[Niall10]

Hey guys, just want some reassurance and a bit of guidance, really.

Basically, my teacher has set us to complete our primary research upon our particular topic that we have chosen, and I have decided to do "the differences and similarities of three prime ministers (Blair, Thatcher and Churchill) on their speeches upon GB going to war".

I'm halfway in completing my research, where I have listed all the relevant linguistic terms i.e. imperatives, emotive language, first person pronouns, singular pronouns, use of adjectives etc and I'm just about to create a table outlining the similarities and differences between the 3.

Right, this is where you guys with the brains lot come in. Is this a suitable idea to choose, in terms of information available? Also, what theorists could be applied here? What relevant and important factors should I primarily concentrate on?

Thanks, Niall.

[astrid.qunn]

(Original post by shaffra127)
I did an investigation into the development of black english.
it was really good, really interesting. i got the highest grade in the year 58/60.
my teacher always said the highest grades were to do with language acquisition and language change.
so anything to do with children's speech, like someone in my class, compared the language of 2 reception classes i think.
language and gender is a very safe one to do, and it will most likely guarentee the A grade, if you don't want to have too much work. There's so many language gender throrists too. So you can always pose a hypothesis against theirs which is a good way. thinking out of the box! very good!

This is exactly what I'm doing now! But have no idea where to start! Is there any chance you could email it too me? :-)

[astrid.qunn]

(Original post by grammar_king)
Mine was quality and very interesting (at least for me, and my 2 teachers, even if I say so myself). I got 49/50, the highest mark anyone's got at my school for years.

"How has the Spanish language influenced American English in comparison to British English?" basically I looked at the differences between British and American English, and thought about how those changes could have come about by the influence of foreign languages, particularly Spanish. It was tough.

This is practically what I have in mind! Is there any chance you could email it to me as a rough idea please! x

[Beauella]

(Original post by Louise_x)
Oh, I did this last year. Yay AQA! Haha.

I compared social networking wall comments and informal letters. Not particularly interesting, but there was a fair bit to say, and because language and tech is relatively new, theories are actually pretty interesting. I got an A for it, anyway.

And for the releated article you have to write (well I did, I'm assuming the course hasn't changed?) I basically wrote about how FB was destroyed prescriptive language!

As geeky as it is, I actually enjoyed doing the investigation. Even if it doesn't sound particularly fun!

Wow, I really like this idea of yours! What do u mean by informal letters?? Did u get all the data from the Internet??
Thnx, Becca

[ki3r3s]

has anyone got some really interesting investigation idea that contains somthing you can use as a comparrison

[BulletproofHeart]

I want to do something on gender represenation in fairytales but i really dont have any clue of a good title. any help?

[aimeelia]

I'm thinking about
"How stereotypical lexis is used within newspapers/magazines towards male and female genders"
Does anyone have any thoughts on my idea that could help me? I'm worried whether the research would be difficult to collect?

[aimeelia]

(Original post by BulletproofHeart)
I want to do something on gender represenation in fairytales but i really dont have any clue of a good title. any help?

"How language (or insert any specific framework you want to focus on to replace "language") is used to represent the roles of genders in fairy-tale *children's* stories"

It's not great but I hope this helps

[josh95]

I'm struggling with mine too, the whole thing didn't really get explained well in class and do I don't even know what we're meant to do; I was thinking alone the lines of doing it on George bush's speech on 9/11 and his two following speeches and how they differ in tone etc, this sound like I'm on the right lines?


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[Jules_1]

Hi guys, I'm really stuck and would appreciate it if somebody could possibly help me?
anyway, I was thinking of doing the investigation about my half brothers as they are trilingual but I don't know how I could go about it/ make up a hypothesis.
if anyone has any ideas that I could use, it would be a great help.
thanks
julian.

[aimeelia]

(Original post by josh95)
I'm struggling with mine too, the whole thing didn't really get explained well in class and do I don't even know what we're meant to do; I was thinking alone the lines of doing it on George bush's speech on 9/11 and his two following speeches and how they differ in tone etc, this sound like I'm on the right lines?


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Sorry I'm not much help because I'm honestly ignorant towards the government. But you could really have it as simple as that. For example: "How world leaders use language to persuade the public/their people" and then you would include the speech in 9/11 as part of your research, it would just mean using other speeches to back up your hypothesis on the matter. Hope this helps.

[JodieB]

I'm only in the really rough stages of my idea for my coursework but i work best within the language and gender topic but want to combine it with language change, i thought of something to do with the scripted language used by aristocrats in tv dramas such as downton abbey however i'm not too sure what to compare it with, maybe gender interactions between aristocrats now and then. any help??

[Nerol]

Hi all!

I've been trying to think of a topic for my investigation for months and it's just not happening! It has to be based on spoken language (prepared or spontaneous) and should be about language change or variation.

I'm working in Beijing at the minute, so have access to an abundance of different accents, but limited access to online resources. Also, I'm working a lot of hours out here so don't want to give myself a ridiculous amount of work to do.

I'm an English teacher teaching kindergarten students, so thought there might be something there to work with, but I have a serious creative block lately - so annoying!

Any ideas? I'd really appreciate them!!

Thanks, Loren.

[evantej]

(Original post by Nerol)
Hi all!

I've been trying to think of a topic for my investigation for months and it's just not happening! It has to be based on spoken language (prepared or spontaneous) and should be about language change or variation.

I'm working in Beijing at the minute, so have access to an abundance of different accents, but limited access to online resources. Also, I'm working a lot of hours out here so don't want to give myself a ridiculous amount of work to do.

I'm an English teacher teaching kindergarten students, so thought there might be something there to work with, but I have a serious creative block lately - so annoying!

Any ideas? I'd really appreciate them!!

Thanks, Loren.

Why not link spoken language to assessment. For instance, you could assess your students pronunciation of a word before you formally introduce it and then after they have listened to your correct pronunciation to see what the difference is.

You have to be slightly creative with your lesson plan to avoid tampering with things. For example, you could start the lesson saying you are going to show the students a set of pictures representing something (e.g. dog). You could record the responses of a set number of students, and then go back over the pictures and say this is a dog, cat, chair etc., etc.. Then you could record further responses individually: after the student has heard you say it; after you have corrected any mistakes; and asking them to use it in a sentence. It might be the case that the student pronounces it perfectly first time.

I actually think it might be easier for you to do this out of the classroom; I do not know what size of classes you have and whether or not Chinese students are 'forthcoming'. Maybe pick five students at random and offer to give them a free hour's worth of tuition so you can deal with them in a more controlled environment (i.e. one by one so you do not embarrass anyone working in the group).

Not sure I have been particularly clear.

[balaclava1110]

(Original post by eksman)
i got an A in mine this year, i did the language and phonological features of MCs
just do something you're interested in, computer games, football, iron maiden whatever

you can make some money if you send it to someone who isnt me......

[tragicwords]

I'm currently halfway through my investigation on children's acqusition, and I'm looking at the use of linguistic strategies used for language building in children's story books compared to Reading Schemes. :-)

It's actually working out so well, seeing as I've done loads of research on the topic already, and I'm going to need it for the exam. Just thought I'd put that out there haha!

Good luck with your investigations though guys!

[Jade10128]

I'm planning to do my investigation on the differences in language used in tabloid (Mirror, Sun, Mail/Express)and broadsheet newspapers, also looking into politically biased right/left wing influences. It would be on the same story - Hillsborough recent reports, published near enough on the same dates (12th Sept 2012).
Any ideas on some hypotheses/aims/tips to get going? What frameworks? Any ideas to make my investigation more specific? I'm aiming for at least a B and so stressed out.
Any help appreciated!

[share_magazine]

I want to do language acquisition but want to look at actual how children speak but not sure of what to do?! Any ideas? I find some interest like comparing adult and children textbooks but I want to focus more on the actual child speaking.


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[share_magazine]

(Original post by tragicwords)
I'm currently halfway through my investigation on children's acqusition, and I'm looking at the use of linguistic strategies used for language building in children's story books compared to Reading Schemes. :-)

It's actually working out so well, seeing as I've done loads of research on the topic already, and I'm going to need it for the exam. Just thought I'd put that out there haha!

Good luck with your investigations though guys!

This sounds interesting! What books or materials have you used?


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[tragicwords]

(Original post by share_magazine)
This sounds interesting! What books or materials have you used?


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It really was interesting because there are so many different theories on language acquisition, so it's definitely easy to find something to investigate if you decide to go down the route of finding out something and then proving or disproving a theory in your analysis...

So yeah, I basically looked at biff and chip reading scheme books as an aid to children acquiring language. Like the use of grammatical structures and how they increase in difficulty as children get older, same with vocabulary... things like that. Use of images etc. It was so easy because all of the data was so accessible.Then I just used Dr Seuss' 'The Cat in the Hat.' :-)

* Also, if you're wanting to focus on spoken language you could look at parent/child interaction, and look at the opportunities for interaction within books... along with the way that parents help children to understand hidden meanings and encourage them to practice their pronunciation/help them pronounce difficult words. :-)