Coursework Ideas

My first idea is to look at various women's magazines with different price brackets. I would look at the more expensive magazines, such as Vogue and Elle, as well as cheaper ones such as Look and Take A Break. I would be comparing the advice columns in the magazines, looking at possible gender stereotypes and how/if they refer to men. The language may vary in the different price brackets.

My second idea would be to look at an archive of the social networks. This includes more outdated networking sites as well as what it used more currently, for example, Bebo, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Tinder. I would investigate whether or not people communicate differently over the various social networking sites. Also, I could perhaps look at how communication has differed over time on these websites. The same person may be needed in order to carry out the investigation.

Transcript Analysis

Looking at both of the transcripts, I noticed that they both show instrumental power. The first transcript from The Apprentice, shows how Sir Alan Sugar holds the power in the situation due to him being in charge and is the one who is employing the candidates, therefore being of a higher power status causing power asymmetry. You can see from the transcripts that one of the candidates (Phillip) is trying to gain power over Alan Sugar by attempting to interrupt him while he is speaking. Phillip interrupts Alan Sugar and tries to gain power with ‘no it was a touch task’ which is then interrupted by Alan Sugar again with ‘no you didn’t make any money’. This shows that Phillip’s attempt to gain power from Alan Sugar is unsuccessful as Alan Sugar regains all of the power straight away.

In the second transcript, which is from the TV show Educating Essex, it is similar as it also shows instrumental power. This is because the conversation is mainly between a teacher and a student. It shows that the teacher holds all of the power, however, the student continuously attempts to gain power from the teacher throughout their conversation. This could be due to the student wanting to perhaps seem humorous to the rest of the students in the class. This is shown through the student interrupting the teacher, for example she interrupts the teacher by saying ‘I don’t really pay attention to that’ and also saying things to the teacher such as ‘I’m bored of it’. This shows how the students wants the power, but due to the fact that the teacher has a higher authority, she is unsuccessful with her attempt as the teacher usually overlaps and interrupts what she is saying. The teacher keeps the power throughout the conversation between him and the student which is shown by using imperative sentences, for example ‘you are gonna do some practice questions’, and also declarative sentences, for example ‘you’re here to do work’ and ‘you’re here to do maths’.

Transcript 2: Educating Essex

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKa4g3YkQmU

Teacher: T

Student: S

Class: C

Micropause: (.)

Pauses: (1), (2), etc

Rising or falling intonation: ↑ ↓

Interruptions and overlaps: /

T: my (2) problem (2) with some people in the class (2) is that don’t seem to remember stuff↑ (3) so you need to remember the area of a circle formula (.) you need to remember the circumference of a circle formula↓ (1) area of a circle is↑

C: pi squared

S: what is pi↑ (3) where did it come from↑ (2) sir↑/ who made up pi↑

T: /yeah↑/ I told you (.) last lesson where it came from

S: I don’t really pay attention/  to that

T: /I’ll explain to you at break (.) don’t worry (3) yeah↑(1) good↓(3) right you are gonna do some practice questions (.) on (.) area of a sector/  please remember

S: /Fun fun fu::::n

T: I’ll wait Carrie yeah↑(3) it’s not funny

S: James James James James James (.) I’m bored of it↓

T: Carrie (2) you’re here to work (.) you’re here to do maths (.) yeah

S: I’m just really hyper

T: I don’t care (.) can you do some work↑

S: I/  am

T: /it’s taken you nearly five minutes to open a book come on

Transcript 1: The Apprentice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkcPahgnChM

Phillip: P

Alan Sugar: A

Woman: W

Loraine: L

Micropause: (.)

Pauses: (1), (2), etc

Rising or falling intonation: ↑ ↓

Interruptions and overlaps: /

P: I am arrogant, I am a big head and like I said last week it needs slapping out of us and I think that’s why I’m improving incredibly (1) I was responsive to Loraine and effectively we lost the task (2) I was project manager of the last task (.) and no one was bitching about me at the end of the day↓ and we won

A: if I remember rightly (.) that last task a fools win wasn’t it↑(1) didn’t the other team just bomb out badly/ 

W: /yes

A: /you didn't make/  any money

P: /that was a tough (.) no it was a tough task/  Sir Alan

A: /no you didn't make any money

P: but we won

A: you won by default (1) you lost money and you won by default

P: yeah I can’t do any right [shaking head]

A: Listen (.) don’t get impatient with me (.) Phillip (.)/ you know 

P: /I’m not Sir Alan it’s just you know you can’t (.) I can’t seem to say anything right (.) you criticize Loraine I get it in the nick (1) I win as project manager I get it in the nick (1) I can’t do anything right↑

A: that’s all you’ve done today Phillip (.) is criticize Loraine (1) if you could come out with something else constructive (1) um (.) I might listen to you (1) that’s all you’ve done from the minute you walked in this door today↑ 

P: because she’s trouble↑ sir Alan↓ she’s trouble (2) week after week after week you’ll get this again↓ and again↓ and again↓/  my perfor…  I think I’ve been one of the outstanding candidates over these past few weeks// I’ve had

L: /trouble↑

A: //woah listen (1) l (.) look (.) look (2) you know the body rocker/  thing (1) I don’t know the bleeding things gone to your head or what↓ okay you’ve done well there (.) yeah and the design of it (.) okay (.) but that’s it↑ you know (1) one swallow don’t make a summer (2) you understand (.) cause then you haven’t done that great↑

P: /yeah

Group Task - Twitter Feed Text

The text that we looked at was from a Twitter feed. We discussed that the text could have shown both influential power and instrumental power. Influential power is shown as the person who’s Twitter feed it is has the power unfollow, block or report whoever they want if they do not agree with what someone has tweeted. The use of instrumental power is shown as Marcus Brigstocke is a famous comedian and actor, therefore they could be following him due to his popularity and famous status. This also means that the celebrity has the power to only let what they want their fans/followers to see over the social network.

We also discussed how Twitter users can be very opinionated when expressing their thoughts and feelings in a tweet. This can be seen as face threatening acts which is why we also spoke about how a lot of celebrities write that it is normally their own opinion.

Grouping

Texts A, B, D and F have the purpose to inform the reader. Text A is advertising their business in order to persuade through information due to the facts and statistics that are written such as, 'over 4.5 million people rely on Legal & General' and 'one of the UK's leading financial services companies'. The use of pragmatics in terms of how large the figure is and how much success it takes to be 'one of the UK's top 50 FTSE companies' which is persuading the target audience into signing up to them.

Targets for language and power assessment

Target: I need to use more terminology within the essay in order to get a higher grade.

Task: I need to revise terminology more so I am able to analyse the points I make more. To achieve this, I will  write the terminology that I struggle to remember down and first of all copy down the meanings with the terminology booklet out if I need it. This can be repeated until I feel like I am confident in knowing them. Once I think I can remember them, I will do it without the booklets help and see if I have successfully remembered the terminology.