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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet

ENGB4: Investigating Language A2 Coursework

1 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet Index

You can use this pack in consultation with your teachers to develop your ideas about what makes a good investigation and how to do well.

We have included guidance from your exam board, some tips on how to choose your investigation and get going with it and some advice on how to present your material in the end.

This is lengthy process and you will need to refer to this booklet along the way.

Pick something you are interested in and ENJOY YOURSELF!

2 - 3 Extract from specification

4 - 5 Official guidance on scope of topics

6 - 8 Methodology – spoken data

9 - 10 Tasks based on Angela Goddard’s list of 22 topics

11 Angela Goddard’s 22 topics list

12-14 General guidance from AQA examiner’s reports

15-17 What makes good data?

18-19 More topic ideas (from Montgomery’s book)

20-22 Topics inspired by your personality

23-24 How to present your project

25-27 Mark Scheme

28 Work Schedule – an indicator of what you need to achieve by certain dates to manage your time

29 Monitoring progress

30 Initial ideas planning – fill this in to discuss with your teacher

2 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet

This is the official description of your coursework unit (module 4) taken from the AQA’s specification.

The aim of including this is to give you the facts you need for absolute clarity about the two parts of your coursework:

A. An investigation B. A media text.

Read it carefully and ask your teacher if anything is not clear in this. Please NOTE:

The requirement in the specification is that your choice of topic to investigate must be: “assessable and manageable” within the word and time constraints. The final decision on the suitability of your planned investigation must rest with your teacher and

you have to pay serious attention to his or her advice / instruction in this matter. Note also that you must have a bibliography for both pieces of all sources used (even if you do not actually quote them in the coursework) so keep a record of everything you refer to whether in print or electronically. Please refer to the guidance on using sources in this booklet: http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/files/2009-12-24-plagiarism-students.pdf

official guidance what can you do your topic on?

The notes below are taken from a teachers’ guide published by AQA.

Topics for the investigation are to be chosen and clearly defined by candidates after careful consultation with their teachers. Any topic which teachers judge to be appropriate to the course, and to the ability and interests of their candidates, may be attempted.

Teachers who are uncertain of the viability of a particular area of research are advised to contact the Board for guidance.

In selecting topics for investigation, candidates should bear in mind the following general points.

Language Functions

 the variety of uses for language in interpersonal and wider social contexts  ways of describing and classifying functions  the significance of social context for language uses (eg gender and power)  some relationships between language functions and language forms  differences and connections between speech and writing

Investigating talk

 the primacy of speech and its role in social interaction, varieties of talk (contexts, purposes, the repertoire)  attitudes to accent and dialect  tape-recording and transcribing talk  ways of describing features of spoken discourse eg pauses, turn taking  changing topic, other patterns of verbal exchange

Investigating writing

 varieties of systematic, rule-governed nature of language  the structural features of written texts  social and cultural contexts for reading and writing  editorial aspects of writing (e.g. spelling and punctuation)  relationships between writers, texts and readers

5 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet Language structures

 consideration of the systematic, rule-governed nature of language  introduction to some grammatical concepts (eg to enable candidates to describe differences between speech and writing, or to describe distinctive grammatical features of style)  introduction to structural features of spoken English

In the investigation and the description of language use candidates should demonstrate, where appropriate, ability in the following areas:

 accurate transcription and annotation of spoken English, using a layout which pays due attention to clarity and readability. Conventional forms of written English are acceptable except that punctuation would not be required. The length of pauses should be indicated thus: (5 secs).  Intonation may be indicated by signs as long as they are consistent, or by an accompanying commentary – eg spoken with rising tone. It is not necessary for candidates to learn by rote the phonemic alphabet, but detailed references to pronunciation will be helped by the use of phonemic symbols;

 the collection of data, or selection of texts, for analysis and discussion. A respect for, and sensitivity in, handling chosen material will be important criteria for assessment;

 the application of theoretical points of view and principles to a chosen area of language use, with due acknowledgment and sources;

 the identification and description of significant and linguistic features in an utterance or text;

 discourse analysis with reference to features of rhetoric, register and social context and their influences upon the construction of meaning in texts.

6 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet methodology 1: spoken data

In this section you are going to look at the different methods of recording SPOKEN DATA. There are five main methods which have all been used by other language investigators. This will prepare you for planning your own investigation effectively and should also give you useable notes for your actual project. task one For each method (listed below) you need to consider all the issues:  What type of research would the method be particularly effective for?  What are the inherent advantages of the method?  What are the inherent disadvantages of this method?

task two Be prepared to share your ideas with others in the group. method 1: Researcher makes written notes on what s/he hears or notemaking observes.

This method is suitable for which types of research?

advantages of 1:

disadvantages of 1:

7 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet method 2: Researcher asks informants to tell what features they use questionnaire on or to give opinion on use of certain features. Can be done self-reported usage. verbally or with a form to fill in.

This method is suitable for which types of research?

advantages of 2:

disadvantages of 2:

method 3: Informants know that you are recording, but may not have audio recording with been told the EXACT reason behind the recording! participants’ knowledge. This method is suitable for which types of research?

advantages of 3

disadvantages of 3

method 4: You are legally obliged to tell someone if you are using their audio recording data in a research project! without participants’ knowledge. This method is suitable for which types of research?

advantages of 4

disadvantages of 4

method 5: This method is suitable for which types of research? recordings from the media

advantages of 5

disadvantages of 5

REVIEW By the end of this section of work you should have a good idea of:  all five main methods for recording speech for an investigation.  the relative merits of the different method for investigating spoken data.  the inherent drawbacks in each of the different method.  the importance of thinking about methodology and the type of approach you will use.

You have to discuss methodology in your investigation so the notes you made in this section will be very useful if you do a speech based investigation. All of this work is derived from Angela Goddard’s book: 9 “Researching Language” A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet getting started with data investigation 1: what type of project is this?

In this work you will look at a range of actual project titles in order to develop your sense of:  what sort of topics you might choose to investigate  what “type” of project you might do  what methodologies you might use  what problems you might encounter task one On Page 11 is a list of 22 investigations which have been carried out by A level students in the past.

For each project title identify both: 1. the main topic area investigated (gender / power / tech / child learning / change over time/ a.n.other) 2. the main linguistic methods / frameworks you think were needed for analysis task two Identify the speech based investigations in the list. Then decide which method would be most effective for collecting relevant data.

Remember we’ve considered:  note making,  tape recording with participant’s knowledge,  tape recording without participant’s knowledge,  self reporting,  recordings from the media. task three Consider any issues which might arise from the methodology you’ve chosen if you were attempting to do each speech based topic? the examiner says The Chief Examiner1 for this module used to say there are three basic types of investigation: Question based Where you have a question which you want to answer:  “How does a clairvoyant use language to give an impression of precise knowledge about the future?  “What sort of language do teachers use to facilitate learning in the classroom?”  “How do Fanzone commentators negotiate their differences?”

1 There is a new Chief now, but the ideas are still valid!

Hypothesis based Where you test out a hypothesis from your own observation or from previous study:  “People make judgements about each other based on their accents”.  “People who live isolated lives develop patterns of exchange which differ from those used by people in regular contact with others.” Descriptive Projects Where you set out to describe a particular variety of language use:  “Features of personal address in internet chatrooms”.  “The way my family talks about Christmas”.  “The development of my brother’s written story telling skills from age 7 to 11.” task four Go through the list of 22 projects overleaf again and attempt to classify each one according to these three types of project: question based, hypothesis based or descriptive.

Not all projects fall easily into one category and you could argue about it – but this exercise should help you to think in these terms when you are working out the focus of your own project.

All of this work is derived from Angela Goddard’s book: “Researching Language”

REVIEW

By the end of this section you should have a clearer idea of:  the sorts of topics you might do for your coursework.  how your AS studies will be helpful for A2 investigations.  the importance of thinking about methodology and the type of approach you will use.

11 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet Angela Goddard’s 22 topics list

Use this list for the four tasks on pages 9 and 10.

1. A study of the pronunciation of an eight year-old boy who has been referred to the speech therapist. 2. A comparison between the accent spoken in North Lincolnshire, and Received Pronunciation. 3. An examination of the use of swear words by groups of students of different genders. I intend to explore the differences in usage, and to try to find reasons for the existence of any differences I discover. 4. An exploration of how language is used between counter staff and customers in food oulets. 5. A comparison of newspaper stories from The Times in the years 1920 and 1988. 6. A study of graffiti in different city centre venues. 7. An exploration of the spoken language of the Courts. 8. A study of the conversational rules in family interactions during meal-times. 9. A study of the language use of Afro-Caribbean speakers. 10. An examination of the development of children’s narrative skills in writing; a comparison of stories written by seven year olds and eleven year olds. 11. A comparison between spoken and written instructions. 12. An analysis of a number of descriptions of sexual encounters in different literary texts. 13. A study of the techniques used in a range of contemporary magazine adverts for cars. 14. An analysis of the use and importance of personal names. 15. An examination of the way in which people stereotype others by their accents: I intend to record a number of differently-accented speakers, and ask informants to respond to the different accents. 16. An analysis of a number of TV adult game shows, to establish whether there is a formula being followed. 17. A comparison between ‘Watch with Mother’ (a children’s TV programme from the 1950s) and a modern children’s programme. 18. Songs of Protest: an analysis of song lyrics by different artists aiming to register political protest. 19. A study of the language of gravestones, with particular reference to euphemisms about death. 20. An analysis of the language of crossword clues. 21. A comparison of problem pages from magazines written in 1930 and 1988. 22. An analysis of a range of political speeches given at Party Conferences.

getting started with data investigation 2: what makes a good investigation idea?

This section includes various tips picked up from examiner’s reports over recent years. You should read and absorb this guidance and ask your teacher if any of it is unclear. You need to be aware of this advice when shaping your own project ideas. good  come from clearly conceived, well-focussed studies with a investigations: “question” to answer or an angle to explore  have a careful selection of good data  follow an analysis that stays on focus  are informed by good knowledge of appropriate theory  “The best candidates use theory to support their own investigation or to provide a framework to test something out”

TOPIC AREAS: Examiners’ observations: Good work has been done looking at children with disabilities of language some sort – especially hearing impairment – comparing their acquisition / development with another child. This is obviously only possible if you know someone in this situation! development Related to this is the study of someone who’s had a stroke or other illness which affects adult speech. Links with primary schools lend themselves to study of writing development, but do NOT focus on errors in this sort of study.

A popular topic is looking at the English writing of a penfriend, to comparative see how the original language affects their English. This is only linguistics really possible if you have a very thorough grasp of the other language yourself, or you will not be able to make meaningful comment on the grammar or lexis. Looking at aspects of bilingualism is another possibility, if you know about this from your own life.

This is a when you undertake very detailed study into a relatively norms and small aspect of language use, such as the classified ads in local variations papers, or the descriptions of dishes on menus. These projects work particularly well if you are sensitive to nuances of register and tone.

This is a popular area, but also a minefield. You need a narrow stylistics and precise focus for your work, as these two examples show:

Weak topic titles: Better focus for topic: “The language of advertising.” The use of superlatives and comparatives in advertising soap powders.

“The language of health Healthy eating leaflets as a leaflets.” marketing device in Sainsbury’s.

Literary stylistics is also a possibility, where you focus on a particular aspect of a writer’s characteristic features, e.g. “Use of euphemism for male and female body parts in Mills and Boon”.

NOTE: You will find many books on stylistics in the school or public library which might suggest interesting aspects for study to you.

You absolutely, completely and utterly, CANNOT do a straight newspapers comparison between a broadsheet and a tabloid paper, OK?

What you can do is be specific on any number of issues and study them, for example:  the use of naming as a persuasive device in the Sun and The Independent  the use of pre-modifiers- for male and female personalities in The Mirror and The Observer

Useful sources of data – but you need to pay attention to the TV and radio amount of editing and scripting which may underpin what you programme actually hear. s Again a clear focus is crucial, so rather than the global topic “the Language of Blind Date” a candidate succeeded with a detailed analysis of the terms of address used to direct remarks to  Participants (on either side of the screen)  Studio audience  TV audience

“The use of naming and other identification strategies in TV and radio commentary” went down well as did “The use of set structures in TV and radio commentary”.

Think about popular styles of programme that gain attention now, and look for distinctive uses of language. The X-Factor, for example, is a programme that some people regard as quite formulaic. What are the characteristics of the language of this formula?

Current shifts in usage are interesting, particularly fruitful at the language change moment would probably be looking at features of text messages, or emails or chat room discourse (which builds nicely on your AS work.) Accent and dialect can also provide very interesting examples of change in progress.

Other Issues

You need to review any studies and analytical models we’ve background explored together which may be useful as a starting point for your studies own investigation. You should certainly aim to do some additional reading in your chosen area.

There are three main ways of using previous studies: 1. To test out the “received wisdom” in your own context – to challenge the usual thoughts. 2. To follow on from where another researcher left off. 3. To provide you with an analytical framework on which to base your research.

Lots of candidates fall down on this. Therefore, you’ve already collecting spoken done lots of thinking about the methodology issues involved (and data do make sure you make explicit reference to it in your own project write up).

A good tip for gathering data of friends’ conversation is to give them a problem solving exercise to do, or a topic to discuss as it focuses their mind away from their speech and onto something they are trying to work out.

Again, we’ve looked at this issue already, but there are a few questionnaires additional points to be aware of if you collect data in this way:

 The basic structure should include an introduction which touches on the issue of confidentiality and explains something about why you are doing the research.

 Do not include any questions which you don’t really need, especially on issues of gender, race, age etc. If you DO ask for this information you need to know WHY in advance!

 The hardest part is writing questions which elicit exactly what linguistic data you want by communicating clearly with your respondents. You will need to write about how you constructed your questionnaire in your report.

Plenty of pre-planning will be required and you must PILOT a questionnaire before circulating it widely.

15 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet getting started with data investigation 3: what makes good data?

This section includes various tips ideas on where you can get your data from. If you are not already brimming with ideas of aspect of language use you want to know more about, this list of possible data sources could give you some ideas.

Source Data Possible Focus for Analysis Home Adverts, Problem pages, Comparison with modern Old magazines Feature articles. mags; look at the lang change issues; (19th and 20th century) Surf the net for sources constructions of (we’ve got some tips masculinity or femininity. saved in Moodle) Comic strips from ‘The Comparison with current Old Comics Beano’ etc. children’s comics, & as above. Formal and informal Look at the variety within Letters letters; old the genre; compare old postcards, or and modern texts. letters from friends or family, correspondence with a foreign pen-friend Diaries, old school How did your writing skills Your writing exercise books from progress? primary school and Spelling? secondary school. Other interesting features of lexis, grammar etc? A grandparent’s report, If you’ve got lots you and School reports your reports, do N+V. younger/older sisters’ and Compare the old and the brothers’ reports. new.

Compare primary school with secondary school. The texts connected with a Also good for N+V if Family records and wedding (invitations, you’ve got lots. celebrations replies, cards, order of service booklet, thank you Look at levels of formality, letters, speeches, the grammar, lexis etc. script for the video), baptism, funeral, 18th birthday party, grandparents’ golden wedding. Transcription of recordings Gender differences? Family talk of conversations - talk with Consider the theorists

friends/family members. explored for AS. Are their theories borne out? Transcriptions of the talk of one particular family Does your mother speak member in different to her daughters and sons situations. in the same ways?

Power issues in the family?

Junk mail, ads on internet N+V Consumerism –adverts sites, transcription of TV in the home ads, radio ads. Techniques used for influential power. Transcription Analysis of the humour – TV/Radio Comedy though you need to use humour based on language. Screenplay or Examination of the stylistic Films/TV Drama transcription. features of the scripted text. Representation of spontaneous speech. Articles, editorials, Choose a small number of Magazines adverts, problem pages. articles to explore the style used for particular audience; comparison of articles/ads in magazines with different audiences – gender/age. Transcription of Radio/TV Comparison of radio and Sports commentaries; Sports TV commentaries, or event programmes; radio/TV and newspaper Transcription of training reports. session given by coach. Analysis of coach’s teaching language. E-mail, text messages, Features of both speech Information and chat room text, and other and writing modes; use of Communication Interactive Written slang, emoticons, clipped Technology Discourse texts words and other short versions of words etc. Adverts, information about Features of the genre, play Theatre Programmes actors and playwright. on words in ads. Recipes, transcriptions of Comparison of TV chefs’ Cooking cookery programmes. styles; comparison of old and new recipe book formats - Mrs Beaton and Nigella Lawson? Menus. Elaborate pre- and post- Restaurants modification. Influence of Names immediate social setting. N+V Transcription of the Openings and closings. Radio Phone-in interaction. Gender differences? programmes Naming terms. N+V across lots of shows on same channel?

Part Time Work Transcription of training The corporate image – eg Training material videos, employees’ McDonald’s. Script for handbook. employees? Opening and closing of interactions. Transcription of recordings Politeness features. Customer Interaction Patterns in the exchanges. As above. Transcription of recording Gender/power issues. The language of the staff of spontaneous speech, room notes of greetings and farewells. Notices, signs, N+V The language of the euphemisms. supermarket Language to persuade. Special Interests Transcriptions of political Lang to persuade, The Language of Politics speeches, memorable phrases (sound-bites), keeping Party Manifestos hold of the turn /interrupting etc. Transcription of TV/Radio interviews with politician(s) School, College or Gender issues. The Language of University prospectuses Comparison of old and Prospectuses new.

getting started with data investigation 4: inspired by academics

These ideas are derived from Martin Montgomery’s book, “An Introduction to Language and Society” which is in the school library, and we have a handful of copies that could be loaned out.

Montgomery concludes each chapter with some ideas of investigations to develop the ideas raised in the chapter.

This brings us to the point that you really DO need to read around your chosen subject area, if it is possible – Montgomery’s textbook could be a good starting point for you. Certainly the ideas listed here will be clearer to you if you read the relevant chapters in his book. Indeed you might not even understand this section UNTIL you’ve read his relevant chapter.

Dialect / Accent (see page 78 of Montgomery) 1. Make recordings of lots of TV ads – look closely at issues of accent and dialect, types of product being marketed, prestige etc.

2. Construct a questionnaire to explore attitudes to local accent / dialect features.

3. Do you have any knowledge of a “secret” language or anti-language? This could be analysed from a variety of levels, including lexical and grammatical.

4. Bilingual speakers might be able to investigate and comment on the ways their two languages interface with each other, say at home or at college.

Register /stylistics (see page 128) 5. Compare the tone / tenor/ field of advertising from the same magazine.

6. Compare the tone of some financial service advertising with a letter from a Bank manager to a customer who has exceeded their overdraft. (I’m not suggesting that you get into financial difficulties to generate data for this investigation!)

19 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet Child Acquisition based projects: (see page 25)

Montgomery generally recommends these approaches to facilitate CLA studies:  the use of video if at all possible  trying to set up natural situations for the youngster  avoid pressurising the child to talk  make a transcript as soon as you can after the recording  DO NOT focus on “errors” - since this shows you don’t understand the process of learning language that children are engaged in!

7. Analyse a child’s speech at the 2-word stage for the pragmatic functions of her/his utterances. (You will need to be familiar with Halliday’s work in order to do this )

8. Use transcripts to comment on the role of an adult’s utterances and identify distinctive features. Might be good to look at the same adult in relation to a range of family members for comparison, say toddler, partner and teenage son/daughter.

9. Explore how dialogue is structured and sustained by youngsters of different ages

20 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet getting started with data investigation 5: use your own personality / interests

Yet more various tips / ideas on where you can get your data from.

You must start to feel inspired soon!

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/ want to work in This site has a massive resource of USA adverts from the 20’s – advertising? 50’s on topics like health and beauty, transport and World War II. It is a really brilliant resource, literally thousands of old adverts, reproduced as they looked way back then! And there are other related resources out there too. Projects could be done for stylistics, compared across different periods and/or with contemporary product ads.

Are you lucky enough to have an archive of your own writings never quite grown from Year One at school to the present day? If so, this could be a up? wonderful resource to plunder and investigate the development of writing skills.

Questions you might investigate in such a “corpus” of data: How does vocabulary grow? (You can easily work out type-token ratios (= number of distinct words/number of actual running words) for small samples of the same length, e.g. 200 words, across the years.) Are there any particular areas of growth - e.g. academic or technical vocabulary? How does grammar grow? One area to look at would be the balance between coordination (and, or, but) and subordination of clauses (if, because, who, that, ....), so you can count tokens (how many coordinators/subordinators per 100 words?) or types (how many different subordinators?). What spelling skills or problems did you have? What are the grapheme-phoneme correspondences in the local accent, and did they show up in your youthful spellings? How about a study of play-ground language in your old primary school? - do the kids still using the same skipping rhymes etc as when you were there? Do they use the same ones as in the school down the road? There's some very academic reading suggestions on this - see http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/bib.htm The most well known “classic” text in this field is by Iona and Peter Opie. The Singing Game which has historical background to games too. bit of a goth? You might like to hang around the graveyards, so while you are there - look at euphemisms for death, the way the dead person is referred to, the grammar of death?

Ask such questions as: What can you infer about a society’s attitudes to death judging from the gravestones? Have the semantics and social connotations etc changed over time? There may be interesting differences between the way women and men are referred to. Maybe you could compare one religion with another? One student once investigated the language of burial services throughout different world religions/beliefs. He studied aspects such as metaphorical language, terms of address, register, euphemistic language etc. I don’t think you need gate-crash other people’s funerals to gather this data though, a chat with the relevant spiritual leaders to get their texts would do it. bit of a sports nut? Cricket commentaries You may be able to contrast the two styles of cricket commentary - the first the direct reporting: “and it's Botham coming into bowl, striding in, he bowls and ... it whistles past short leg's ear and down to the boundary for 4 runs..” and the second the “old boy” ruminating they love to do on the BBC 4 (long wave) radio programme “well that's the fourth ball this session which has popped up outside the leg side and that's not good news for England on the fourth day.. ... oh, is that chocolate cake? Please! ....” The turn taking conventions used in the two styles and the way they integrate may offer quite good material. You can also explore semantic fields - a brief statistical analysis will show how unique the vocab is and how much a barrier to comprehension it might be for a non-cricketer faced with notions of silly mid on, long leg, third man, etc. There is also the legendary sense of humour of these fellahs, epitomised in the live broadcast from Brian Johnston: "The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey...." Footie Fiend

One idea on football is to tape and transcribe the blokes on Fanzone if you can get access to Sky Digital. Trust me – if the footie is dire the men get funnier and funnier and provide endless examples of male-banter, male bonding, positive stroking, having to avoid taboo and some witty word-play, usually! Lots of scope for analysis.

bit of a net head? You could investigate the fact that some astonishing gender stereotypes are still alive and kicking. For example find sites with "blonde jokes" or checking out insults - but this might not be quite enough for a full investigation. More sophisticated would be to do a discourse analysis of any message boards you regularly contribute to. They usually follow very similar patterns, especially the rows and the character who thinks it is their job to police the behaviour of other

contributors, and tell newbies off for not knowing the “board- conventions”. You could also experiment with creating two new log-ins to your fave message board at the same time, one male and one female and see if the way your exchanges develop is very different. At the very least it would give you something to think about in terms of how to “write like a boy” or “write like a girl” whichever your personal starting point is! If you do anything web-based you must remember to save, as well as print out, your findings, so you can show a clean copy and a “worked” copy in your appendices.

Even ‘reality’ TV is often partly scripted and certainly heavily bit of a TV addict? edited so you’ve got to be careful, but this in itself might provide interesting data (comparing the bits that are obviously scripted for the presenters with the ‘spontaneous’ bits.) bit boring and not Just open the yellow pages and do a Norms and Variations thing interested in on whatever page you land on.  anything?

If you are still really struggling to think of something you can do, the feeds I have set up on Edmodo, and the posts on my blog (http://mrheald.posterous.com/) will give you a constant stream of current language topics that could be pursued further.

presentation: the finished product

The AQA specification (see opening pages) describes the way your investigation should be presented. This page offers a little more detail on that for you.

You need to be aware of what you are working towards from the beginning and keep an eye on your word count in each section.

Note your raw data, data that you quote in the main body of the investigation, and any work in appendices, do not count to your word limit

Your coursework needs to follow a recognised structure and communicate clearly with the examiner (imagine addressing a general educated audience).

Table of Gives a professional appearance & suggests that your investigation is well- Contents structured and that pages are numbered. If you use Google Documents or Word there are tools to help structure your work & automatically generate a table of contents.

Introduction You need to say why you chose this project, the stimulus for investigating the aspect you are looking at and what you expected to find: the aim and focus of your project. You will either:  set out the question which your project seeks to answer  explain your hypothesis  set out the type of material you will be seeking to describe.

You might introduce some reference to background studies here and tie in your ideas to the wider context of the linguistic world. Keep it short and snappy, say 200 words.

Methodology Talk about the method which you used to collect your data. You have to explain your rationale and methods you used.

This is also the place to introduce the analytical framework which you have adopted.

Remember to show awareness of issues such as the observer paradox and how you attempted to minimise the problems.

Keep this short and well focussed too, c. 300 words.

Classification This is heart of your study – where you apply your chosen linguistic methods in a systematic and thorough way to your data.

This will NOT be a section of the project itself, but it is a vital step towards your analysis section. The work you do on classification can show in your appendices and eventually appears in your analysis section in a summarised form, perhaps in grids, graphs, tables or charts.

Analysis of the This is the bulk of your word count. Aim for at least 1600 words. data / In this section you really show off your linguistic knowledge and how you commentary on have developed your insight as a result of the study you’ve done. You findings analyse and interpret your data in appropriate linguistic terms.

Make your observations really clear; pass comment on the patterns you have observed; the expected and unexpected elements that close scrutiny has revealed. Reflect on the effect of context on the data.

Link it back to the original aim of your investigation, the question or hypothesis or descriptive points. Make clear and close cross-reference to your data (featured in full in your appendices.)

Conclusion / This must be closely linked to the original focus of your investigation. evaluation It need not be too long – you’ve already said most of it already, but you can link back here to the other researchers or suggest ways in which your work could be developed from here. It’s a good idea to evaluate your methodology and outcomes here too.

Reflect on findings which were unexpected. Examiner’s say “the best investigations often take time to reflect on why the unexpected might have arisen.” Word count 200 – 300 words.

Appendices All of your raw / annotated and classified data needs to go in the appendix, together with any other relevant material to support your report.  If you transcribe material we want a copy of the audio or video and want to see as much transcribing as you’ve done too.  If you carry out a survey we want to see all of your completed questionnaire responses.  if you do stylistics we want copies of the newspapers / magazines / books / leaflets or whatever you have studied.  If you made tally charts to show usages we need to see the originals.

These form part of the appendices of your project and are not included in the word count – so put as much as you need in here.

Bibliography Remember to keep a note as you go along of any reading that you do to support your study, as well as the sources you use if you do a text based project. Remember to consult this resource on how to cite sources: http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/files/2009-12-24-plagiarism-students.pdf

SHORT VERSION – FINAL PRESENTATION:

You must includes these sections: 1. Table of Contents 2. Introduction (c. 200 words) 3. Methodology explained (c. 300 words) 4. Classification of the material and analysis / commentary on your findings (minimum 1600 words) 5. Conclusion (c.200 words) 6. Appendices of “raw” data and classification work 7. Bibliography

25 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet official guidance what are they marking you for?

This is the official markscheme for this unit. You must bear in mind the AOs and look at the descriptors to ensure you get the best marks possible.

ENGB4 – COURSEWORK SCHEDULE

By end of term Decide topic and method for your project and (19th July) get proposal agreed by teacher. Find appropriate background reading. Decide on media text and find style models. Begin data collection. Week beginning Data collection should be well underway; any 2nd of September ‘manipulation’ of data (eg. transcription of recordings, tabulation of questionnaire results etc) should be started. Week beginning All data should now be collected and 21st of October checked by teachers. Classification and analysis underway. Introduction, methodology & media text to be drafted. Week beginning Complete investigation and media text 16th December handed in. During the Christmas holidays your work will be marked and feedback given prior to final submission. Week beginning You must submit your completed 10th February investigation, and media text. Friday 14th FINAL DEADLINE February

29 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet monitoring progress

Avoiding malpractice

Make sure you are fully familiar with all the information here: http://heald.edublogs.org/a-level-coursework-guidance/ including the documents in the links. This will ensure you both avoid the risk of plagiarism and other malpractice and will ensure you positively meet all the requirements regarding acknowledgement of sources and any other help received.

Teacher support

We will be arranging tutorials with you using class time (and possibly out of lesson time too, if necessary) to ensure that you are progressing with your work. After reading the above document you will be aware that the extent of the guidance we can offer is limited:

Examples of unacceptable assistance include:

o detailed indication of errors or omissions; o advice on specific improvements needed to meet the criteria; o the provision of outlines, paragraph or section headings, or writing frames specific to the coursework task(s); [nb this means specific to your individual coursework – the general outline given above that applies to all coursework is fine] o personal intervention to improve the presentation or content of the coursework

Nevertheless it is important that we are able to offer you general guidance on the quality and direction of your coursework, and that we can monitor your work, and see that enough has been done under our direct supervision to be able to certify that it is wholly your own work. It is therefore essential that you meet any interim deadlines you are set, and bring all your work with you to all lessons and to any meeting with your teachers.

30 A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet Planning your Lang A2 coursework – ENGB4 – Language Investigation. NAME:

Fill in the boxes with as much detail as you can. To be used for one to one discussions

If you have several ideas ticking over, you can write them out on separate sheets using these headings. The headings are to help check that you are thinking along the right lines. Re-read materials in this guide to help you focus your ideas.

Which broad aspect / topic of language do you intend to investigate? (eg. journalism / children / change over time / adverts / politics / family discourse / IT etc. etc. etc.)

How will you focus your study with reference to both to area / topic and to the linguistic methods / frameworks you will explore?

Will your project be Hypothesis based, Question based or Descriptive? Attempt to map out a title for it:

What aspect(s) of the syllabus we have covered already will be relevant to this investigation?

What further research will you need to do ensure your work is well informed?

What ideas do you have about methodology so far? How will you collect data?

What problems do you envisage with the investigation you are outlining here?

What idea(s) do you have for your media text?