This is the second post on our first class (scroll down for the detailed discussion of what we did - the overview of analysis sums up the language we developed).
Reflections on group work: When I asked what you got out of your experience working on the puzzle, you pointed out how it was exhausting, frustrating and confusing (not your exact words - I think you said something like messing with your minds) = so that is how it felt. It was challenging - and those feelings of wanting to give up and not knowing what to do are the way it feels when you are in the steep part of the learning curve. So you were all in the right place.
Your second observation was that you worked longer, got more ideas, we less frustrated and more engaged because you were working with a group. And this is true, too. And it is REALLY important for our class.
You are going to take on new concepts (ideas with "words" that aren't going to mean anything for a while). What is more, because this is a research class - which means you have to "do" a project, you will find yourself in a position where you need to use/do things with the "words" that you don't yet fully understand = and it is going to feel a lot like trying to solve that puzzle. Hang in and work with your classmates! You will get it if you go the distance. Just like you did with the puzzle. I will be there to give hints and support you - but the time you spend wandering around in those new (frustrating) concepts is the prize you will take with you. It is the place where real learning takes place.
What we are doing next class
I will start by introducing you to "discourse analysis" = one of the methods central to writing studies research. The funny thing is that ALL of you are expert discourse analysts already - you do it every day - but as with the analytic process that we described on last class, you don't have the language to talk about it, and you haven't really slowed it down and named what you do.
I am guessing you know the meaning of the word language (the system of communications - including words, meanings, sounds, and grammars/rules which when taken together create the understandings through which humans communicate). Check out some of the definitions on the internet.
Class will start with a discussion of discourse.
Discourse is language in use. This is the definition, though it probably isn't going to make a lot of sense until we talk about it, so just try to go with that for a while. Discourse includes the (often unconscious or unnoticed) assumptions we make in order to meaning; if you think about it, the ways we use language allows us to say things (communicate meanings), to "make" things, and to "be" things. We will talk about this more in class
One feature of a discourse community (as in the essay by Swales) is that community members have the same set of assumptions about how to make meanings with language (how to use language). They also have many of the same identities and values that are associated with the ways they use language.
After the introductory talk about discourse - we will talk about discourse analysis = identifying, naming, grouping (categorizing), looking for patterns, and making and testing theories about the ways language is used.
Then you are going to DO some discourse analysis on the shaggy dog stories. Trust me - doing discourse analysis is probably going to be easier for you than getting your head around all the new language to DESCRIBE what you are doing. That's because - as set up at the beginning - you already know how to do discourse analysis. What you are learning in this class, is to slow it down and name what you are doing so someone else can follow your thinking, step by step.
Have a great weekend and see you on Tuesday.
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