Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Brainstorming investigation Ideas
Through analysing and looking through various investigation ideas there have been a few that have stood out to me more than others.
The first i thought stood out to me the most was 'What similarities and differences are there in early language acquisition of twins and siblings' this is due to me myself being part of a triplet, so i thought it would be an interesting investigation to look into. I have many home videos from over he years of us from early babies to young children (age 8+) , so i thought looking through these videos i would be able to collect enough solid data to make a reliable comparison. This would be an unique and interesting investigation incorporating a massive part of my life.
The second which I found to look quite interesting was ''How has the language and style of news reporting changed during the last hundred years'' this particularly took my interest as i am looking into studying English/Journalism degree at university so might be a useful investigation, Which interests me and may look better on my university application.
Finally is ''how is status and Dominance shown in Domestic, social or professional discourse'' In AS my favourite topic was language and power which I again found to be interesting and thought i understood quite well.
The first i thought stood out to me the most was 'What similarities and differences are there in early language acquisition of twins and siblings' this is due to me myself being part of a triplet, so i thought it would be an interesting investigation to look into. I have many home videos from over he years of us from early babies to young children (age 8+) , so i thought looking through these videos i would be able to collect enough solid data to make a reliable comparison. This would be an unique and interesting investigation incorporating a massive part of my life.
The second which I found to look quite interesting was ''How has the language and style of news reporting changed during the last hundred years'' this particularly took my interest as i am looking into studying English/Journalism degree at university so might be a useful investigation, Which interests me and may look better on my university application.
Finally is ''how is status and Dominance shown in Domestic, social or professional discourse'' In AS my favourite topic was language and power which I again found to be interesting and thought i understood quite well.
The Mini Language Change Investigation - Reflection
My mini language change investigation was based on a 'private letter'.
We were given a letter in the form of an email from recent years sent from iraq to loved ones at home.
We then had too search for a suitable letter from an earlier time period of similar context to be able to compare the two letters and observe what language changes that can be identified. We found a letter from 1914 sent from a young boy in WW1 sent home to his loved one.
I felt our investigation was very successful and I enjoyed looking in depth at both letters as the changes of language were quite extravagant in comparison. We were able to identify many language features that were different including Lexis, Grammar and what is known as 'text talk'. We could also identify differences due to amount of impact of social view and believes changing for example 'Religion' and 'Racism'. Lastly we identified the effect of language change due to the ever growing world of technology and the now many ways we are able to communicate. Although there was a lot of language features we also found the meaning and sensitivity of both letters were very different, the 1914 letter was a lot more personal and intimate and the email being very general and sent to more than one person. We believed this to be due to the different circumstances each person was in, more so to do with more technology we have nowadays compared to WW1.
Out of all the mini investigations this investigation interested me the most, due to there being so much to analyse and knowing that there would most definitely be a lot of clear evidence to work with. It was also just interesting to see how different the way we communicate is, even though being in a very serious dangerous environment both situations both being as serious as each other.
Im both excited and apprehensive about the Language change investigation. More so at the minute due to being undecided as to what i want to investigate. I think it will be a useful experience and I hope to discover a lot about my chosen investigation, Which I will make sure is something that interests me and links in with some aspect of my life as to achieve the best and reliable results.
The websites and tools i think will be helpful is definitely the google search engine, being able to find information you need and gather quantitative evidence to support the investigation as well. For example N grams when looking the use of specific words over time.
We were given a letter in the form of an email from recent years sent from iraq to loved ones at home.
We then had too search for a suitable letter from an earlier time period of similar context to be able to compare the two letters and observe what language changes that can be identified. We found a letter from 1914 sent from a young boy in WW1 sent home to his loved one.
I felt our investigation was very successful and I enjoyed looking in depth at both letters as the changes of language were quite extravagant in comparison. We were able to identify many language features that were different including Lexis, Grammar and what is known as 'text talk'. We could also identify differences due to amount of impact of social view and believes changing for example 'Religion' and 'Racism'. Lastly we identified the effect of language change due to the ever growing world of technology and the now many ways we are able to communicate. Although there was a lot of language features we also found the meaning and sensitivity of both letters were very different, the 1914 letter was a lot more personal and intimate and the email being very general and sent to more than one person. We believed this to be due to the different circumstances each person was in, more so to do with more technology we have nowadays compared to WW1.
Out of all the mini investigations this investigation interested me the most, due to there being so much to analyse and knowing that there would most definitely be a lot of clear evidence to work with. It was also just interesting to see how different the way we communicate is, even though being in a very serious dangerous environment both situations both being as serious as each other.
Im both excited and apprehensive about the Language change investigation. More so at the minute due to being undecided as to what i want to investigate. I think it will be a useful experience and I hope to discover a lot about my chosen investigation, Which I will make sure is something that interests me and links in with some aspect of my life as to achieve the best and reliable results.
The websites and tools i think will be helpful is definitely the google search engine, being able to find information you need and gather quantitative evidence to support the investigation as well. For example N grams when looking the use of specific words over time.
Practice investigation
Through doing our practice investigation, it helped me get to grips with what my investigation will need to consist of and what I will need to do to achieve a good grade when it comes to the actual investigation itself.
A successful investigation needs to consist firstly of an Introduction. This is to discuss your chosen topic including reasons for choosing it. You will also present our hypothesis here and set out your overall aims in terms of what language aspects you will analyse.
You will also have to include the Methodology, which is a description of the process you went through from beginning to end in the investigation, also a reflection on issues you came across.
Next is the Analysis, which is the most important part of our investigation. This involves a systematic analysis of your data using linguistic terminology, which consist of both qualitative and quantitative data. Also including contextual factors involved.
After the analysis is the Conclusion and Evaluation. Here you will interpret the analysis of your data and present your conclusions in relation to the original hypothesis you set out. Here you can make points about the overall success and challenges involved in your investigation and give ideas for further study.
Lastly is the Bibliography and references, which is simply a detailed list of any sources you used to help you in the investigation this can consist of anything from books, websites or articles etc. Then is the Appendices and data, This is where you will include the data you collected, as well as copies of any other material needed to fully understand your investigation (particularly pieces of existing research that you based it on).
Through the practice investigation I picked up a few tips which I found useful and will benefit me with my future investigation. One of the tips I picked up was not to go into so much detail and write so much particularly when analyzing specific language points. I need to be more brief and concise which will help to with time management and getting all of my investigation finished on time to a good standard.
The investigation I notice have worked the best for former students are based on the topics we studied in AS due too having quite a fresh gathering of knowledge and having the resources that will help at home.
The investigations I think would be best to avoid would be investigations where it will be difficult to collect the data you need, investigations where you are not able to gather the correct or enough resources to support your investigation.
A successful investigation needs to consist firstly of an Introduction. This is to discuss your chosen topic including reasons for choosing it. You will also present our hypothesis here and set out your overall aims in terms of what language aspects you will analyse.
You will also have to include the Methodology, which is a description of the process you went through from beginning to end in the investigation, also a reflection on issues you came across.
Next is the Analysis, which is the most important part of our investigation. This involves a systematic analysis of your data using linguistic terminology, which consist of both qualitative and quantitative data. Also including contextual factors involved.
After the analysis is the Conclusion and Evaluation. Here you will interpret the analysis of your data and present your conclusions in relation to the original hypothesis you set out. Here you can make points about the overall success and challenges involved in your investigation and give ideas for further study.
Lastly is the Bibliography and references, which is simply a detailed list of any sources you used to help you in the investigation this can consist of anything from books, websites or articles etc. Then is the Appendices and data, This is where you will include the data you collected, as well as copies of any other material needed to fully understand your investigation (particularly pieces of existing research that you based it on).
Through the practice investigation I picked up a few tips which I found useful and will benefit me with my future investigation. One of the tips I picked up was not to go into so much detail and write so much particularly when analyzing specific language points. I need to be more brief and concise which will help to with time management and getting all of my investigation finished on time to a good standard.
The investigation I notice have worked the best for former students are based on the topics we studied in AS due too having quite a fresh gathering of knowledge and having the resources that will help at home.
The investigations I think would be best to avoid would be investigations where it will be difficult to collect the data you need, investigations where you are not able to gather the correct or enough resources to support your investigation.
Monday, 7 July 2014
My top 3 Favourite investigations so far
''What Similarities and differences are there in early language acquisition of twins/siblings?''
"How was the language and style of news reporting changed during the last 100 years?''
- This investigation would focus on child Language Acquisition
- The data i would collect would be from home video of myself and sisters (triplet sisters) noting and making observations about the language used between us
- The data may not necessarily be the right data i need for this investigation, I would need quite a lot of me and my sisters talking directly to each other or other people, there will be a lot of other people in the videos including family and friends who might overpower the recordings
- However i think this a unique and interesting investigation which is very personal to myself and could produce some interesting findings.
- The language issues i could investigate could be the actual language development of myself and my sisters, who develops quicker, who can communicate the best, are there any similarities in our language etc.
- The first stop I need to go about collecting the data is to find the videos and start watching them to see if they are suitable for my investigation.
"How was the language and style of news reporting changed during the last 100 years?''
- This investigation would focus on Language change over time
- The data i would collect would most likely be from offline, on newspaper websites etc.
- It might be hard to found a reliable legitimate source showing a real News report from the actual time period I need.
- However it will provide a lot of solid evidence for me to work on in the investigation
- I could investigate the audiences the reports are targeted at, and how they are portrayed to specific people, I could investigate specific language features that have changed and so on.
- My first steps to go about collecting this data would be to search online for a reliable source to which i can find a real article or report, find two good reports that are of the same context and are aimed at the same social class.
''How is Dominance and Status shown in domestic, social or professional discourse''
- This investigation would focus on power in language
- The data I would collect would probably be from real life observations, this investigation offers me a wide range of ideas i could use.
- Its a topic which provides me with a lot of variety and allows my to go into a lot depth as we studied it in great detail at AS
- However it might cause problems due to having observing a group of people, with them knowing you are recording/videoing them this might introduce demand characteristics, natural conversation doesn't flow as easily and can become awkward. But if a group didn't know you were recording them this might bring up some ethical issues.
- The language issues i could investigate could be anything from who holds the power and how they keep this dominance to the power struggle between people within the group and how this is achieved
- The first steps I need to do about getting this data is too decide what group of people I want to use for example, a group of friends, work colleagues (at my job), parents when arguing/discussing. once I have decided I need to record this conversions and make observations about the language use. Gather evidence to use in my investigation
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