What I have learnt from having a look at previous investigations and media texts in class

In this lesson we looked at four investigations from previous students who had completed both their investigation and media text so we could get an idea of what our finished one would look like. It helped me realise what kind of primary data I would have to collect to gain good responses for my investigation. Resources can be produced in the form questionnaires or transcripts as well as secondary data found from online; Google n grams or from books. The word count for each second is relatively small, although you are not heavily marked down if its over, so each section needs to be straight to the point instead of waffling on as there are not enough words for that. For the media text, it has to link in with the chosen topic of the investigation and has to include linguistic methods as well as still looking like a realistic article or radio transcript. The media text is just as important as the investigation but is only 1000 words. What makes both pieces a good project is that they have to be interesting and are not repetitive; finding a project that is not to hard to find relevant data. The project that appealed to me the most out of all of them was language change in children as it is also one of the topics in the exam. I also think there are ways you could get a lot of data into this investigation and is something that would have interesting outcome.

Media Text

For our media text we decided to present it as a radio transcript which should include linguistic methods on language change backed up by historical factors as well as using colloquial language. After presenting our media text to the class we were able to receive some feedback from other students. Our total score was 19/30.
The reasons why we lost some of our marks was because some people thought that our media text was not suitable for the audience we were aiming at; people who watch the one show. As our topic was very female orientated, there were times when we forgot to appeal to the male audience as well. An important component which our media text lacked was the humorous side. As well as good contents, a media text must be able to deliver an entertaining aspect to it as well. One thing that was hard to get across in a radio text was the spoken language element of it. It was hard to make the text spontaneous like a radio broadcast usually is. From doing this practice media text I hope to present my final one in print form.

Practice Investigation

An investigation needs to consist of: - A hypothesis: What I predict to find out from this investigation, similarities and differences. - Suitable data: 2 texts that have a simlilar genre to compare and develop research skills. - A systamatic analysis: Dissecting the texts using the tools of language analysis i.e linguistic methods. - A quantitative analysis: More precise analysis containing external factors and judging the evidence. - Conclusion: An overview of why language may have changed overtime. A few tips I have picked up throughout the mini investigation is that a lot of data is needed to back up your hypothesis or to explain why my hypothesis wasn't right. Relevant data needs to be backed up and not just stated and theories why language has changed need to be included within. Lingustic terminology needs to be applied throughout as well. I feel a language change would be a lot more easier to find relevant data as language has changed a lot over the past 100 years. By finding data that is already out there rather than creating my own for an acquisition investigation will probably prove to be more reliable. This back up the idea of a change investigation having more potential. Web tools that I think will be useful towards my investigation is Google Ngrams. This shows how frequently a word is used over time. Google will also be my main web tool to find my data. Possible ideas for my investigation: - Girls magazines - Cookbooks - Women's magazine articles - Children's books - Invitations to parties/gatherings - product packaging