Discourse analysis. I sent you feedback on the group post for the discourse analysis of the shaggy dog stories. As I said in class - overall you did a GREAT job. It was kind of amazing for a first analysis. Hopefully the feedback gave you some ideas for how to use Gee's tools even more effectively.
Ethnography: We used Branick's essay (sent to you as an email) to talk about ethnography, and as a way to talk about how to write an essay.
Formal features of research essays. We started by having you take a close look at Branick's essay for where (on what page => where in the essay) he stated his research question. I also asked you to look for the materials he used to "set up" his discussion of his main question, and to identify his main points (the points he developed to support/develop an answer to that question.
You correctly noted that he doesn't really state his "question" outright at the beginning of the essay. It IS implied by his title, but most of the first part of the essay provides background material about coaching. It isn't until he begins discussing Mirabelli's definition of literacies, on page 5 - that he sets up his question (look toward the bottom of the page). He refers to it again in his set up to the results section on p 7, where he states, "we are studying the multiple literacies of football coaches by looking at coaching as a discourse community." From this, and the material he discussed to set up this statement, we stated his questions as: what literacy practices are part of what football coaches do? what are some of the important practices that make football coaches a Discourse community? and how are coaches literacy practices related to their effectiveness?
So => like a "regular" academic essay, in a reasearch essay we find the "thesis" at the end of the introduction. And for research essays, the introduction is often a "literature review" => the section of the essay where the writer:
1. defines important terms/ideas that will be part of the discussion in the essay=> Branick does this in by referring to Mirabelli for his definition of literacy p5
2. sets up background and connects to issues in the Conversation (what other researchers have written about what is "known" or "accepted" as important and relevant for the essay's question) Branick does this in his discussions of effective coaching p. 2-4, and of definitions of Discourse communitiesp p7.
3. Points out what or how the rest of the essay will contribute to that Conversation (what new ideas/information you will add) = Branick does this at the top of 5("scholars have yet to study a coach's ability to read his players and the game as a form of literacy"=> which is what Branick's study does.
So Branick has definitely made good use of his literature review.
Feedback we thought might give to Branick to make his essay stronger was mostly about organization
- set up the research question more specifically before introducing so much background
- define Discourse communities and multiliteracies as part of the literature review => THEN apply the term to the data (though Alison pointed out that this may not work for all introductions = that sometimes definitions/background needed to be presented WITH the research findings).
- use headings to identify key terms (such as adding a heading like "What this study shows about coaching and literacy"or something like that, at the top of p 5
Ethnographic methods:
After discussing Branick's focus + some of the ways he set up that focus, we talked a little about ethnography - the method he used to study coaching.
What/who ethnographers study: Ethnographers study Discourse communities, identity groups, or any other group who hold sets of common assumptions, values, beliefs, practices, ways of being, and so on. We talked briefly about what makes a group. The example from the 7-11 was meant to open up our ideas about how we might think of "identity" groups. At first shoppers and clerks at a 7-11 might not seem like a group with shared belief systems/practices associated with shopping. But it only took 2 examples to know that there are definitely shared values, and expectations about the "right" way to shop at a 7-11. So the groups ethnographers study can be just about and collection of people who come together for a common purpose/practice - and have assumptions, values, beliefs etc associated with that purpose/practice.
Participant-observation: A central feature of ethnographic work is participant observation - which means exactly what it says. The researcher both takes part in and is present for the group activities (is an insider, in a sense) - and s/he observes, writes down (documents) what happens = so that s/he can analyze and reflect on what it means from a perspective outside and apart from the group perspective. So - ethnographers work the boundary between being a group insider - and heing an outsider.
Ethnographic data can include: field notes from participant-obseravtion (we will be reading about this for homework tonight), interviews, tape recordings, artifacts (objects or "things" that the group uses or produces), or other items produced by the group.
We also talked (briefly) about how you might use ethnography for your projects - and what would make your method "ethnographic".
So far so good.
For next class:
Read: Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes = through the end of page 12, and come to class prepared to do some ethnography!
Blog 5: Choose one of the (possible) research projects you have been thinking about and brainstrom the kinds of materials you would need to discuss in your introduction for a research essay on this project.
See you Thursday.
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