Ideas for Discourse Analysis Assignment

For my Discourse Analysis project, I plan on using the transcript that is about chat sessions.  My main focus is going to be what led to the change of tone (scary to funny) in A’s voice.  I am not sure that this is a good focus point to look at, but am going to give it a shot at least.  In order to determine the change in tone of A’s voice, I could look at specific phrases that Chandler may have used in the interview, which could have led A to respond with a scary or funny tone.  A specific part of excerpt 1 that indicates the tone is scary is when A is recalling an experience in which she heard someone’s voice that she didn’t recognize and he asked her what she was wearing.  She also says that she is worried her mom is going to kill her.  Both of these indicate a scary tone in A’s voice. 

However, by excerpt 2 A’s voice has shifted from a scary tone to a funny one.  Just as I will be doing with the first excerpt, I will look at certain phrases that Chandler used during the interview to see if this may have led to A to say something with a funny tone.  Maybe the fact that Chandler was laughing at one point led to A’s funny tone and made her feel not as scared.  One specific point in which you can sense the funny tone of A is when she talks about when she and a friend were in a chatroom and started to talking to some guy who turned out to be their pastor’s son.  She even mentions that it was a weird story. 

This is just a start to what my Discourse Analysis assignment will consist of.  I really hope that I am on the right track with this and my ideas are good enough.              

Blog 11

For my essay, I will be focusing on the transcript that deals with experiences in chat sessions.  I will be focusing on what led A to have a scary tone in the first excerpt of the transcript and by the second excerpt, a funny tone.  One of the points I will look at are how Chandler possibly was able to change the tone of A’s voice in the two transcripts.  The questions or tone that an interviewer uses can have an effect on how the person being interviewed will respond or the tone that he or she uses. I could also notice that certain words or phrases indicate that the tone has switched from a scary one to funny.  For example, A admits that she was “so scared” and when she says that “my mom is going to kill me”, both of which are scared tones in the first excerpt.  In the second excerpt, A recalls a funny experience she had with a friend when they were talking to someone and as it turned out, it was their pastor’s son.    

Chat Experiences/Adult Learners Questions & Evidence

Experiences in Chat Sessions Questions/Evidence

1. What do you think led to the change from a scary tone in excerpt 1 to a funny tone in excerpt 2?   

·         Evidence from Exceprt 1- A: “I heard a deep voice I was like...time.” (Scary)

·         Evidence from Excerpt 2- A: “Um...us.” (Funny)

2.      Why do you think that A did more talking in the second excerpt than in the first one?

·         Evidence: A: “Check…care.”

·         Evidence: A: “I…fun.”

Adult Learners Transcript Questions/Evidence

1.      Why do you think that M’s responses are so brief in excerpt 1?  Is it possible that she is embarrassed about this learning experience?

·         Evidence from Excerpt 1- M: “Mmhmm.” “Right.”

2.      Do you think that M feels less self-conscious about not knowing how to use a computer in the second excerpt?

·         Evidence from Excerpt 2- M can name a few software programs that she may not have been able to the first time (Word, Powerpoint, Excel)

Gaming Literacy Blog (#9)

* = Messages - what someone says (1 person and one topic)
@ = Interactional units - conversation with 2 turns (2 speakers on the same topic)
% = Set of interactional units - extended conversation on same topic with multiple turns/interaction
! = Where does the conversation change focus? What marks those changes?
$ = Direct Statements that introduce new language
_____ = Brian minimizing his knowledge/skills

% 1. Being an expert in games doesn’t count as being an expert in software
* Ch I wanted to talk a little, you talk about yourself as a hardware expert, you said software novice, although I bullied you into being competent, what software do you know how to use?
@ B you know, what everyone else knows how to use, word, frontpage, powerpoint, excell, spreadsheet things
Ch so it's interesting, games aren't really considered software are they?
B they are -
Ch so you know lots of software
! B yeah, but it's just games (laughing) signal for end = laugh

% 2. Relationships between games and software (background)
Ch so what kind of crossover did you find between learning the games and learning the software everyone needs to know? Obviously it wasn't real hard for you to learn, frontpage
B I think it's because I had ah, background exposure
Ch what background?
B Well, just in learning how to learn a program, I just see buttons, tool tips and ah I make a go at it, the scissors mean I can cut in here, and I can just cut and drag and drop - these a simple things everyone knows, I guess the only reason I can pick up learning a program is that I just have that knack, no other way to explain it.

% 3. Gaming as literacy
$ Ch that's literacy - you have the basic tools, the right basic set of assumptions for how to read, understand, interpret a program. And so what I'm looking for is the connection between all the gaming experience you have and your ability to do that with the applications - the academic applications
B well like a lot of games, in the beginning, there's menus. You don't just start playing. There's menus, you get to customize your decal your spray, clothes,
laughing
It's not all playing the game it's a lot of process to prepare for it, there's like box, scripts, you practice it, and you're not playing with other people, you're just like fooling around.
Ch OK so all those things - same kinds of processes, same kinds of moves - so navigating menus is something you learned from games that can carry over - anything else?
B I think that is the main thing, I can't connect a First person shooter with Microsoft word, that would be a real stretch
Ch how about file systems and gaming spaces?
% 4. Brian realizes that his gaming knowledge/skills can help him in other areas
B you know, you're right, because the game, the games are still software, and they're still files, so there are certain organization of a game that is different from regular files
Ch - so what's another thing - so playing those games when you were a little kid set you up to be able to disentangle that DOS system more easily than your stepfather, so what were you doing?
B like I was navigating through menus
Ch you got used to trial and error
B I wasn't being graded - there's no - all right man, let's pass this class you've got to
Ch so you're completely comfortable with messing it up and starting over.
B Oh yeah
Ch I think the print generation has a lot of hangups with that - what's something else
B there's a song by Natasha Ben ? I hear it on the radio - it goes like, she says in her song, that we're taught not to make mistakes, we really can't live that way

Discussion Patterns
It seems that the majority of the transcript Chandler is directing the conversation. She is the one who is conducting the interview and had her mind made up ahead of time what she was going to discuss during the transcript. It seems that for the first three interactional units, Chandler leads the conversation. As the transcript progresses however, Brian seems to take over this role in the fourth and final interactional unit. This could possibly be because he has finally realized what Chandler has been trying to convey throughout the interview. Both Chandler and Brian learn something from this transcript. Chandler becomes more knowledgeable about gaming/software and Brian learns how he can use gaming to help him in other areas besides something to enjoy. This is accomplished by the types of questions/comments made by Chandler and the way that Brian responds to them.
Questions This Analysis May Answer
By using Smith’s socio linguistic method to analyze this transcript, it helps the researcher learn better ways to improve a conversation. In other words, by hearing what one person has to say about a particular comment, the other person can respond to that based on the answer given. It can also help a researcher determine who is in control of the conversation and how the role shifts throughout the conversation.

Macbeth- Ethnomethodological
Ch I wanted to talk a little, you talk about your self as a hardware expert, you said software novice, although I bullied you into being competent, what software do you know how to use?
B you know, what everyone else knows how to use, word, frontpage, powerpoint, excell, spreadsheet things
Ch so it's interesting, games aren't really considered software are they?
B they are -
Ch so you know lots of software
B yeah, but it's just games (laughing)
Ch so what kind of crossover did you find between learning the games and learning the software everyone needs to know? Obviously it wasn't real hard for you to learn, frontpage
B I think it's because I had ah, background exposure
Ch what background?
Chandler is forcing Brian to give more detail as to what this background exposure is and how it helps him. This is important because it forces Brian to talk more details about the knowledge he already has. This allows Chandler to show Brian how the importance of these skills can help him in other areas.
B Well, just in learning how to learn a program, I just see buttons, tool tips and ah I make a go at it, the scissors mean I can cut in here, and I can just cut and drag and drop - these a simple things everyone knows, I guess the only reason I can pick up learning a program is that I just have that knack, no other way to explain it.
Ch that's literacy - you have the basic tools, the right basic set of assumptions for how to read, understand, interpret a program. And so what I'm looking for is the connection between all the gaming experience you have and your ability to do that with the applications - the academic applications
Chandler is confirming that what Brian is saying is an example of how he can use gaming in other content areas even though he may not be sure about this. This is the technique that Macbeth reports on in his essay on the ethnomethodological approach.
B well like a lot of games, in the beginning, there's menus. You don't just start playing. There's menus, you get to customize your decal your spray, clothes,
laughing
It's not all playing the game it's a lot of process to prepare for it, there's like box, scripts, you practice it, and you're not playing with other people, you're just like fooling around.
Ch OK so all those things - same kinds of processes, same kinds of moves - so navigating menus is something you learned from games that can carry over - anything else?
Again, the technique that Macbeth uses on his essay on the methodological approach is evident in this part of the transcript. The teacher is able to give positive feedback to the student based on a previous plan she had prior to the interview.
B I think that is the main thing, I can't connect a First person shooter with Microsoft word, that would be a real stretch
Ch how about file systems and gaming spaces?
B you know, you're right, because the game, the games are still software, and they're still files, so there are certain organization of a game that is different from regular files
Ch - so what's another thing - so playing those games when you were a little kid set you up to be able to disentangle that DOS system more easily than your stepfather, so what were you doing?
B like I was navigating through menus
Ch you got used to trial and error
B I wasn't being graded - there's no - all right man, let's pass this class you've got to
Ch so you're completely comfortable with messing it up and starting over.
B Oh yeah
Ch I think the print generation has a lot of hangups with that - what's something else
B there's a song by Natasha Ben ? I hear it on the radio - it goes like, she says in her song, that we're taught not to make mistakes, we really can't live that way
Discussion Patterns
For the majority of the interview, Brian almost seems unsure as to whether or not he can use gaming in other content areas, which is what Chandler hopes he will admit. However, towards the end of the interview, Brian realizes that Chandler is right and realizes that he can incorporate his gaming skills and use them in other areas. This can be somewhat contributed to the way that Chandler responds to Brian’s comments/answers to her questions. (IRE)
Questions This Analysis May Answer
By using Macbeth’s ethnomethodlogical approach researchers can learn more about how a teacher’s response to a student’s comment influences the conversation. For example, when Brian mentioned the fact that he had background exposure, Chandler then asked “what background”?

Notes/Analysis of Sample Transcript

Last Thursday in class, we read, discussed, and took notes on an example of text for discourse analysis.  This was an interview done by Dr. Chandler with one of her former students named Lorena, who just completed her freshman year of college.  As she interviewed Lorena, Dr. Chandler was sitting down and taking notes.  This example we discussed in class was also considered oral history, meaning it is a literary narrative, in which a person talks about his or her life.  After certain parts of the interview, there were parentheses that showed certain emotions that Lorena might have been feeling throughout the interview with Dr. Chandler. (e.g. matter of factly)  There are also numbers, but I don’t really remember what these numbers represent.  It was noted that the second time that Lorena said “I passed it” (referring to the ESL test), she was much more positive than she may have been at first. 

There were also a few things that I wrote down when we were split into groups to discuss the sample transcript.  When my classmate and I analyzed the interview, one thing that we noticed was that there were 86 total pronouns in the interview.  We also noticed that Lorena had told 7 stories and showed 4 emotions.  These are the notes and analyses that I had taken last week in class on the example of discourse analysis.    

What Did I Learn Monday?

On Monday, we spent a good part of class discussing discourse analysis and how it can be used in a non-trivial way.  To use discourse analysis in a non-trivial way means how we can use discourse analysis as a part of our everyday life, such as in our professional and personal relationships.  I then found out that I have been using discourse analysis already without even realizing it simply by having conversations, discussions, etc.  While there are still certain parts of discourse analysis that I am still not certain about, it is helpful to know that discourse analysis can be as simple as having a conversation. 

We then acted out an example of discourse analysis from the Bloome textbook.  It was helpful to act out this scenario in class and to discuss the “analytic moves” made by each of the students.  When I first read this in the textbook, I never considered the importance of things such as control of the floor, use of pronouns, tone of voice, just to name a few.  It was also helpful to hear what other people had to say about their character.  I feel that if we do more examples like the one in the Bloome textbook, I would be able to get a much better understanding of what discourse analysis is and how it functions in a classroom setting.  An additional way to help me understand this concept better would be if a few people in the class wrote about a recent discourse they were a part of and we discussed it like we did with the textbook example.      

Discourse and Discourse Analysis

The term discourse does not have just one definition and it can be used as a noun or verb.  The introduction to Discourse Analysis in Classrooms offers one basic definition as the “ways, aesthetics, styles, and structures of using language and written text as a set of cultural, historical, and ideological processes”  (Bloome, 3).  When discourse is used as a noun it can be used four different ways, as text, language-in-use, identity, and truth, rationality, and common sense.  Although it doesn’t occur often, discourse can also be a verb in “the concerted actions people take through language and related semiotic systems”  (58).  The book specifically deals with discourse in the classroom setting and looks at the literary experiences of students and teachers. 

Based on the definition of discourse, it seems that the definition of discourse analysis is the study of these language and literary events.  As a future teacher, I would use discourse and discourse analysis to get to know my students and their parents better, how the students learn, and if they are achieving the goals and objectives.  This would be useful as a research method because language and literacy are both essential elements of effective communication.