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English Language A2 Coursework help?

So i'm taking Eduqas EngLang, and we have to investigate a topic of language. I'm choosing to do social media and the influence it has on the way we speak, write and understand english (eg. emojis, hashtags, the literal words, politics) but i'm not sure how to INVESTIGATE that?! What kind of methodology do you think I could do to look into this topic?

Thanks! 😁😁
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fefssdf
20
Original post by tstrliz
So i'm taking Eduqas EngLang, and we have to investigate a topic of language. I'm choosing to do social media and the influence it has on the way we speak, write and understand english (eg. emojis, hashtags, the literal words, politics) but i'm not sure how to INVESTIGATE that?! What kind of methodology do you think I could do to look into this topic?

Thanks! 😁😁


You could take one of your friends social media accounts and then compare the language used on it with the language used in speech so you could record them for example and look at their intonation like how do they say certain words like do they miss out words and is this reflected in their social media posts ? Like maybe they say things like ' lol ' on their social media but they don't say it in conversation yet they may still use slang terms and colloquialisms and then you could find someone else who rarely uses social media or who uses it but rarely uses like slang and stuff and then see whether their language use is ' better ' ? This seems like a bit of a weird topic TBH and feels like there's little you could talk about

Personally my language investigation was on ' how has the languages used in Apple's print adverts for its macintosh changed from the 1970's to the present day ' and I took print adverts from each era and then I did a section on each thing like a section on grammar where I would compare sentences types ect from the eras and say how it reflects contextual factors like change in audiences like before the computer was for the business man so more complex technical sentences are used but now the mass marker requires shorter snappier sentences and I did this for other parts like grapholoy and lexis. I felt like this was a proper investigation as you're outlining clearly what you're finding out and then you can make your conclusions at the end and offer your opinion as to why this is the case and given the discourse function was the same throughout like writing to persuade it meant I could include theories as well like falirclough and speech act theory ect which gets the AO3 marks.

Perhaps consider something that will have a set structure like the one I did above as it was much easier as a result and I got an A* for this and it's not like I'm some English genius cause I only got a B at AS !
Reply 2
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tstrliz
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Original post by fefssdf
You could take one of your friends social media accounts and then compare the language used on it with the language used in speech so you could record them for example and look at their intonation like how do they say certain words like do they miss out words and is this reflected in their social media posts ? Like maybe they say things like ' lol ' on their social media but they don't say it in conversation yet they may still use slang terms and colloquialisms and then you could find someone else who rarely uses social media or who uses it but rarely uses like slang and stuff and then see whether their language use is ' better ' ? This seems like a bit of a weird topic TBH and feels like there's little you could talk about

Personally my language investigation was on ' how has the languages used in Apple's print adverts for its macintosh changed from the 1970's to the present day ' and I took print adverts from each era and then I did a section on each thing like a section on grammar where I would compare sentences types ect from the eras and say how it reflects contextual factors like change in audiences like before the computer was for the business man so more complex technical sentences are used but now the mass marker requires shorter snappier sentences and I did this for other parts like grapholoy and lexis. I felt like this was a proper investigation as you're outlining clearly what you're finding out and then you can make your conclusions at the end and offer your opinion as to why this is the case and given the discourse function was the same throughout like writing to persuade it meant I could include theories as well like falirclough and speech act theory ect which gets the AO3 marks.

Perhaps consider something that will have a set structure like the one I did above as it was much easier as a result and I got an A* for this and it's not like I'm some English genius cause I only got a B at AS !


I actually think that method looks pretty good! But I see what you say about there being little to talk about. Just a starter idea I guess, getting some ideas in before term starts again 😆 Thank you!
Reply 3
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fefssdf
20
Original post by tstrliz
I actually think that method looks pretty good! But I see what you say about there being little to talk about. Just a starter idea I guess, getting some ideas in before term starts again 😆 Thank you!

What is your favourite brand like do you like hair products, washing machines, technology ect ? You could do something like how has the language used of X product changed over time and find print adverts like posters which are easy to annotate as making your own data like transcripts ect is really time consuming and you don't get extra marks for it either ! I had like 12 posters all annotated which I've got off this website wherheas others who made their own data had like 3 transcripts . Also please don't do a questionnaire as it really is a waste of time cause you'll get people giving really vague answers ect and you will struggle to analyse it and draw things from it cause so many people in my class did questionnaires for their topic and didn't get very high grades .... Just pick a genre like writing to persuade, writing to inform ect like you could pick something like textbooks from the old days compared to now and how it links with context like education changes ect, the influence of English as a scientific lingua Franca cause context is out of 15 marks so you need to pick something that has an obvious context to it like whether it's technology changes, changes in attitudes/ politics ect so you have things to say or even things like changes in women's roles if your looking at males/ female Lang but I wouldn't suggest doing it purely on gender as again lots of people I know did gender ones and it's hard to get the top marks cause you end up just copying other people's theories and item spotting so picking something where you can actually find something out like ' how has thing changed ' or ' to what extend has blah blah influenced blah ' as you can mention everything from language and power and gender to give you the theory marks which again are out of 15.

Remember

Pick easy sources to talk about and don't waste time making your own just find transcripts online

Cover at least 3 key constituents and have sections for them eg. Grammar; Lexis


Mention at least 2 theories and go in depth with them. Don't just say oh ' this supports Lakoff' think about applying the theory and how it relates to the context !!

Mention context throughout - age, gender, time period , function, audience all come under context . Point out things and then think this relates to the context or this reflect cultural views at the time or this fits in with this genre because ...
I think it's a really good idea you've got there and there's some great advice in this thread, but honestly your question/idea is very open ended and you would definitely be better if you could whittle down your question to focus on one specific thing.

1) Choose a specific form of 'social media'. Each type of media will have very very different functions and therefore very different effects on language. You could look at Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Buzzfeed, Youtube, Gmail, Vine etc, but each would have very specific things which it uses.

2) Decide what area of language you think will be affected and why. You've mentioned emojis - what impact do you think emojis have had? What about hashtags? Both emojis and hashtags will be prevalent on different types of media - why is that?

3) Formulate an actual question. This could be something like:
a. "How does a person's use of language on Facebook differ according to generation?"
b. "Have sites such as Twitter and Vine forced us to speak more concisely?"
c. "Is Tumblr instrumental in the emergence of non-standard spelling and punctuation?"
d. "Are emojis a threat to the English language and if not, why are they perceived to be?"
e. "Is our exposure to politics through media sites such as Facebook and Twitter causing an increase in political activism?"

Let me pick up on a few of these and tell you where you could go with them.
d. you could look at who created emojis, why they were created and when they came into common usage; you could talk about the semantic meaning added to them and the way their pictographic meaning and their use differ (eg. the corruption of the aubergine and the water swirts) and how those meanings have changed; look at the sites where people seem to use emojis most - usually in discourse so places like Facebook, Twitter and blogs; look at the limitations of emojis in conveying information (limited number of 'characters', no representation of time or tense, no 'grammar'); look at issues in language at the moment and see if any of them could be attributed to emojis; investigate the pragmatics of emoji usage such as incorrect use of emojis and their effects (that grandma who used the laugh crying face to talk about some kind of terrorist attack???); link this all in to perceptions of youth as ruining the English language and maybe dabble in theory around young people and language/language and technology.

Does that help at all? I'm happy to talk to you about coursework more :smile:
i just stumbled upon this as i was just thinking about the course work i have to do when i get back too... i must say there are some really great ideas and helpful tips people have given... i would love to do something based around child language acquisition but i wouldnt have a clue how to create a hypothesis around it! would anyone perhaps give me one or 2 tips? or should i just go for an easier topic like social media or looking at how language has changed over time for a particular brand if theres a lot to write about

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