Analysis

Commenting on my own analysis

 

Task: Comment on your own analysis about whether the data you suggested you would collect would be suitable and why/why not. 

 

After looking into what makes reliable/comparable data, I think that the data I would choose to collect, analyse and investigate would be suitable. I considered getting permission from my own family members (which includes a four year old boy) to record their conversations over a period of time (around 10 conversations). I would then transcribe the data that I collect, and analyse this. I would look into whether or not the child changed the way in which it speaks depending on who he is interacting with. I would look at the way adults use speech to encourage him to develop his own speech. Then I would research theories associated with child language acquisition, such as Piaget, to try and apply it to my own data.

 

I think that this data would be suitable, as it is easily accessible for me. I have also gained permission from my family members to record their every-day conversations to help me in this study.

Ethicality Task

Ethicality

Task: look back at what you decided you could collect to investigate further after looking at the sample data. How could you make what you collect more comparable/ethical/reliable? Write a list of all the factors you consider including problems.

 

The data I decided that I could collect was the way in which a four year old interacted and talks with others. As I have already discussed, in order to make this data more reliable, I could collect it myself. I could take a series of recordings of conversations, and then transcribe them. Once transcribed, I could analyse my data, and look into relevant theories to try to apply them to the data that I find. This data would be unpublished, so I would need personal permission to do this investigation. When considering the reliability of my data, I considered the fact that the data may not be too reliable. This is because I would ask my family members if it was acceptable to record their conversations, and once they know I am doing this, they may begin to talk in different ways or act. This would affect the reliability of my results and the way in which language varies between ages as the conversations would not be natural.

 

 

 

Comparability task

Comparability

Task:

1) How far does the language of advertising vary according to the gender of the target audience?

2) How does a ‘live’ commentary on radio differ from one on television?

 

Investigating how language of advertising varies according to the gender of the target audience, I would collect a series of data. This would include different types of advertisement, such as television adverts and magazine averts such as in the Argos book. I would look into the difference in language that is used, for example words such as 'pretty' and 'gentle' are more likely to be used whilst advertising a girl toy such as a Barbie, but 'big' and 'strong' are more likely to be used to describe toys that appeal to boys.

 

To investigate a 'live' commentary on the radio in comparison to the television, I would already consider that TV is visual whereas the radio is just audio. This would already affect my predictions on what I expect to find differing between the commentaries. Differences may include the way in which words are said, such as a on the radio, words may be more exaggerated to give a sense of the way in which the speaker feels, but on TV there may not be any need for the exaggeration, as viewers can see what is happening. Also, on the radio- things may have to be described more than on television for the same reasons.

 

 

Reliability Task

 

Reliability:

Task: how could you collect reliable data on the following topics:

• Editor’s letter in women’s and men’s magazines
• Brian Cox’s tweets
• Michael Gove’s comments on education

If I had to collect reliable data on an Editor's letter in women's and men's magazines, I would collect an equal amount of data. E.G. five letters in a woman's magazine, and five in a man's magazine. I would then analyse these texts, looking into the choices of lexis and grammar. Then I would look to compare the way in which these are used between texts for men and for women, trying to link this to theories about the way in which language is used between genders.

 

Looking into Brian Cox's tweets, I would choose quite a wide amount of data to ensure the reliability of my research through looking at various  tweets. I would probably select every other tweet made within a time scale of one to two weeks. This would ensure that I have enough data to look at, but not too much. I would look at how the tweets vary over time, which could suggest his mood, feelings, attitude, opinions etc. I could then look into theory and see if there are any theories on the way in which men use language to display different emotions.

 

To collect comments made my Michael Gove based on education, I would watch videos/clips such as interviews on him talking of this subject. I would then transcribe these, and analyse the way in which he talks, and uses different techniques to assert power and share opinions in a persuasive way. I could then try to apply the way he talks to any theories.

 

 

 

Data analysis

Analysis of data

Which data you chose and why?

I chose to look into a video clip based on ‘a conversation with an almost 2 year old’. I transcribed this conversation, so I can later look into child language acquisition. I chose to look at child language acquisition as this subject links with other courses that I study in college. The way in which children develop language is an interest of mine as I hope to work with children in the future. I also have access to young children, who are either family or friends which would support my investigation.

What you found and what theory you linked it to?

From looking at this data, I can see that the adult uses a lot of child directed speech in order to obtain the answer they are looking for. There are many examples of this in the transcript. Firstly, this is seen when the adult in included uses a higher pitch and exaggerated intonation: ‘A: No^ (.) you don’t want that to be your name^ (3) you’re being silly [giggles]’. The change in pitch on the word ‘no’ is suitable for the context as the word no is often a face threatening act. To ensure that she does not put the child off, she changes her pitch to sound soft. The adult also questions the child on if she can say her name but words the interrogative in an unusual way that the child may not understand. She asked the child ‘can you say your name’ which the child responded to in an indirect way, as she is probably used to the question ‘what is your name’. Theories that this links to are Jean Piaget’s (1896-1980) cognitive development theory which states that children cannot learn unless they are interacting with others and their environment and by making mistakes they learn from them. Another theory this links to is Jerome Bruner (1964). Bruner believes that the child has to learn for itself by making sense of their own environment.

What other data you could choose to go with it or replace it with to make an investigation?

Rather than using a YouTube clip to transcribe and analyse to research child language acquisition, I could collect my own data. I could do this by recording my own conversations, with perhaps a family member and my three year old nephew. I would have to record a series of interactions, in order to notice patterns or how my own data fits into theories related to child language acquisition.

What you would call that investigation?

The way in which a series of conversations between 4 year old and surrounding adults vary, compare and link to suggested theories.