Readings Oct. 31

Gee, J.P. (2011). How to do discourse analysis: A toolkit. New York: Routledge. 

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Peer Review- I reviewed Amanda's work and gave her feedback. I opted out of receiving peer feedback. I think that peer reviews can be beneficial.

Data Session- This was a fantastic experience. I enjoyed working with the group to try to understand what was happening in Natalia's recording. It was truly unmotivated looking on my part, and we were able to help provide an outsider viewpoint.

Gee-

Unit 3 consisted of "building" tools focused on how knowledge is socially constructed by discourse participants. Several of these tools continue to use grammatical devices that make my head hurt. Tool 14 is the Significance Building Tool. Gee started to lose me when he went into the details of clauses and phrases in the foreground or background. However, it does make sense to look at word choice to see how people use words like crucial to construct that something is more important.

(p.88) Gee wrote that language constructs the world and proposes 7 tasks that we use in our discourse to build reality: significance, activities, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign-systems and knowledge. (I don't agree that the things Gee lists as sign-systems are not language. Maybe I could understand that mathematics are not a language but a system of signs we use. However, he also includes hip-hop and poetry. Is this just his definition of little-d discourse?)

Unit 4 included 11 theoretical tools. I really enjoyed these tools. They make a lot of sense to me. Situated meaning makes me think about the insider and outsider debate. You would need to simultaneously need to recognize and be able to define words or phrases with situated meaning and make sure that you are not taking those words and phrases for granted. (Social Languages Tool sounds like Big-D Discourse?)

I'll give Gee a break. I can tell that some of the tools will help me with data analysis... not all of them, but I will probably use these as a starting point or when I'm stuck in data analysis.

 

Readings Oct. 24

Gee, J.P. (2011). How to do discourse analysis: A toolkit. New York: Routledge. 

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     As I read the introduction to this book, I couldn't understand why Trena didn't like Gee's work. Then, I read Unit 1 and 2. The organization is choppy, the content takes a cognitive stance, and the work's focus is grammar. I am not a fan of reading about grammar. My eyes started rolling back in my head. I was making mad and angry faces at the pages. I included mean-spirited expletive notes in the margins. I am not a Gee fan.

     However, to follow the rules, here is a summary and a synthesis of the reading. Gee outlines 12 of 27 tools for discourse analysis. I can imagine when I am in the midst of data analysis, perusing these 27 tools to help me look at my data with a fresh lens. However, the tools are repetitive (p. 55, Gee admits that "the why this way and not that way tool" is "not really separate from the Fill in Tool or the Doing Not Saying Tool") and several are based on grammatical structures (stanzas, subjects, and topics and themes.) I believe that I would use The Making Strange Tool. This goes back to critical discourse analysis and taken for granted discourse. I can see the benefit of examining assumptions and what was not in the talk. Also, the Deixis and Intonation Tools seem useful, and I've seen this is some of our other readings. 

     Part of DA research is that as a constructor of discourse, I am an expert on understanding the action of talk and text. Gee mentions this as well on p. 13 that the task of analyzing discourse is similar to the task of being engaged in discourse. I do not feel like I am an expert at grammar (in the sense that Gee is) and cannot imagine myself delving into participants use of clauses, stanzas, subjects, and predicates. (Although, I can see how some people might do just that.)

     Here's hoping that Units 3 and 4 are more big picture like Gee describes, because I don't think the margins of my book can take any more profanity.

Readings Oct. 10

(optional) Ladegaard, H.J. (2011). ‘Doing power’ at work: Responding to male and female management styles
in a global business corporation. Journal of Pragmatics 43, 4-19. 
 
(optional) Gabriel, R. & Lester, J. (Forthcoming). The romance quest of education reform: A discourse analysis of The LA Times’ reports on value-added measurement teacher effectiveness. Teacher’s College Record. 

Price, E. Dissertation proposal: A discourse analysis of individualized transition planning meetings. 

Johnston, J. Dissertation proposal: A discourse analysis of beginning teachers’ identity negotiation during a student-teaching internship. 

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Questions for Elizabeth

1) What is your best tip for working with ATLAS.ti?

2) Did you approach your data with unmotivated listening or do you have a feel for what you are looking for?

3) Can you describe the early stages of listening to your data and starting to describe the patterns you hear?
4) What was your reasoning behind using other researcher's excerpts in your methodology section to explain the DAM? Would you use excerpts from your data if you had your data when you wrote this (or when you write your first 3 chapters?)

Questions for Joshua

1) Can you give us an update since some of us last saw you? What has been your biggest challenge with this type (DP/DA) work?
2) Have you started analyzing your data? How is that going? What is easier than you thought it would be, and what is hardest?
3) Can you describe the early stages of listening to your data and starting to describe the patterns you hear?