Blog #5

JOTTINGS

-awkward 

-people talking

-briana laughing

-people with notebooks

-similar classes

-interests

-memories

HEADNOTES

I was thinking how awkward it was when Dr. Chandler told everyone to stand up and no one moved. Once we started walking around I made small headnotes in reference to the jottings I wrote down. Briana was laughing when we introduced ourselves because it was awkward. People were talking about classes they remembered each other from. Some people were discussing common interests and sharing things they remembered about each other. 

THINGS I REMEMBERED LATER

I remember David bringing up the fact that this assignment mocked what happens at actual cocktail parties. I also remember Dr. Chandler attempting to move people around the room to promote more interaction. 

FIELD NOTES

The class stood up and nobody moved. It was extremely awkward. Finally, people started moving around and talking to each other. Everyone was introducing themselves. I introduced myself to Briana,we both laughed out of awkwardness. Dr. Chandler had me move to a different group of people. People started discussing classes they've had together and places they remember each other from. Gigi remembered that I have a son and started asking questions about him. "What's his name?"  "Eric." "How old is he now?"  "6."  Someone overheard and asked me how old I am (as if there weren't any more original questions she could ask) "21," I responded, "yes, I was too young."  I turned and walked up to another group of people. Dr. Chandler introduced me to Ariana who thought my name was Sarah, I corrected her, "Amanda."  The class got quiet again and Dr. Chandler pointed out how awkward it was getting (as if we hadn't felt awkward the entire time).  Everyone returned to their seats. 

Blog #4

If I had to decide whether or not our class was a Discourse community based on Swales' criteria I would say that it is in fact a Discourse community. 

The class as a whole shares common public goals.  All of the students follow a set syllabus and they all want to accomplish the same thing, a passing grade for the class. There is intercommunication within the class. Class discussions, blogs, emails, and group works are all various forms of the intercommunication utilized. Students receive information and feedback from the instructor and have a potential to provide each other with feedback through the blogs, but have not really utilized the blogs to their full potential. Different genres of communication are used such as verbal communication and Internet communication. There is a lexis used within the class that includes language analysis terms they have been learning. Finally, members or the class are similar in that they are all college students.

 

Blog #3

Cultural Knowledge:  This means that in order to understand some language a reader needs to have prior knowledge of the culture that the writing is coming from. 

Genre:  categories that pieces of writing are put into based on their shared elements. 

Features: The different elements that make up a piece of writing

Discourse: The way that language is used. Certain discourses depend on things like audience and the purpose for writing. 

Discourse Community: A group of individuals who utilize the same discourse. 

Lexis: A specific use of language/discourse