text could be one of the following:

a newspaper article for a specific publication

a magazine article

a website entry.

You should link your article to the area of focus that you have chosen for your

investigation and should write approximately 750-1000 words. Whilst the area that your

article discusses should be linked to your investigation you don’t need to include your

investigation’s findings in your article; in fact you could explore the same rough area

from a completely different angle.

This task builds on the skills that you will have acquired during your ENGB2 Creating

Texts coursework. You will use your knowledge of a particular area of language, and

your editorial skills, to create a text which (primarily) informs a non-specialistaudience about a specific language issue.

You will need to consider the following when creating your media text:

audience

purpose

context

graphology

lexical choice

discourse structure

pragmatics.

Style models

Media texts which discuss language are wide ranging and you will find plenty of

examples on the internet. You should find at least two articles that can act as style

modes for the type of text that you are aiming to produce; you should look at articles

that do not cover the same area of language as you will be writing about. These texts

should be annotated and included in the appendices of your coursework. Pay close

attention to the stylistic features of your style models and consider how you can achieve

similar effects in your own writing.

Useful websites:

www.guardian.co.uk

www.timesonline.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk





Skills practice 1: The language of ‘Mills and Boon’ book titles

(adapted from Researching Language 2nd Edition by Angela Goddard)

Data set

Below are a list of titles from Mills and Boon novels:

RageFeverThe Caged TigerDesireSnow BrideWith All My Worldly GoodsLord of the LandMidnight LoverDear VillianBurning Obsession

Night of PossessionKiss of a Tyrant

Summer in FranceGreek Island Magic A Modern GirlDangerous Demon A Girl BewitchedSweet ConquestSecret FireDark TyrantLoving in the Lion’s DenDangerous Moonlight

UntamedWildfire Encounter

The Fires of HeavenKing of the CullaBridal Path Always the BossThe Girl from NowhereMakebelieve MarriagePacific AphroditeSavage SurrenderDangerous CompulsionDear Demon

Task 1

Make notes on the following:

Can you find any patterns in the data?

Try to categorise the titles according to their meanings. This means you should

attempt to link several titles together in groups via their connotations since they are

trying to create similar pictures.

Consider if there are any common language or grammatical patterns in the data.

Task 2

Create your own headings for the categories that you have found. Aim to create three

or four headings.

Task 3

Answer the following question:What do these titles tell you about the world of ‘Mills and Boon’ books?

Research

If it helps you may like to undertake some research about ‘Mills and Boon’. You could

concentrate on the following ideas:

the intended audience and purpose of the books

the context and background of the books.





Skills practice 2: The language of hairdressing shop names

Or

The language of florist shops

Task 1

Create a data set by searching the internet for names of either hair dressers or florists’shops. You should aim to obtain a list of approximately 20 names. A good place to start

is www.yell.com.

Task 2


Can you find any patterns in the data?

Try to categorise the names according to their meanings. This means you should

attempt to link several titles together in groups via their connotations since they are

trying to create similar pictures.

Consider if there are any common language patterns in the data.

Task 3

Create your own headings for the categories that you have found. Aim to create three

of four headings.

Task 4

Answer one of the following questions:

What do the various connotations and structures of the shop names tell you about

hairdressers’ shops?

Or

What do the various connotations and structures of shop names tell you about florists’

shops?

Skills practice 3: Language change in advertising

Research

Search the internet to find between five and ten print advertisements for one of the

following companies:

Kodak

Coca-cola

Levis

Your adverts should span at least 50 years.





Task 1

Look carefully at the advertisements. Create a title for an investigation that uses these

adverts as its data.

Task 2

Annotate the texts identifying their key features, consider:

lexical choice

pragmatics

graphology

discourse structure

audience and purpose

contextual issues.

Text 3

Create a list of four framework headings that would provide structure for an

investigation that uses this data set.

Skills practice 4: Social networking sites, Facebook and MySpace

Investigation title:

An investigation into the defining features of the language of social networking sites.

Comments:

This was a very successful project with a modern and youthful context, firmly based inthe ever changing field of language and technology. It concentrated on defining the

language and features of social networking sites and exploring whether common

structures exist between sites. The investigation’s overall aim was to create a ‘list’ of

identifiable and common features (if these existed).

Task 1:

Write a short introduction that outlines the aims and intentions of this investigation.

You should also introduce the subject matter and provide any relevant background

information.

Task 2:

Outline how you would go about collecting data for this investigation. You should

consider:

where your data will be collected from

how many examples you will need

permission and privacy considerations

how you will present your data.





Task 3:

Outline the reading and research you feel you would need to complete in order to

complete this investigation. For this investigation, the following frameworks were used

during the analysis:

the lexical choice of users

the psycho-social issues connected to the creation of an online identity

features of graphology and persuasion

language varieties connected to purpose and audience

personalisation and individuality.

Task 4:

Look carefully at the frameworks chosen. Is there anything you would change, alter or

approach in a different way? Give reasons.

Task 5:

Collect some data that you think would be effective for this investigation, annotate and

present this correctly.

Task 6:

Select one framework. Plan and write this section of the analysis. You should aim to

write approximately 200-250 words.

Task 7:

Try to create a list of any key features of the language of social networking that you can

identify from the limited data that you have.

Thank you to Lewis for allowing parts of his investigation to b used in this booklet.

Skills practice 5: The language of government advisory advertising.

Task 1

Create a data set by searching the internet for examples of government advisory

adverts. You could choose one area, or many, to focus on. Areas you could consider

include:

advice on smoking/alcohol

advice on road safety for students, cyclists, car users

advice on public health issues e.g. swine flu, MRSA, inoculations etc.





Task 2


can you find any patterns or systems in the data?

try to categorise the adverts according to their semantic content

consider if there are any common grammatical patterns in the data

consider how else these texts may be linked.

Task 3

Write a title for an investigation which uses this data.

Task 4

Create your own headings for approximately four frameworks that that you feel should

be used to aid your analysis of these texts.

Skills practice 6: collecting and transcribing spoken data

In order to practise collecting and transcribing spoken data try these quick tasks.

Task 1

Ask a friend, or one of your family, to answer the following simple questions:

What did you do today?

What are your plans for the weekend?

Ask any other questions which arise from the discussion and answer any questions you

are asked.

As you are asking these questions, record the conversation (you can use a Dictaphone,

digital recorder, or the record function on your mobile phone).

Now, depending on the length of your recording, select a section to transcribe. In as

much detail as possible create a transcript of the recording. You will find that you need

to stop and start the recording frequently and listen to the recording repeatedly in order

to ensure that you include as much detail as possible. You should ensure that you are

consistent with you notation and that you focus on all key elements of the spoken data.

Task 2

Select a programme from the television, record the programme, or use iplayer.

Transcribe a short section from this programme in has much detail as possible.

Good programmes to try are:

soap operas

dramas

reality television

the big brother diary room.

(See Appendix D f or an out l ine of some common tr anscr i pt ion convent i ons f or

conversat ional analysis).





Referencing guide

In your investigation you will need to include a list of all the books, articles, TV/ Radioprograms, journals, emails and web-sites that you have referred to. Ideally you shoulduse the Harvard style of referencing; this is the most commonly-used style ofreferencing worldwide. These examples conform to the British Standard, but you maysee slight differences elsewhere.

You should include a full bibliography - listing all the sources of information you haveconsulted in your research; this list should also be arranged alphabetically.

Below is a list of the most commonly used reference forms:

EmailFAMILY NAME, INITIAL(S). Year. Title. [online]. Message to: Recipient. Date sent. [Dateaccessed]. Personal communication.

BookTake the information from the title page and the reverse of the title page:FAMILY NAME, INITIAL(S). Year. Title. Place of publication: Publisher.

Book (edited) Write ed. or eds. after the editor's name(s):FAMILY NAME, INITIAL(S). ed. Year. Title. Place of publication: Publisher.

Newspaper article FAMILY NAME, INITIAL(S). Year. Title of article. Newspaper title. Date, page number ofyour quotation.

Image (online)

ORIGINATOR. Year. Title of image [online]. [Date accessed]. Available from World WideWeb: URL.

Television advertisement COMPANY/PRODUCT. Year produced. Description of advert (duration). Televisionadvertisement, channel. Screened dates.

Television broadcast Series title and number and title of episode. Year. Transmitting organisation andchannel. Date. Time of transmission.

Website with author

FAMILY NAME, INITIAL(S). Year. Title [online]. [Date accessed]. Available from WorldWide Web: URL.

Website with no author Title of website.Year as appearing on site [online]. [Date accessed]. Available fromWorld Wide Web: URL.

Wikis WIKI NAME. Year. Title of article [online]. [Date accessed]. Available from World WideWeb: URL.





Bibliography

Moore, Andrew. 2005. Andrew Moore’s Resource Site. [Accessed 25th March 2009].Available from World Wide Web: <www.teachit.co.uk/armoore>

Norman, Ron and Watkiss, Anne.2001. English Language for AQA B. Oxford. Heinemann

Goddard, Angela

Fromkin, Rodman and Hymans.2007.An Introduction to Language: Eighth Edition.

Boston.Thomson/Wadworth

Publications from the University of Leeds Website; University Library pages 2009

[online]. [Accessed 30th March 2003] .Available from World Wide Web:

<http://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/200201/training/218/references_and_citations_explain

ed>

WIKIPEDIA. 2007. International Phonetic Alphabet [online]. [Accessed 26 March 2009].

Available from World Wide Web:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_phonetic_alphabet>

Crystal, David. 2008. 2b or not 2b: David Crystal on why texting is good for language.The Guardian. Saturday 5th July 2008. p. 2 of Features and Reviews. Available fromWorld Wide Web:<www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jul/05/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview1>

Beadle, Philip. Mind your Language- and know what it means. The Guardian. Tuesday

16th May 2006. p. 6 of Education Guardian. Available from World Wide Web:

<www.guardian.co.uk/education/2006/may/16/schools.uk1>

Eastman Kodak. 1900. Eastman Kodak Brownie. [Accessed March 30th 2009]. Available

from World Wide Web. www.antiquephotoparlour.com/photohistory.php 1900

Eastman Kodak.1907. Vintage Kodak Girl. [Accessed March 30th 2009]. Available from

World Wide Web: www.thephotographyfanatic.com

Eastman Kodak. 1895. Vintage Kodak. [Accessed March 30th 2009]. Available World Wide

Web: www.thephotographyfanatic.com

Eastman Kodak.1932. Vintage Kodak Poster Advert. [Accessed March 30th 2009].

Available World Wide Web: www.twenga.co.uk

Eastman Kodak. 1907. Vintage Kodak Poster Advert [Accessed 30th March 2009].

Available World Wide Web: www.twenga.co.uk





Appendix A: student record sheet

Name: Date:

Focus of meeting/preparation:

Targets/notes:

Teacher signature: Student signature:

Name: Date:

Focus of meeting/preparation:

Targets/notes:

Teacher signature: Student signature:

You will have frequent meetings with your teachers about your investigation. Use

these record sheets to keep track of your progress, any questions/problems that youencounter and any advice or targets you are given. These sheets must be kept and

submitted with your final investigation.





Appendix B: teacher record sheet

Name: Class:

Investigation title and focus:

Date Focus Comments

Use this sheet to keep track of students’ investigations, the advice and guidance you

provide and their progress.





Appendix C

Past investigations

Below is a list of areas that have proved successful for past investigations. You can use

these to provide you with ideas for your own investigation.

This list is far from exhaustive; the possibilities are endless, so think very carefullyabout what interests you.

1.

Language change e.g. recipes, magazines, children’s books.

2.

Comparison of language in news programmes – R4, Newsbeat, local radio,Newsround , BBC Six O’Clock News.

3.

Interview techniques e.g. Paxman, Parkinson, Jonathan Ross.

4.

The language of investigative journalism (TV).

5.

Study of transcribed examples of regional varieties of spoken English – accent anddialect.

6.

A study of how parents talk to their children e.g. when reading bedtime stories.

7.

Analysis of a stretch of everyday discourse e.g. Big Brother , sales talk, greetings,gossip, occupational variations (politicians, lawyers, detectives, doctors, hairdressers… the list is endless).

8.

Comedy styles – stand-up, sitcom, taboo. How an individual comedian createscomedy e.g. Billy Connolly, Eddie Izzard, Harry Hill.

9.

Analysis of differences between spoken and written English e.g. radio v. press, newsor sports reports.

10.

Observations of young children learning to speak read or write.

11.

Exploration of stylistic features of media forms e.g. magazines, TV programmes andwebsites. Look at how language is related to the audience.

12.

Do common linguistic definitions of gendered language match ordinary people’s

perceptions?

13.

The Language of toys for boys/girls in catalogues (Barbie vs. Action Man etc.)

14.

The Language of nursery/playground rhymes, lonely hearts columns, match.com,car/food/cosmetics adverts, comics, political speeches, children’s books, fly-on-the-wall documentaries, Big Brother diary room, children’s books, tele-sales, chat-rooms,birthday cards etc.

15.

The language of war-related texts from 1939-1945.





16.

Teacher talk. Record a teacher working with their students. Examine powerfeatures employed.

17.

Gender issues. Record a male group and female group discussing the sametopic/stimulus. Compare the differences.

18.

Taboo language. Record two different age/social/gender groups and compare their

use of taboo language. Is it becoming more prevalent? More acceptable?

19.

Occupational lexis. Record a person at work, or within any social group (e.g.:doctors/solicitors/mechanics/football fans) where specialised language might beused. Examine the functions of their jargon. How and why is it used?

20.

Child language acquisition. Record children talking as they perform a task e.g. Legobuilding. Read them stories and ask them to re-tell it in writing, or on tape, comparevia age.

21.

The lexis of sports commentators. Record and transcribe a few commentaries.Compare extracts of at least three different speakers to investigate if there is a

recognisable genre.

22.

The language of football managers in pre and post match interviews.

23.

Language change in advertising e.g. Coca-Cola, Kodak, Levis.

24.

Technology based. The language of social networking sites, blogs, text messaging

etc.

25.

The prevalence of Black English vernacular in popular culture. Why is it fastbecoming the most popular variety of English for teenagers today? Examine in terms

of a few selected texts.

26.

To what extent is there an increasing influence of Americanisms on the EnglishLanguage? Examine in terms of three selected media texts e.g.:newspapers/magazines/music/radio and TV scripts.

27.

Gender stereotyping in children’s literature. Select three extracts from texts fromperhaps the 1940s/1950s (like Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five or Arthur Ransom’sSwallows and Amazons) and examine for gender bias.

28.

Gender stereotyping in any type of text you would like to examine. This could be –tabloid newspapers, lifestyle/sport/car/fashion/music magazines. Analyse in terms

of the target audiences and shared cultural assumptions. A good one to do might besuperhero or fantasy-type comics, where stereotypes are often employed.

29.

Focus on the representation of an individual at a particular point in time e.g. BarackObama, David Beckham.

30.

Change in tabloid and broadsheet papers as the war in Afghanistan develops.

31.

The changing language of fashion advertising.





32.

Representation of sportswomen in journalism.

33.

Gossip in the work place in soap operas.

34.

Recreational magazines aimed at teenage girls in the last 40 years.

35.

Influence of other children on the development of children's language.

36.

Representation of women in a range of national newspapers.

37.

Celebrity chefs: a study of the language of recipes.

38.

A study of the language of press releases.

39.

Newspaper accounts of England/Germany football matches over 40 years.

40.

The language of American and English guitar magazines.

41.

Development of children's writing, looking at writers over a number of years.

42.

Conversation in real life and Eastenders.

43.

TV and radio football commentaries.

44.

Child language development, looking at one child over 3-4 months.

45.

Representation of terrorism and terrorists in a range of newspapers.

46.

Representation of 'war against terrorism' in newspapers for minority groups.

47.

Media representation of certain celebrities.

48.

Representation of occupation in …. (Scrubs, Holby City, CSI, Waterloo Road etc.)

49.

Language and power in reality TV shows (who gains the power and how).

50.

Comparison of the speeches made by Saddam Hussain and George Bush following theinvasion of Iraq.

51.

The language of crime scene programming.

52.

The language of Jeremy Kyle/Trisha/Ricki Lake etc.

53.

Investigating the language of propaganda-driven war posters (comparing English,German and Russian from WW1).

54.

The language of car sales people.

55.

The language of air-traffic controllers.

56.

The language of driving instructors.





57.

Comparing teacher language in Y13 lessons to that in Year 7 lessons.

58.

Persuasive techniques in film trailers.

59.

The language of L33T speak/world of warcraft/MUDs/VGEs.

60.

A comparison between the language used to name paint colours and lipstick colours.





Appendix D: transcript conventions for conversational analysis

Symbol Meaning What it shows?[ Point at which an overlap in

speech startsSequence

] Point at which an utterance stops “

(1) Timed space in the utterance Timing

, Indicates natural pause inutterance

“

(.) Indicates short pause (less than asecond

“

word Indicates emphasis Features of speech

WORD Indicates shouting “

Shifts in pitch higher or lower “

! Emphatic utterance “

? Rising intonation (may be aquestion but not always)

“

:Sound prior to mark prolonged(the more colons the longer::::::the sound)

“

- Prior sound cut off e.g. wh- “

. Fall in tone (not always the end ofa sentence

“

(...) Fading away which is unintelligible “

< > Indicates utterance speeding up “

h Indicates an in-breath (more hhh’sthe more pronounced it is)

“

h Indicates out-breath (more hhh’sthe more pronounced it is)

“

W(h)ord Indicates breathlessness (laughing,crying etc.)

“

laughter “

crying “

( ) Unable to hear what was said Transcribers doubts andcomments

(wordword) Unsure whether word or phrase iswhat was said (best guess)

“

(( )) Descriptions added by thetranscribers not what was said(may include paralinguistic

features or notes on prosody)

“

Please note:

You should always provide a key to explain the conventions that you have used in

your transcripts; you can include this as an appendix with your data.

These are symbols that are commonly used, but you can use your own symbols to

draw attention to any features you would like to highlight. Just add them to your

key.




Appendix E: style model for media text: Crystal on texting

2b or not 2b?

Despite doom-laden prophecies, texting has not been the disaster for language manyfeared, argues linguistics Professor David Crystal. On the contrary, it improves children'swriting and spelling …

David Crystal

The Guardian, 5th July 2008

Vandalism? Teenager texting on a mobile phone. Photograph: Martin Godwin

Last year, in a newspaper article headed ‘I h8 txt msgs: How texting is wrecking ourlanguage’, John Humphrys argued that texters are ‘vandals who are doing to ourlanguage what Genghis Khan did to his neighbours 800 years ago. They are destroying it:pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our vocabulary. And they mustbe stopped.’

As a new variety of language, texting has been condemned as ‘textese’, ‘slanguage’, a‘digital virus’. According to John Sutherland of University College London, writing in this

paper in 2002, it is ‘bleak, bald, sad shorthand. Drab shrinktalk ... Linguistically it's allpig's ear ... it masks dyslexia, poor spelling and mental laziness. Texting is penmanshipfor illiterates.’

For the full article please see:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jul/05/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview

investigation language

Documents