Posted: May 13th, 2015

Ethnographic Research Project

You will carry out a small ethnography of communication project and write up the results.

Aim: to discover how the culture of the group influences the language the group uses and how they use it.

Methods: Ethnography of Communication Research
Protocol.

1. Conduct 4 to 5 participant-observer visits to a public speech based setting. For the purposes of the exercise, choose a setting and an activity that is new to you. In the past, students have chosen to examine culture and language in, for example, a comedy club; a university debating club; criminal court; dancing/yoga/tai chi class; Paddington Saturday Markets; Baptist Church; or Hindu Weddings.
2. Use the HYMESIAN SPEAKING GRID to guide the focus for your observations on the first visit.
   Setting
   Participants
3. Ends
   Acts sequence
   Key Instrumentalities Norms
   Genre
4. During each visit or just after, that is, as soon as possible after each visit, make
5. jottings and notes.
   Before the next visit, revise your notes, and write expanded field notes
6. As you do this, choose one aspect you want to investigate further. Make this aspect the focus for your next visit. For example, you might want to look at how the barrister uses yes/no question s, and how the witness answers them; or you want to look at how the comedian responds to applause. The aim is for you to develop more focused narrow observations on subsequent visits, so you get an increasingly deeper understanding of how beliefs and values influence the vocabulary and the communication norms within that group.
7. Later, after the participant observation part of the research, and after you have done some analysis, you will have some interpretations of language culture links for that group.
8. Then you may choose to interview two-three participants to get the EMIC (insider) view on the beliefs and values that influence communication in the group. If this is not possible, then you can miss the interviewing step.
9. Using all your written and recorded data to find themes, analyze the material for explanations of the culturally embedded meaning of the speech events on which you are reporting.
   9. When you write up the report of your findings on the language- culture link, the focus will be on neutral and detailed ethnographic
10. description and interpretations of the communication that occurred in this setting. It will also include direct quotes from observations of interviews to give the insider voice to your ethnography.
    PRECIS

You will be marked for

1. demonstrating you have carried out a research project that investigates an aspect of

language, culture and communication in a particular setting.

2. Using the insider (emic) voice, that is, direct quotes from participants; and

transcribed extracts of interaction; as well as the outsider voice (yours as the

interpreter).

3. Identifying how the beliefs and values of the group are linked to words or

phrasesused by the group and

4. Identifying how the beliefs and values of the group are linked to communication

normswithin the group

5. Originality and creativity
6. Demonstrating appropriate use of the three ethnographic writing styles

(Realistic; Impressionist and Confessional)

7. For information on late or non submission of assignments,