Blog 10

Our class discussion on the writing option major survey brought out some intriguing points. One thing that I got from it is that putting together a survey is very difficult. There are so many different aspects to consider like when to give it out, as freshmen or juniors. Another thing is the language which Gee speaks about. It seems that those who came up with the surveys assume that those taking the survey understand the language that is on the survey and that is not always true. Students might take the survey thinking they understand it but actually have no idea what rhetoric and discourse mean. The English Department uses a language in this survey that fits their discourse, and although students in the English department are expected to learn the language, they might not have complete understanding of it, or have not even been taught it yet. As a class we came to the conclusion that data from surveys in general may not always be accurate because of all the factors that have to go into it.

Because the questions are so straight forward, there isn't enough information to understand what is going on in the students’ mind. With surveys you can collect generalized non-specific information. Although surveys are intended to collect specific data, most of the time that isn't the outcome. You can also collect information that deals with numbers of people depending on the people that fill out the survey. For example, you can collect the number of people who buy fast food rather than cook food from home. Surveys collect numbers rather than detail. Surveys can also collect demographics. 

Challenges include the fact that people may not be truthful on surveys. Because the options are few, students will feel forced to pick an answer which is on a survey but might not actually be their true answer. It is very difficult to put a survey together because you can only see your own views and you own opinions. Those putting together a survey are limited to their own minds; they cannot enter into the minds of all the other people whom they are surveying, which contain various kinds of details that will be helpful for the surveys. Therefore if they cannot get on others’ minds, they cannot know the right questions to ask or the right ways to ask questions. Language is also another great challenge that people making surveys have to be careful of. It can be difficult to simplify language and still get the answers that you desire. Some surveys might still need to use the language of that discourse even though it means that they might get responses that are inaccurate. 

Blog 9

Objectives and the statements which best suite them:

Objective 1--->1, 5, 12, 14, 15, 16--->All of these statements deal with the writing process.

Objective 2---> 7, 8, 11, ------------>These statements deal with analysis. *I also believe that 1 can be here also. (Rob) 

Objective 3---> 2, 4, 6--------->These statements pertain to research.

Objective 4---> 10,13------------------->Both of these statements talk about presentations.

Objective 5---> 3,9---------------------->Both of these statements relate to discussions.

Statements 16,17, 18, 19--------------> All these statements relate to an individuals overall experience academically.

Statement 1: practice------->"I...revise" A statement about an individual's revision tactics.

Statement 2: feeling-------->"I am confident" This statement is about an individual's confidence in conducting research.

Statement 3: knowledge--->"I know..." This statement either confirms or denies an individual's ability to make connections.

Statement 4: practice/knowledge--->"I am able to use textual analysis..." Practice and knowledge because the individual most be able to use textual analysis. 

Statement 5: practice------------------>"When I revise..." Another statement about an individual's writing process, which is revision.

Statement 6: practice/knowledge--->"I am able to use discourse analysis..." same as 4

Statement 7: practice----------------->"I use writing..."A statement about the use of writing.

Statement 8: feeling------------------->"I feel..." An individuals feeling about starting a discussion.

Statement 9: knowledge-------------->"I know..." The individual knows how to.

Statement 10: feeling------------------>"I am comfortable..." Another feeling statement.

Statement 11: practice/knowledge-->"I am able to interpret..." Both because they need experience and knowledge to perform the actions in the statement.

Statement 12: practice----------------->"When I revise..." Another statement about the writing process.

Statement 13: practice/knowledge--->"I have given a presentation..." Both again.

Statement 14: practice----------------->"When I revise..." Another writing process statement.

Statement 15: practice----------------->"I typically brainstorm..." Another writing process statement.

Statement 16: overall writing experience--> ranking yourself as a writer

Statement 17: overall reading experience-->ranking yourself as a critical thinker

Statement 18: overall speaking experience-->ranking yourself as a speaker

Statement 19: overall thinking experience---> ranking yourself as a critical thinker

What definition(s) of "writing" and "learning" is assumed by this survey?

Are those definitions a good match for the definitions assumed by the student learning outcomes?

Are they a good match for the way the students taking the survey will define writing and learning?

How might you change this survey so that it could provide a more accurate reflection of what students learn in this program? List your suggestions.

The "Writing" statements used in this survey focus their attention on the writing process.  According to the survey, "Learning" pertains to literature analysis and literary research. This is all based on an academic level.

Matching the questions to the statements:

We agree that most of these statements fit the survey; however, we feel that there are some statements that should be re-worded or revised for the students taking the survey. 

      Statement 2: I am confident...

      Statement 8: I feel comfortable...

      Statement 10: I am comfortable...

The modifiers used in these sentences take away from the statement.  For example, statement 10 says, "I feel comfortable giving presentations." However, the objective states that, "students will demonstrate ability to give a compelling oral presentation."  I, for one, am not comfortable giving presentations, but I can give one.  In this case, We would disagree with the statement.  Perhaps, the statement should be, "I am able to give a presentation." With that said, we feel there should be an option where you have both sides, where it's a little bit of both. It's not always just agree or disagree. Sometimes it's a little bit of both and there is no option for that.

Statement 12: "When I revise my first draft, I spend most of my time on grammatical issues."

We are guessing that this statement falls within the first objective: Students will produce essays through a series of drafts that include exploratory writing and talk, as well as revisions that include addition, deletion, substitution and rearrangement.  However, after reading this goals, we don't see "grammatical issues" anywhere within the objective.    

We also believe that the survey needs some type of organization (unless that was the surveyors intentions).  The survey jumps from the writing process to research to presentations, which takes away the surveyors focus.  If there was organization within the survey, the surveyor could give their full attention to one aspect (e.i. writing process) before moving onto another topic.

Blog 8

I really enjoyed meeting with the people in my group. I not only got a lot of feedback and ideas for my research plan, but I found theirs intriguing and can’t wait to find out how their projects turn out. I still have the same research question “What kinds of social interactions with native speaking students help ELL students fit in to the classroom?” In asking this question, I hope to discover that talking and interacting with native speaking students help ELL students fit in to the classroom. I hope to find that ELL students pick up social languages much easier than when they interact with their teacher.

I will examine my ELL students at different periods of the school day; at lunch time, recess, computer time and when they are in the classroom. I have to find out at those times, is the student talking with peers, does he only talk to a particular type of group of students, and does he only talk to one other student? When does he speak English and when does he speak his native language?

The methods I will be using are Ethnographic research method, and by interview and a literature review. I plan on using these references:

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10643-007-0163-x?LI=true#page-1

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_ViDrO8Id_AC&oi=fnd&pg=PA17&dq=ell+kindergarten+peer+interactions+socialization+classroom+practices&ots=5cTwwydgHt&sig=dOV5jLN48xf_NJqjUumbZ-2ty8Y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Blog 7

After meeting with you (Professor Chandler), we came up with the research question, “What kinds of social interactions with native speaking students help ELL students fit in to the classroom?” I will be using this as my thesis statement once I find out more information on the topic. I will be studying a foreign student in a kindergarten class. There are different terms that I will need to define such as:

-fit in

-Native speaking

-ELL

-social interaction

I will also need to find ways to measure what I am looking for; measures of fitting in. I need to know how the teacher’s role plays its part in social interaction with the ELL student. I plan on using sources from the Google scholar website. I will collect my information from the kindergarten class where I am doing my junior field experience. I will study one subject and will conduct an interview with the teacher as well as observe the student.

Blog 6

Blog 6

I believe our class is a discourse community because we follow most of the categories that fit into Swales’ description of a discourse community. We use mechanisms of intercommunication via our class blogs. Not only do we blog to relate back to the discussions we have during our class, but we also observe each others’ blogs to share relations and communicate. As a class we also share a set of common goals which include defining terms such as ethnographic methods, discourse analysis, reflective/auto biographical analysis and more, understanding research and writing in language and literature studies, and to develop and apply research skills for creating original texts, representative of discipline-specific forms. The social culture that is shared in the class also adds to make it a discourse community. It is true that many other classes at Kean University, especially in the English department, probably share similar lexis’ and goals, however they do not have the exact culture that our classroom has built. Since the semester started we, as a class, have developed relations where we communicate with our neighbors and teacher. We talk a certain way with one another, or choose not to talk at a particular moment in time. Even though these types of social norms occur in other classrooms, I don’t believe they would occur in the same way. We would never have another class with all the same people in it and all the same lexis’ being expressed. We could never have the same comfort levels we do with people in other classes, even if it was another English 3029 class because when the class started, a culture developed with it and grew to what it is today.

With the field work which we conducted in our last class, it may have seemed a bit chaotic since we knew ahead of time that we would be observing each other for an ethnography analysis. However, it still proved the point that we are a discourse community because of the way we acted, spoke, and reacted to certain things. For example, when Professor Chandler started the activity, many people shared the same feeling of confusion. I drew this conclusion because as I looked around the classroom, I noticed that almost all the students had perplexed looks on their faces. Everyone had the common goal of observing the class and taking down notes for evidence. During the activity, we shared common lexis’ as students shared what their proposed projects would be. So, in the sense that we already had a developed relationship with one another, we had common shared goals, and we used the same lexis, I would have to say that even in the ethnographic activity we acted as a discourse community.

The following are my notes from the ethnographic activity:

Teacher starts talking and everyone in the class looks around with perplexed looks on their faces. Teacher starts talking about the different ways that we will be analyzing and asks students.        Stephanie looks around and puts her head down on the table-confused? Frustrated?

Teacher asks for volunteers to speak about what they will be analyzing. Joanna volunteers to speak. The other students (some) look at Joanna as she speaks-giving her attention. Specifically Sharrelle, Jillian, Jenna, Corrine, and Stephanie. They also take notes. Stephanie is seated at her computer with both legs on the table. Stephanie and Corrine look at each other and giggle.

Joanna is reading from her blog post.

Teacher asks question. Jillian raises her hand. Teacher calls on Jillian, Jillian starts talking about her project. She doesn't read. As the teacher walks to the back of the classroom Jillian continues to look at her as she talks. Others look at Jillian as she talks. Others take notes. Kimberly looks confused, but takes notes. There are giggles in the class every now and then. Stephanie and Krista look at each other. Stephanie shrugs. 

Blog 5.5

Teacher starts talking and everyone in the class looks around with perplexed looks on their faces. Teacher starts talking about the different ways that we will be analyzing and asks students.

Stephanie looks around and puts her head down on the table-confused? Frustrated?

Teacher asks for volunteers to speak about what they will be analyzing. Joanna volunteers to speak. The other students (some) look at Joanna as she speaks-giving her attention. Specifically Sharrelle, Jillian, Jenna, Corrine, and Stephanie. They also take notes. Stephanie is seated at her computer with both legs on the table. Stephanie and Corrine look at each other and giggle.

Joanna is reading from her blog post.

Teacher asks question. Jillian raises her hand. Teacher calls on Jillian, Jillian starts talking about her project. She doesn't read. As the teacher walks to the back of the classroom Jillian continues to look at her as she talks. Others look at Jillian as she talks. Others take notes. Kimberly looks confused, but takes notes. There are giggles in the class every now and then. Stephanie and Krista look at each other. Stephanie shrugs. 

Preparing for Analysis- Blog 5

I’m still not too positive about my topic yet but I’m thinking about analyzing a community of English Language Learners (ELL) and how they interact with other students, other ELL students and other students who English is their first language.  In order to do so, for my introduction I would have to explain my analysis, why I’m conducting it and what I hope to achieve.  I would definitely need to pose a question. Something like what social discourses in a classroom help students with ELL?

The way that I might go about doing this is observing at close hand ELL students in a kindergarten class during my junior field experience. I can pay close attention to how they interact with other students and the teachers in the classroom. How they pick up other lingo's from their classmates and what sorts of struggles they face.

I can also interview the teacher and assistant teacher in the classroom to get feedback on how the students with ELL fair in the classroom.

For my data I will ask to see if I can take a look at the students work, and I can also just observe how they complete assignments in the classroom.

Blog 4

Blog 4- Revision: Analysis of Shaggy Dog Stories

What makes the punch line of a Shaggy Dog story effective? In my group, we analyzed the “Thank Friday, it’s God” story to use as an example of how Shaggy Dog stories must have an audience with prior social knowledge and also use Gee’s tool of intertextuality to make the punch line effective. I will further analyze how social language, social identity and intertextuality help to make Shaggy Dog stories effective.

In the “Thank Friday, its God” story, social language is used in various ways.

“Robinson Crusoe fell desperately ill.” Fell desperately ill grabs the reader’s attention and implies that he is a sick man. It continues to say “before dropping into a comma” which asserts the fact that he is sick. This language also has the potential of having the listeners relate to the sick Robinson Crusoe. The perk of having the listeners relate to the story is that it keeps them interested and wanting to hear the rest of the story, which in turn, is a great set up for the punch line. From this information I learned that it’s important to add social language that grabs the listeners’ attention, and that is relatable, in order to set up the punch line and to make it effective.

Another example is from the lawyer story where a lawyer invites his friend to stay with him for a couple of weeks. The friend agrees-“The friend, eager to get a freebie off a lawyer, agreed.” This, also, is something that people can relate to, whether it’s the idea of trying to get a freebie from a lawyer or getting a freebie from a friend/acquaintance, even though you might not have done it before, the thought is something that people can relate to. This type of language is the type that is recognizable and catches the reader’s attention and therefore makes the punch line effective.

Through the language, you can also have social identities. For example, when Robinson Crusoe’s helper “danced and prayed for the gods to come and help his master,” it displayed his social identity. It shows that Friday, his helper, has a very close relationship with the gods. He seems to be performing some sort of religious act by dancing and praying. Many people connect to God in different ways based on their religion. It also shows that he cares for and has a close relationship with his friend Robinson Crusoe. Just by this one piece of language you are able to make an association between a character and his actions.

Intertextuality also plays its part in the shaggy Dog stories. The punch line in this story is “His helper answered, "Thank Friday! It's God!"  This is an example of intertextuality because it plays with two meanings. The first is actually within the context of the story where he’s thanking his helper for saving his life/helping him when he needed it the most. Basically
Robinson Crusoe asked for help from Friday because he was sick, and Friday prayed for him and God appeared, implying he was saved. Which is why he said “Thank Friday, its God.” The second is a connection outside of the story and falls under Gee’s “Conversation” tool (Big C). This requires prior knowledge of a particular social culture (pop culture) which knows the phrase as “Thank God it’s Friday.” This second meaning implies that people are happy it’s Friday because it’s the end of the work week and they don’t have to work the next couple of days (most people). The people that fall within this social culture are usually excited, relieved and happy to start off the weekend and not have to worry about anything work-related. This is why this culture usually says the phrase, “Thank God it’s Friday.

In analyzing the intertextuality in the shaggy Dog stories, I realized it’s important to have prior social knowledge in order to understand the joke. Another example of this is with the lawyer story. It’s important to have a general knowledge that all lawyers are liars, or at least it’s joked about in that way, in order to understand the joke. Without understanding that the Sheriff thought the lawyer to be a liar, which is why he shot the female bear rather than the male bear as the lawyer told him, the punch line would be ineffective.

After seeing the different ways that social language, social identities, and intertextuality is used in Shaggy Dog stories, I understand that all these were key components in making the stories funny. These tools are used to build up a sort of atmosphere to prepare the listener to laugh.