blog 9

        My topics reflects upon the question: with the age group of college students, are you able to grasp the correct emotion and point of view of the person behind the other cell phone?

So far, I have developed the following questions:

1. How old were you when you started texting?
2. Can you tell me what that was like?
3. Do you text often?
4. Do you enjoy to text?
5. Do you text differently to different people? How?
6. What was is like when you had a basic flip phone?
7. Can you talk about texting with different phones?
8. Are you the kind of person that prefers to talk in person or through media?
9. Do you think that there are problems with texting? 
10. Could you tell me about displaying emotions through text?
11. Are you able to grasp point of view from the other person?
12. Do you have any experiences in which texting was rough for you?
13. How do you feel about getting straight to the point?
14. Was there ever a time when you blew off on a text?
15. Can you tell me a story about when you really wanted to go on and on in a text but only said maybe a sentence or a word?
16. Have you ever brokenup over text?
17. Can you tell me any related stories?
18. Do you prefer to text through a conversation that isnt easy, rather than over phone or in person?
19. Would you like to share any other personal stories?
20. What was that like for you?
21. Would you have rather seen physical emotions to get through that conversation better?
22. Talk about tone through text?
23. Can you talk about people using texting as an easy way out?
24. Can you give me an example in which you've done so?

These are just some of my questions, for the most part. I have contacted my subject and she is up for the the project!

Blog 8

Statement of Purpose
What I hope to discover within my topic Texting: are there visible emotions and points of view?,  are do people that text, specifically with the age group of college students, able to grasp the correct emotion and point of view of the person behind the other cell phone?

Detailed Statement of Research Question
When I conduct my research, my focus will revolve around my main question if texting produces sustainable emotion and such. there are so many ways to go off this question. I will interview people on whether or not through their experiences if texting has ever cause conflict. Also, are valid points really made if you cannot see the emotion on a person's face , see body gestures, or even the tone of a voice? Do people also use this to an advantage for them? For instance, if you are avoiding an important conversation, is it easier to just text it away?

List of Information I Need to Gather:

• is my question true
• are the responses valid to my opinion
• does previous research back up my claim?
• what do other writers think of texting?
• awkward social situations?
• how clear points are made to others
• people to interview

Preliminary List of Sources

1. College students
2. Academic writing
3. A Better Pencil, Denis Baron

Gather of Information

1. I will be studying how college students translate texting when it comes to emotion, point of view, and for argument sake.
2. I will collect my information from Kean University students, and or other universities. particular maybe 2-3 people, and students whose ages range from 20-21.
3. I will study 2-3 people
4. Interviews and textual analysis will be my methods.

Blog 7

     For the valentine's day interview, I interviewed with Melanie from class. As I was listening to the recording of the interview, I noticed that the entire interview itself was about four minutes for both os us. Even though it seems very short, all questions were answered and there was room for conversation.

      One thing I noticed was that in the beginning of the interview, I noticed how awkward it felt and I can even quote myself saying that this is a little "awkward." However, as the interview progressed I noticed that the questions didn't really seem like questions. The questions turned more into like a base for a casual conversation that we began to have about valentine's day.

       I noticed that Melanie and I both felt the same about valentine's day, which made the interview run smooth and easy. I liked that I was able to view it more as just a conversation rather than an interview. I hope to take this into the future when I do my interviews for my project. Having a flow seems imperative within an interview in order to avoid gaps and the feeling of awkwardness.

Blog 6

In the beginning of the semester I had planned to do my research on how school teachers (elementary) communicated differently between students, faculty, and parents. In all honesty, I would love to do my research on that since it falls right in my major, but I am being realistic and I know that I will not be able to collect enough data from those specific outside sources, given my time frame. I have now decided to base my research around college students-media writing/academic writing

Topic
My topic will cover how college students are affected my media writing and academic:

• text messaging
• blogging
• social networking
• email
• etc.

compared to:

• academic writing

Focus
I want to focus specifically on whether or not college students, given the amount of education they have already obtained, can make a balance on what is appropriate for maybe an English paper, a text message, or an email to a friend.

• is there a major difference
• which media relates more to academic writing
• etc.

What I Want to Do
     I basically want to interview a variety of college students. I want to see if their academic writing is reflected upon how they communicate when using different sources. It is an interesting topic since many people have different opinions on how they feel about communication.

Blog 5

The following are my Ethnographic Notes of my Eng 3029 class.

Jottings

• Jessica- Red hoodie and glasses
• Briana- with Jessica (bun in hair)
• Brenda- classmate from Eng 2020 last semester
• Amanda- very quiet, blonde hair
• John- talkative, taller man in the class with the beard
• The teacher knows all names of students
• The teacher holds direction
• The teacher tells people to move
• Nervous/ Arms Cross/ All Taking Notes

Head Notes

I met with  Jessica, Briana, Brenda, Amanda, and John

 

Jessica

•  Red hoodie
• Glasses
• Observes while writes(all around

Briana

•  From other writing class on Monday and Wednesday nights

Brenda

• From writing class last semester
• Also an education major
• Bilingual specifically
• Applying to be a sub in Elizabeth

Amanda

• Blonde
• Very quiet 
• Kind of just smiles and looks around

John

•  Taller man in the class with beard.
• Very enthusiastic when speaking
• Moves around a lot to get to know the entire class

The class as a whole through this study

1.       People seem nervous and put in an awkward position since they are being forced to speak to someone, just to get to know them?

2.       Arms are crossed for a sense of comfort

3.       People are standing in the same spots

4.       Only maybe two or three want to move around to get out of comfort zone?

5.       Small talks

6.       One thing leads to another

7.       Smart phones

8.    7 minutes

Things I Remembered After

• Everyone was pretty much the same
• People really didn't want to move
• It was kind of difficult to focus on everyone else, my notes, and the people I was talking to all at the same time
• I found myself remembering people by what they were wearing, which made it so much easier to remember what they told me rather than to write it down

Specifics

• A lot of education majors
• Many are Elementary/Middle
• Not so many just "writing" majors
• People tend to first mention their major, after they re state their name
• At first we all gravitated towards the people we sat behind

 

 

Field Notes

 

     As a class, we did an ethnographic study/research or our class. The entire things took about seven minutes. First, our instructor told us to get up and have an inconspicuous device to jot down notes.  The first thing I noticed is everyone took out their smart phones. Dr. Chandler stood in the front of the class for most of the period, and briefly walking through when she wanted others to engage with each other.After, we were told to talk to someone we don't really know. I first spoke to the two ladies that sit in front of me. I found out that their names are Jessica and Briana. Jessica wore a red hoodie which made her easy to remember, and Briana had a bun in her hair, which was also easy for recognition. The first thing I really noticed was how awkward everyone felt; arms crossed and limited speaking. Jessica was very focused "all around," as in she was talking to us, but also very aware of her surroundings. Briana was as well, but more focused on just our group and close area, not the whole class. We then stayed talking in out little group and didn't really leave until the instructor told us to move; I noticed everyone else did the same thing and didn't want to leave their comfort zones. After, Brenda and Amanda came to where I was standing and it was more of a casual conversation, since we were all getting use to this activity. Brenda and I clicked quickly because we had a class together last semester so the conversation was much easier and it flowed nicely. I don't remember what Brenda wore, but it doesn't matter since I had class with her before. Amanda on the other hand I do not really know. She is blonde and seems kind of shy. She comes off as shy but seems friendly and was engaging in the conversation. I began to notice that people were talking more and getting more comfortable; I don't remember if arms were still crossed for most people. John came to talk to us towards the end, he was very talkative. Dr. Chandler dismissed up to go back to our seats soon after John came to speak to us, so I don't really know much about him.

  

     What I noticed between conversations were the same thing; name, major, and talking briefly about the activity we were currently involved in. I really wanted to focus on the class as a whole, but it was difficult with all the different conversations going on as a whole.

 



Blog 4

John Swales goes into detail about what should make up a discourse community. He has a crucial setup of six simple statements that would determine if whether or not a group is considered a discourse community. First, a discourse community simply put, is a group of specific "identities" that all share the same and specific purpose. Some examples are:

• teachers
• doctors
• fans
• class
• etc.

According to Swales "Concept of Discourse Community," his writing contains a basic format:

1. Connects to researcher(s)
2. Give definition
3. The purpose of the paper
4. Distinguish

The format is what breaks apart discourse community. In my group which consisted of me, Adrian, Florie, and Sara, we were able to take apart Swales' six statements to determine whether or not our research class is considered a "Discourse Class";discourse community:

1. "A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals"-Yes
• In our class, we all have the same syllabus, use a blog to input our thoughts and research on either data or readings, we collaborate together, and our ultimate goal is to compile a research paper.
2. "A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among
   its members."- Yes
• Within our collaborations, we battle different ideas and often have debates, nothing too serious but more of a way to get different ideas and points mentioned.
3. "A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to
   provide information and feedback."-Yes
• Our blog! We use a blog to mention our research and receive feedback. This tool is a simple platform for our class
4. "A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres
   in the communicative furtherance of its aims."-Yes
• We have topics that all revolve around researching and incorporating a writing study into a project.
5. "In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some
   specific lexis."-Yes
• some specific language we use in our class are:
• formal
• questions
• language use
• behavior
• value/perspective
• rhetoric
• rhetorical situation
• analysis
• rhetorical analysis
6. "A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable
   degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise."-Yes
• In our class, we are all certified to do research, according to the NIH.
• We are all studying writing
• We are all working together to enhance what we know about discourse and rhetorical analysis

        These six statements all contain reasonable answers to why our group felt that our class would be considered a "Discourse Class," however, I personally feel that we are not fully there yet, but we are building to that common goal.
        As mentioned in statement five above, there are specific lexis within our class. With that said, the teacher and student discourse affects our discourse community, to some extent. Keeping it simple, the teacher holds the following:

• formal
• questions
• higher level
• form discussion

The students hold the following:

• responsive to teacher
• seated
• discussion
• answers
• collaboration

I'd like to say that teacher and student discourse work together, which is crucial. Together we form the discourse community, or "class". It is a mechanism that would fail without each other. What is a teacher without a class? Together they shape to form or modify a discourse community.

 

Blog 3

There are numerous terms that come into play when it comes to "Language Analysis". First, I'd like to give an example of a situation in which we would use language analysis and the conditions that may follow. For example, in a research classroom setting, you would consider this as "Classroom Discourse". the elements that may follow are:

• Formal
• questions
• mostly asked by instructor and developed thorugh students
• language use
• behaviors
• values/persepectives
• time
• context
• group setting
• LEXIS- (language within a specific disocourse; in this case, a research classroom.)

With that said, in a research class there is much analysis that is done alone but also as a whole group. When analyzing language there are many terms that can be used. Some of the terms and a simple definition are as followed:

1. discourse
• language in use
• letters
• words
• sentences
• patterns
2. lexis
• language within a discourse
3. rhetorical situations
• a situation where you are persuading, in this case verbally/text, an audience by making relations to them, yet also informing
4. conventions
• groups that relate to eachother
5. discourse community
• a specific group of people talking about/researching the same thing and using the same elements
6. social view
• how others/society views the situation and the points you were able to relate to them

There are also steps that should be taken when analyzing anything:

1. Define the situation
2. Identify
3. Pose a theory
4. Test

These steps above are more of just a general guideline when making any analysis, but most definitely work in play with language!