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Suggested Tasks For Assignment: Sociolinguistics

The document provides suggested tasks for a sociolinguistics or critical discourse analysis assignment. For sociolinguistics, students can analyze differences in English varieties used in a talk show, gender differences in language used by judges in a reality show, or gender differences in movie conversations. For critical discourse analysis, students can analyze power dynamics in a TV conversation, identify discrimination in Facebook posts, or compare teacher-student power relations in videos from Vietnam and another country. The document outlines assessment criteria such as rich analysis, good English proficiency, and proper organization.

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Pham Von
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180 views

Suggested Tasks For Assignment: Sociolinguistics

The document provides suggested tasks for a sociolinguistics or critical discourse analysis assignment. For sociolinguistics, students can analyze differences in English varieties used in a talk show, gender differences in language used by judges in a reality show, or gender differences in movie conversations. For critical discourse analysis, students can analyze power dynamics in a TV conversation, identify discrimination in Facebook posts, or compare teacher-student power relations in videos from Vietnam and another country. The document outlines assessment criteria such as rich analysis, good English proficiency, and proper organization.

Uploaded by

Pham Von
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SUGGESTED TASKS FOR ASSIGNMENT

General notes:

- Choose ONE task only.


- The data you choose for your assignment can be in either English or Vietnamese. However,
your assignment must be written in good precise English.
- You will be assessed on how you critically and creatively think about certain topics and how
rich your background knowledge is to support your arguments.
- You may structure your assignments as you wish, but it must not be in note-form.
- The extra questions are optional but you will get bonus point for your good answers.
…………………………………………………………………………………….

SOCIOLINGUISTICS:
1. Take an extract of a talk show with participants using different varieties of English.
a. What differences among these varieties of English can you find in this extract? (You may look at
the differences in features of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation)
b. What are the positive and negative effects of using these varieties of English in this talk show?
(You may think about the political and social effects of this choice)
c. Extra question: What are your suggestions to limit the negative effects, if there are any?
Note: The participants may use different Standard Englishes or different dialects/accents.
2. Collect transcript of one episode of a reality show featuring both male and female judges (for
example Master Chef, American Idol)
a. Do the following observations apply to the judges’ speech (you can choose to focus on one
observation): women’s speech is characterized by the use of rising intonation at the end of statements,
the more frequent use of hedges and tag questions while men tend to use more assertive forms,
“strong” language and direct speech acts.
b. What could be the effects of following/not following the observations of gendered speech in this
reality show?
c. Extra question: How would you suggest the judges to improve their judgments?
3. Collect transcripts of conversations between men and women in movies
a. Are the following observations valid in the conversations: (You can choose to focus on one feature)
- Features of women’s speech facilitate the exchange of turns while the right to speak or
“having the floor” is treated as the goal in men’s interaction.
- In cross-gender interaction, men are much more likely to interrupt women.
- Women use more back-channels.
b. What could be the positive and negative effects of following/not following the observations of
cross-gender interaction in these conversations?
c. Extra question: Do you expect any changes to limit the negative effects, if there are any?
1
CDA:

1. Take a conversation from a TV show (Ai La Trieu Phu, for example).


a. Closely analyze the conversation and see who is more powerful in the conversation.
b. Do you agree or disagree with this power relation.
c. Do you expect any changes?
(Guideline: You may want to see who talks more? Who asks more questions? Who changes the
topic? Who uses more hedges? Who interrupts the other? and so on. If the data you get is a video,
or if you have accompanying pictures, you may also find clues from the visual elements.)
2. Closely look at Facebook communication data.
a. Do you think that you read or see any discrimination? If yes, can you collect about 10 statuses/
comments which reveal some discrimination and explain why you think discrimination exists in those
statuses/ comments?
b. What do you think might be the effects of discrimination in language use on Facebook?
c. How would you suggest the writer of those statuses/comments to change in order to avoid
discrimination?
Note: Discrimination may be based on age, gender, origin, family background or any other physical/
mental features. The discrimination should be shown in language choice, not in the content.
3. Select two videos of interaction between teacher and learner(s), one in Vietnam and the other
in another country.
a. What do you think about the power relation between teachers and learners in these two videos?
Are there any similarities or differences?
b. What may be the reasons for these similarities and differences?
c. Do you expect any changes in this power relation?

GENERAL GUIDES ON STYLE AND FORMAT:

- Word count: approximately 1.500 words (4-6 pages), not including the References and Appendices.
- Page size: A4
- Font styles: 13 point Times New Roman in black
- Alignment: Use justified text alignment throughout the paper
- Line spacing: Use 1.5 line spacing throughout the paper

2
PENALTIES:
Plagiarism:

• Cheating is an offence course to University disciplinary procedures.


• Plagiarism in oral, written or visual presentations is the presentation of the work, idea or
creation of another person, without appropriate referencing, as though it is one’s own.
• Failure to acknowledge the use of another person’s work or ideas may result in charges of
academic misconduct which carry a range of penalties including cancellation of results and
exclusion from your program
• Works detected plagiarism will be marked down to 0.

Late submission:
Late work will receive lower mark. One mark will be reduced from the final result for each day the
assignment comes late.

REQUIREMENT FOR SUBMISSION


The full package of the assignment should be submitted to the teacher, including:
- The hard copy and soft copy of the assignment
- transcript of the data with highlighted details that you have used in your analysis
- videos for analysis (if your data are videos)
The soft copies and videos of the whole class should be collected and burnt in one CD.

GENERAL CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT:

Number Criteria Description Weighing

1. Analysis Rich information, strong arguments, clear illustration, 70%


good analysis of data/ examples, interesting ideas, etc.

2. Language Good English: concise grammar, rich vocabulary, good 20%


coherence and expression, etc

3. Organization Well structured assignment, concise citation and 10%


reference, prescribed format

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