Blog 8

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover)

 

The purpose of my study is about the types of helps or solutions English language learners are receiving in the schools and if that is enough for the student especially in the Latino community. I have a particular interest especially with students who have parents or family members who do not speak any English. I want to understand their struggle and their opinions about the schools and forms of teaching.

 

Detailed statement of your research question

What can we do to help improve the schools for English learners?

 

List of the information you need to gather

-       What are the students struggling the most with at home and school

A preliminary list of sources plan for gathering your information that includes:

 

         who/what you will be studying (for example: students in a College Composition class, how they think about the comments teachers write on their papers)

 I plan to interview 2 teachers one bilingual and one non-bilingual, 2 non English speakers students and 2 English speakers ( who come from learning background). I also plan to interview parents.

         where you will collect your information (for example: in interviews at Kean University)

I plan to collect my information at Charles j. Hudson # 25 and also from some family members

         how many subjects you will study (for example:. 3)

 

·         what methods you will use to conduct your study (for example:. interviews, textual analysis, discourse analysis)

I will complete interviews, textual analysis, discourse analysis

Blog7

What I learned during the recording in class was that I have to be prepared when I interview someone. Before the interview its a great idea to have a small talk with the person so you can have some type of comfort while interviewing because while I was interviewing john it was more cool and not awkward. Time is so important too I only got 2 mins out of five I should set myself a realistic time. Also, thinking about getting some other type of recorder to make sure I hear things clearer because my phone was not all that great. This warm up in class was not all that bad because I know what I can expect during an interview.

Blog5

Jotting

- Nervous

- Clueless

- Awkaward

- Forced to Talk to one another

- Not knowing what to talk about

- Taking notes

Headnotes

- Everone was taking notes

- Mostly everyone was trying to talk to aone another

- Everyone looked clueless in who to speak too and to talk about

- I meet 4 different people (I only can remember 3 names : Ariana, David and Adrian)

- First question I asked to each of them was " what was their major"

- I felt like I spoke to each of them for a few seconds

- I was trying to take note unsuspectingly

Things I remember later

- I keep trying not look at my phone

- I was taking note on my phone

- It was difficult to start a converstation

- I thought I didnt need to write certain things down like names because I thought I would remember  

- At first everyone stared at each other before even knowing what to talk about

- I forgot to track the time

- It was hard to take note unsuspectingly

Field Notes

Everyone in the class was comfortable talking to the first person but then it got a bit difficult because we had to talk with everone. If Professor Chandler had not say to talk to other people, everyone would have stayed in the same spot with the same person. The professor had a major role. I forgot to watch the time because I was so focued in just taking notes and trying to talk to many people as possible.

There are so many things to do in ethnographic research and it is not only about taking note but also interacting in the setting that you're in. You basically have to have your eyes and ears in full attention because not only you have to pay attention to whats in front of but your entire surrounding also. I feel like I need to practice more to polish up my skills because Im still iffy about it.

Blog4

How is Professor Chandlers class a discourse community? (As per Swales model)

1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.

In English 3029, all students have a set of common goals. The ultimate goal is to pass the class with a high grade and complete a successful research paper. Also, all students are English majors, so we all have a common goal of getting our degree in the same major.

2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. 

Within English 3029, students communicate with: •email •blogs •group interaction and collaboration •Handouts such as a calendar and syllabus

3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.

Within the English 3029 classroom, students use the conversation and lesson to engage with one other on the particular topic. It is in the classroom which students provide the most feedback and information to one another.

4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.

In English 3029, students collaborate with one another providing feedback to one another and feedback to and from Professor Chandler. Also, as stated above under statement two, the students within English 3029 communicate in various mediums aside from face to face communication.

**NOTE: This discourse requirement can go either way in being a discourse community. Students have a more direct line of communication with the professor rather than among themselves. Why this is seems to be unknown because their are opportunities where students can communicate with one another outside of the classroom. Each personal blog as well as the "hub" blog has a comments section where other students can comment and make conversation. Although this never or rarely happens, most students still look at other students blog to see what they have written but fail to leave a comment, opinion, or feedback. Such observations could make this class on the verge of not yet being a discourse community.

5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.

English 3029 is a research analysis class which requires a large range of technical terms. Without knowing the meaning of terms such as research, analysis, rhetoric, and language analysis an "outsider" or "non student" of the classroom would be lost. Most students go into English 3029 not knowing any terms but because of the classrooms discourse, each student learns the specific lexis in order to conduct and understand the shared common goal of a successful research paper.

6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.

This is also a requirement that could go either way. The members are only in the class because it is a major requirement in order to graduate. Towards the end of the semester, each member of the class will know all the content and be almost experts in the field of research analysis. I believe this requirement is not fully developed yet to be a discourse community.

**NOTE: Also, the community of English 3029 is constantly changing members. The members of the classroom community are not the same from semester to semester. The only thing that stays constant within the community is Professor Chandler. She is like the "hub" to the class providing the right information to each student form semester to semester. She gives the members of the classroom the correct knowledge in order to understand the content of the course. Most students go directly to the "hub" instead of consulting each other as members of the group. Once again, it is little observations like this that could make English 3029 on the verge of being an actual discourse community.

Overall, I think the class DOES have the potential to be a discourse community. I just think we are still in the growing stage of getting to know one another and our personal beliefs. As the semester goes on I can see our class flourishing into more student to student interaction rather then each student connected directly to the hub.

***THESE OBSERVATIONS ARE FROM MYSELF AS WELL AS GROUP MEMBERS BRIANA AND JESSICA. Our observations are not a definite conclusion. *

Blog3

I understood that the word "discourse" is language we use when we speak or write.For example, our discourse in a classroom is different from our discourse when we are home. I didnt really understand what is the difference between discourse and Lexis. What I undertood as lexis to be is a specific vocabulary like how certain words are used in a discourse. Community discourse is group of people who speak about a certain topic who use a specific lexis.