Monday, 15 September 2014
Coursework Idea
One idea I had for coursework was to look at the theories present within a conversation between two individuals of opposite sexes. I thought that I could find pairs of different ages and varying relationships, perhaps from children to mature adults, from siblings to friends, even a romantic heterosexual couple. To control variables, I would give each pair the same topic to discuss, and the same length of time to do it. I'm not sure what subject I would have to use in order to stir up a debate/dialogue that wasn't awkward or mechanical, as I would have to observe/record them overtly, but I'm sure I could do some prior research into hot topics. I could probably do this using some sort of survey, and a longer amount of time might get the pairs to relax into their conversations. Also, I'd probably have to hone in on specific gender theories to make the research more specific. Maybe I could incorporate some power theories too.
Thursday, 12 June 2014
Discussion
What text/why?
Our group chose to study the two adverts because we were interested in the overlap between power and gender theory and the comparisons we could draw between the texts. The first made an appeal to potential male platelet donors, the second advertised a railroad card for young adults.
What we found interesting about the donor ad:
-Adjective 'Strong' in title 'Strong men needed to help those weakened by serious illness' - contrast between 'strong' and 'weakened' leaved men feeling that they are heroes capable of saving lives.
-Title is also reminiscent of old army recruitment posters 'Your country needs YOU!' - men feel a responsibility to 'help' others
-'Needed' creates sense of urgency, and demand - the men have been specifically targeted because they are eligible to donate platelets at Southmead Hospital
-Men were further whittled down to a primary audience by list of necessary characteristics for platelet donation e.g blood groups A, B and O
-Influential power AND instrumental - NHS are relatively powerful and their actions directly affect the public. Mostly influential - persuade men to become donors by boosting their ego/face e.g. syntax choices that emphasise direct address and therefore make the men who have been sent the leaflet feel special - 'You have been selected as a potential donor as you live...' - second person pronoun 'you' has been paced right at the beginning to make them feel important - synthetic personalisation, text presumes 'you' (the men) are strong
-Power is in the hands of the men - they are the heroes capable of saving patients' lives - by becoming donors they become selfless heroes - powerful persuasive tecunique
What we found interesting about the railroad ad:
-Conventions of a film poster, specifically a 'chick-flick' - stereotypically appeals mainly to females, done through carefully chosen graphological features (e.g. heart font, pretty female character in the foreground) and slogan 'can he get her back?'
-Age range displayed like certificate for film poster
-'Can he get her back?' - active voice shows male's power, female is the object that needs retrieving, 'he' is the subject - 'damsel in distress' is a common stereotype and may appeal to men and women because men are seen as wanting to be the hero, women seen as wanting to be swept off their feet by prince charming - the man has the power
-Word play 'Saving Precious Penny' - requires small amount of pragmatic understanding. Adjective 'precious' has female connotations, verb 'saving' reinforces idea of prince charming and happily ever after chick-flicks provide, 'Penny' refers to both coin and the female's name - link between women and currency may be offensive to certain women?
-Ideology of heroism - maybe young men can become heroes if they buy the railroad card and place themselves in the 'film' - persuasive power technique
-Deborah Tannen's theory - status v. support - men are supposed to clamour for hero staus, HOWEVER, in this ad independence v. intimacy is reversed - the woman wants independence, unusual for an advert, more normal convention of chick flick
Our group chose to study the two adverts because we were interested in the overlap between power and gender theory and the comparisons we could draw between the texts. The first made an appeal to potential male platelet donors, the second advertised a railroad card for young adults.
What we found interesting about the donor ad:
-Adjective 'Strong' in title 'Strong men needed to help those weakened by serious illness' - contrast between 'strong' and 'weakened' leaved men feeling that they are heroes capable of saving lives.
-Title is also reminiscent of old army recruitment posters 'Your country needs YOU!' - men feel a responsibility to 'help' others
-'Needed' creates sense of urgency, and demand - the men have been specifically targeted because they are eligible to donate platelets at Southmead Hospital
-Men were further whittled down to a primary audience by list of necessary characteristics for platelet donation e.g blood groups A, B and O
-Influential power AND instrumental - NHS are relatively powerful and their actions directly affect the public. Mostly influential - persuade men to become donors by boosting their ego/face e.g. syntax choices that emphasise direct address and therefore make the men who have been sent the leaflet feel special - 'You have been selected as a potential donor as you live...' - second person pronoun 'you' has been paced right at the beginning to make them feel important - synthetic personalisation, text presumes 'you' (the men) are strong
-Power is in the hands of the men - they are the heroes capable of saving patients' lives - by becoming donors they become selfless heroes - powerful persuasive tecunique
What we found interesting about the railroad ad:
-Conventions of a film poster, specifically a 'chick-flick' - stereotypically appeals mainly to females, done through carefully chosen graphological features (e.g. heart font, pretty female character in the foreground) and slogan 'can he get her back?'
-Age range displayed like certificate for film poster
-'Can he get her back?' - active voice shows male's power, female is the object that needs retrieving, 'he' is the subject - 'damsel in distress' is a common stereotype and may appeal to men and women because men are seen as wanting to be the hero, women seen as wanting to be swept off their feet by prince charming - the man has the power
-Word play 'Saving Precious Penny' - requires small amount of pragmatic understanding. Adjective 'precious' has female connotations, verb 'saving' reinforces idea of prince charming and happily ever after chick-flicks provide, 'Penny' refers to both coin and the female's name - link between women and currency may be offensive to certain women?
-Ideology of heroism - maybe young men can become heroes if they buy the railroad card and place themselves in the 'film' - persuasive power technique
-Deborah Tannen's theory - status v. support - men are supposed to clamour for hero staus, HOWEVER, in this ad independence v. intimacy is reversed - the woman wants independence, unusual for an advert, more normal convention of chick flick
Friday, 21 March 2014
Dominance (and kind of deficit)
The ‘Dominance’ theory of language and gender was first instigated by Robin Lakoff, who gave light to her approach in her book Language and Woman’s Place. She described her work on language and power as being ‘less… the final word… than as a goad to further research.’
Lakoff’s theory
was seen as a new way of looking at language between the sexes, in a time when
feminism was rising for the second time and the Western world was listening and
finally making changes that ‘challenged traditional patriarchal values’.
Unfortunately
though, Lakoff fell into the same trap as Jespersen had before her, and the
‘Dominance’ approach ended up with many similarities to the ‘Deficit’ theory.
Lakoff made reference to women speaking a completely different language, as
Jespersen had, something that once again divided the genders so that they could
have been seen as two different cultures or even species. Because of this, she
is associated more with the ‘Deficit’ theory.
She claimed that
in conversation women would: Hedge (“sort of”, “kind of”), use tag questions
(blah blah blah, aren’t you?), use empty adjectives (oh that’s DIVINE), use
direct quotation rather than paraphrasing, use a special lexicon (instead of
just saying red, they might say crimson, scarlet, rouge etc.), speak less
frequently than men, use more intensifiers (SO, VERY, REALLY, blah blah
blahhh), lack a sense of humour and so on.
While it’s easy
to count tag questions or uses of hedging, judging whether or not a
conversation’s participant is much harder as it’s a subjective measure.
Don Zimmerman and Candace West were responsible for
much of the work done looking at dominance. They looked closely at mixed-sex
conversations in which they discovered men were more likely to interrupt than
the women. They did, however, use only a small number of samples in which the
subjects were mostly white, middleclass and under the age of thirty five… not
very representative of the population as a whole.
In eleven
of the conversations the pair studied, men used forty six interruptions, while
women only used two. They concluded from these results that since men were
twenty three times more likely to interrupt, they would always be the dominant
participant. Or, if they aren’t, they will try to be.
However
Sheffield University’s Geoffrey Beattie argued this conclusion, asking "Why
do interruptions necessarily reflect dominance? Can interruptions not arise
from other sources? Do some interruptions not reflect interest and involvement?"
Beattie repeated
their experiments, this time recording around ten hours of discussions and
noting approximately 557 interruptions. He found that all in all, men and women
interrupted almost exactly as much as each other (men = 34.1, women = 33.8). The margin was not exactly
statistically significant.
Despite this,
there are far fewer cases of people referring to Beattie’s work – Zimmerman and
West’s research remains on top.
The following is a transcript from ‘The Apprentice’
SA = Sir
Alan
B = Ben
Y = Yasmina
P = Paula
SA: Ww what was the point you were making
as a human resources manager then (?)
P: Because you got (.) a person ‘ere
who works in finance an a person who runs a restaurant
SA: But you were the team leader (.)
you’re the team leader
P: I understand that (.) but my skills are in creativity and…
SA: Well you know how to work out redundancy on a
calculator
P: Yes
SA: Mmmn
(2) It’s a feeble excuse as far as I’m concerned, you put yourself up to come
in this process and you’re now using the excuse that you’re a human resources
manager, so therefore you shouldn’t be in charge of costings (.) If that’s the
case why did you put yourself in charge of costings (?)
P: I
didn’t put myself in charge of costings Sir alan (.) which is why I nominated
two people to look after my costings
SA: Oh (.) so its not three of you in
charge of costings then
P: Absolutely not
SA: What
your saying is (.) you nominated these two only to deal with costings is that
what youre saying (?)
P: I
nominated them to look after costs (.) obviously as team manager I would have
to keep an eye on that myself as well which is what I was trying to do.
B: I
think the bottom line here (.) is that if you’d wanted me involved with those
costings (.) then it’s a failure on your part as the project manager for not
saying Ben can you come round here and look at it and just make sure its
alright
P: Surely an idiot would have worked out
that they had that they should be…
B: Were talking about idiots now (.) well lets
talk about 5 pounds and 700 pounds if you wanna talk about idiots at the end of
the day you made a complete balls up of it you were the ones responsible for
the cock up in the fragrances you were the project manager you were the one who
should have come to me getting involved in the costings if you wanted to and
P: I asked you to
B: And the next day I sold my bloody
heart out for you just to do damage control
P: The
cost of the fragrances was a cost it wasn’t a cost on its own I asked you to
look after costs and you didn’t
SA: Ok who should I fire then (?)
P: Ben should be fired
SA: With all that’s been said so far Ben
why shouldn’t I fire you
B: The
reason you shouldn’t fire me Sir Alan is that I’m very good at selling I sold
my heart out the girls even said I was brilliant
SA: Which girls (?)
B: Erm Yasmina and Deborah the girls
who were with me
SA: Really (?)
Y: He was very good at selling Sir Alan
B: Yeh and I’ve still to prove that
I’ve got the potential to be an excellent leader
SA: Yasmina
whats your opinion on this (?) Because if the fragrance as Ben makes a very strong
case for is the culprit then you’ve already accepted half the responsibility
Y: In
my mind that was a mistake that I made I shouldn’t be judged on the mistakes I
should be judged on how I deal with those mistakes OK (.) We could have spotted
the error sooner than we did other than that one mistake I made on that task
Sir Alan I did not make any other
mistakes on the day so if its between myself and Paula for the mistake (.) I’m
gonna have to say that Paula should be fired
P: Are you talking on the basis of the
mistake or overall on the task (?)
Y: I’m
just saying that as Project Manager somebody should have taken overall
responsibility of the costs and that wasn’t done and I’m saying that it was
your responsibility to either do that or delegate that properly.
P: I DID delegate it
Y: N n not properly Paula you didn’t
B: You didn’t just get it a little bit wrong, you got it
very very wrong and I’m still not finished
P: I’m not surprised that youre both going to say
that I should be fired obviously because
B: No because we’re better candidates
than you are
P: That is a sweeping statement Ben
you’ve shown yourself to be a right thug
B: No (.) but I genuinely believe that I’m a better candidate than
you and I think that I did outstandingly on sales
Y: But you might …
Within this excerpt there are a total of twelve
interruptions – both men interrupt four times, Paula interrupts three times,
Yasmin only once. This makes the ratio of men interrupting:women interrupting
2:1. This result lies between those of Z&W and Beattie, with the sample
being far too small to make any real comparison.
Friday, 7 March 2014
Grouping
Text A - Legal & General,
Text D - Education Bill
In both texts, the writers use low frequency lexis that requires pragmatic understanding from their readers. Text A uses the low frequency noun 'performer' as a pun, and in order for readers to understand both meanings - financial and theatrical - they must have an understanding of both pragmatic meanings. The theatrical connotations of 'performer' should be understood clearly because of where the advert is found: in a programme for the Globe. Visitors of the Globe should have positive connotations of the word, as they are likely frequent theater-goers, who are affluent enough to be able to afford the experience. It is this affluence and appreciation of theatrical performances that allows Legal & General to play on this pun as a persuasive tool, gaining readers' trust and therefore their money, because they themselves are 'all-round performer[s]'.
Conversely, text D uses highly formal low frequency terms within the lexical field of law such as 'institutions'and 'provision' as a means of gaining clarity. The Education Bill is a legal document and so it is important that it reads as is intended, without ambiguity. Low frequency lexis allows correspondents to be clear on what the Bill means and to take it seriously. The formality implied by making reference to 'institutions providing higher education' means that whoever is reading the text will infer its importance. 'Institutions' also allows for the text to be more concise because the reader will have a pragmatic understanding of what comes under the umbrella term. Rather than listing the various forms of higher education, the writer is able to cover them quickly. Since it is a legal document, it is important that there be clarity - the reader does not need to scan over a list of institutions because they are all covered.
Text D - Education Bill
In both texts, the writers use low frequency lexis that requires pragmatic understanding from their readers. Text A uses the low frequency noun 'performer' as a pun, and in order for readers to understand both meanings - financial and theatrical - they must have an understanding of both pragmatic meanings. The theatrical connotations of 'performer' should be understood clearly because of where the advert is found: in a programme for the Globe. Visitors of the Globe should have positive connotations of the word, as they are likely frequent theater-goers, who are affluent enough to be able to afford the experience. It is this affluence and appreciation of theatrical performances that allows Legal & General to play on this pun as a persuasive tool, gaining readers' trust and therefore their money, because they themselves are 'all-round performer[s]'.
Conversely, text D uses highly formal low frequency terms within the lexical field of law such as 'institutions'and 'provision' as a means of gaining clarity. The Education Bill is a legal document and so it is important that it reads as is intended, without ambiguity. Low frequency lexis allows correspondents to be clear on what the Bill means and to take it seriously. The formality implied by making reference to 'institutions providing higher education' means that whoever is reading the text will infer its importance. 'Institutions' also allows for the text to be more concise because the reader will have a pragmatic understanding of what comes under the umbrella term. Rather than listing the various forms of higher education, the writer is able to cover them quickly. Since it is a legal document, it is important that there be clarity - the reader does not need to scan over a list of institutions because they are all covered.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Target/Task for Improvement
Target: Improve planning. Take time to think about order, cohesion, progression of topics, APF, etc.
Task: Look at a power text, annotate it as much as is possible (in ten minutes) and then practise writing out an essay plan. Don't worry about timings the first time, but next time try to write the plan within ten minutes. Review the plans and see if they include a range of terminology, frameworks, etc. See if there is a clear order and sense of progression - and make sure topics can link back to the question and the APF. Make sure to think about evaluative discourse markers for cohesion of points.
Task: Look at a power text, annotate it as much as is possible (in ten minutes) and then practise writing out an essay plan. Don't worry about timings the first time, but next time try to write the plan within ten minutes. Review the plans and see if they include a range of terminology, frameworks, etc. See if there is a clear order and sense of progression - and make sure topics can link back to the question and the APF. Make sure to think about evaluative discourse markers for cohesion of points.
Sunday, 2 February 2014
Language and Power Extracts
Leader's speech, Manchester 2013
DAD: That feelslike a lot of work for a school talent competition (He speaks into the phone with exaggerated pronunciation you use whenyou are speaking to a machine) Y-e-s. But it’s great you’re taking part, y-e-s…..(mutters) stupid machine.
MUM enters shouting behind her.
MUM: Look Karen, if both socks have got holes in,they match, just put them on!(She starts tidying up)
KAREN for some reason, has a washing-up bowl full of water and is cutting a shape out of some cardboard.
BEN: I couldalways sing… (sings in hisdeep voice) ‘And I said to myself…..’
The bell rings.
MUM: (has got some food muck in her hands) Oh….Who’s that?
Karen shouts.
KAREN (OOV): A man in a suit
Karen opens the door to a smart man in a suit. But she only opens the door a tiny bit, with the chain across.
ARMITAGE: Hello…
STUDENT: Hi
T: Grab some paper from the front, I'll go get you a text book
S: Right
T: Can you do some work?
S: Sir, what am I doing?
T: The big one
Student is stood, still not working
T: Okay, you need to sit down and do your detention. Sit down
S: I'm starving
T: So, cause you obviously want to pass your art GCSE you made sure that you went to Mr Gower's coursework detention?
S: Yeah but I forgot
T: There we are. Thank you very much
S: Errrr... that's silly though
T: Sorry, do you want me to let you fail your GCSEs?
S: I'm not gonna fail
T: Do you want me to let you fail?
S: No, but
David Cameron -
Cosmopolitan Interview with Miley Cyrus -
OUTNUMBERED script -
Dad is clearing up
breakfast stuff with a phone tucked under his chin.
DAD: That feelslike a lot of work for a school talent competition (He speaks into the phone with exaggerated pronunciation you use whenyou are speaking to a machine) Y-e-s. But it’s great you’re taking part, y-e-s…..(mutters) stupid machine.
BEN: I could do the
magic trick I did with, Gran. Herface when she thought I’d smashed
her watch with that hammer.
DAD: Well….you had.
BEN: Yeh…..I still
don’t know what went wrong there.
DAD: (into phone) Y-e-s
BEN: I think it was the
wrong kind of hammer
DAD: No, I said y-e-s.
BEN: Still, Gran likes
her new watch.
MUM enters shouting behind her.
MUM: Look Karen, if both socks have got holes in,they match, just put them on!(She starts tidying up)
DAD: I didn’t say
No….
JAKE: Yeh, just now.
You said ‘No I said ‘Yes’.
KAREN for some reason, has a washing-up bowl full of water and is cutting a shape out of some cardboard.
BEN: I couldalways sing… (sings in hisdeep voice) ‘And I said to myself…..’
DAD: (still to phone)
‘Go back’
BEN: ‘What a
wonderful world’
DAD: ‘Go back’
JAKE: Yeh, the only
disadvantage to singing is….that you can’t.
BEN: OK I’ve got
loads more ideas here. (He hands a list to DAD)
DAD: Er… impractical…
illegal… suicidal, Ben, you don’t even know what the ‘Wall of
Death’ is… ‘Go back’…
DAD Ben!.... Look at
the time, teeth.
MUM: (To JAKE) Jake,
you shouldn’t discourage him. It’s not good for his confidence.
In the background DAD
continues to struggle with the phone.
JAKE: Will it be good
forhis confidence when the whole school laughs at him?
The bell rings.
MUM: (has got some food muck in her hands) Oh….Who’s that?
Karen shouts.
KAREN (OOV): A man in a suit
DAD: See what he wants,
and if he’s a cold caller just do your stuff!
KAREN (OOV): Ok
DAD: (To the phone)
Gob-oh, f… ‘no –I wouldn’t –like –to –start -again, I
would -like-to-kill-myself’
Karen opens the door to a smart man in a suit. But she only opens the door a tiny bit, with the chain across.
ARMITAGE: Hello…
KAREN: They’re busy
ARMITAGE: Um….Can I
speak to your Mum and Dad?
KAREN: You’ve just
asked the question I answered. I’m sorry but Mum and Dad don’t
speak to cold callers.
ARMITAGE: I’m not a
cold caller
KAREN: Do we know you?
ARMITAGE: No, but…
KAREN: Did we know you
were going to call?
ARMITAGE: No, however…
KAREN: I think that
makes you a cold caller
The Guardian
Language is vital, not just to communicate
Educating Essex
Dialogue Between teacher and student
TEACHER: Come in,
welcome
STUDENT: Hi
T: Grab some paper from the front, I'll go get you a text book
S: Right
T: Can you do some work?
S: Sir, what am I doing?
T: The big one
Student is stood, still not working
T: Okay, you need to sit down and do your detention. Sit down
S: I'm starving
T: So, cause you obviously want to pass your art GCSE you made sure that you went to Mr Gower's coursework detention?
S: Yeah but I forgot
T: There we are. Thank you very much
S: Errrr... that's silly though
T: Sorry, do you want me to let you fail your GCSEs?
S: I'm not gonna fail
T: Do you want me to let you fail?
S: No, but
T: No, and
unfortunately, when a teacher says you need to do some study work,
coursework, revision work or whatever, you need to attend. Thank you.
Okay, next
Monday, 27 January 2014
Synthetic Personalisation
The second person pronoun 'you' is used throughout the Samsung advert as a form of synthetic personalisation. It works to construct a relationship between the reader and the writer of the piece, so that the reciever feels that the product being advertised is perfect for them in specific, and that the producer understands their needs on a personal level. The advertisers explicitly say, 'At last a music phone that reflects both sides of your personality,' as though they are aware of the potential customer's character.
'At last,' also creates a sense of there being a relationship between writer and reader. The tone is one of both excitement and relief, as though the producer of the text knows that the reader has been waiting for this phone and is happy for them.
'At last,' also creates a sense of there being a relationship between writer and reader. The tone is one of both excitement and relief, as though the producer of the text knows that the reader has been waiting for this phone and is happy for them.
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