English 2150 Blog

According to John Swales, author of The Concept of Discourse Community, a speech community is group of people that share linguistic rules, cultural concepts, and shared regulative rules. So therefore based on my research I fall into two different speech communities which are English and Bengali. I interact and switch between the two languages when it is appropriate. Sometimes I also mix the two languages together because though I am fluent in Bengali a lot of the words do not come to me easily, so therefore I just say them in English, but it is still understandable. This also brings me to my next definition of multilingualism and code switching. Multilingualism is the term for using several languages and in my case the languages I use in my daily life are English and Bengali. According to Rosamina Lowi the process of code switching is when an individual switches his or her language or tone based on the situation or subject he or she is talking to. Also according to John Swales a discourse community, a group that one belongs to based on similar lifestyles or characteristics and Is usually influenced by persuasion and occupation. From my research I can say that I can be a part more than one discourse community This data is important to me because it is showing me a glance at how I use some of the terms mentioned above without even knowing.

All of the data was collected by just jotting down how and who I spoke to. I used my cell phone to take note of all the languages I spoke and how I spoke them based on the situations. My data was recorded on two separate times, two weekdays and weekends. I broke the time periods up into 3-4 hours a block I was able to jot down the ways I spoke and whom I spoke to. For the most part I would say I was able to take the data down all the time but there were sometimes where I would forget to, and I would add it to the block. Here are brief descriptions of some of the language types:

Bengali: Language used by people from Eastern India and Bangladesh and also the Bengali diaspora around the world.

Slang English: A type of informal English I use to talk to my friends and cousins. An example would be “Yo where you at”.

Texting English: The English language and grammar that is used when texting. Example would “wbu” which means what about you.

Bengali and English: The use of both Bengali and English in one sentence or statement.

In conclusion based on my data, my use of languages really varied from weekends to weekdays. I anticipated these results because during the weekends I am usually at work and a lot of formal and semi-formal English is used. During the weekday, I use a lot of texting English and also slang and semi-formal English because I am away from work and more around family and friends. This data really helped me realize that code switching is something I do on a minute to minute basis. It also gave me a little understanding of what discourse communities I belong to, though I still believe this is too little of a sample to show what discourse community I am part of.

Annotation for The Concept of Discourse Community — John Swales

Summary: In this article John Swales discusses the ideas of discourse communities and speech communities. He mentions the definitions of both speech communities and discourse communities and also conceptualization and examples of a discourse community. He mentions that a speech community is a group of people that share linguistic rules, cultural concepts, and shared regulative rules. So therefore a speech community can be the English speaking people of the world. He notes that being part of the speech community is usually done by birth or when you learn the language of the community. A discourse community is something that can change and to be part of a discourse community you must be accepted by the group and is made by persuasion, occupation, etc. He also gives six different points that make up and describe a discourse community. These points are having the same goals, mechanisms of intercommunication between members, using mechanisms to provide feedback, utilizing one or more genre in communication,  acquiring some lexis, and having a level of members with relevant content and expertise. He also gives an example of a discourse community that he is part of, which is Hong Kong Study Circle. He points out the groups interest which is studying the usage of stamps in Hong Kong. So even though the group has many members from different countries they all have one interest and that is the interest in stamps prints and usage.

Evaluation: John Swales did a great job of clearly distinguishing between a speech community and discourse community. Being part of a speech community is basically being able to speak the language of the community. To be part of a discourse community, one must have the same interests and they must also have the certain qualifications of the discourse community. The mechanisms of speaking to members of the discourse community stood out to me because with that point he also brings in the idea of tone. I believe tone is something that really distinguishes discourse communities because even if the language is the same the way you interpret and communicate is very important to the community. Giving an example of what he thinks a discourse community also was a great way to explain his idea of the discourse community and the difference between a speech and discourse community.

“I Am Articulate“
by Jamila Lysicott

Summary: In this poem, the author mentions that she has three different ways of speaking and how they all make her articulate. She has a way of speaking in school, with her family, and with her friends. She talks about English as being multi faceted and having many different tones. She notes that even when Americans speak “articulate English” they sound foolish to the British. She notes that being able to have 3 different tones of the same language shouldn’t be something that is looked down on but should be a celebration. She is trying to tell us that being articulate doesn’t mean speaking “proper English” but it is about being able to interpret different tones and languages. She is articulate in her own way because she is able to converse with more groups of people.

Evaluation: I think that she has a really good point with mentioning the different ways someone can be articulate. She notes that there are three different languages that she speaks and it should be looked at as a celebration. Whether we speak hood or formal that does not determine how proper or formal we are. It depends on the location and time of things, when talking to friends we will speak in a informal tone and when speaking in a professional manner we speak formal.

Codeswitching: An Examination of Naturally Occurring Conversation — Rosamina Lowi

Summary: In this article the author talks about a process called “code switching”. This process is the way of switching languages and tones when communicating with different people. She also looks at the tone as a significant way of expressing thoughts. The way in which somebody speaks a language is important in conveying the message. She interviewed many different individuals who are bilingual and frequently used the code switching technique in their lives. Some individuals pointed out that it was beneficial to know different languages because it was used for different purposes. From the data there was a lot of mixed data.

Evaluation: This data has a lot to do with my own data because I do speak two different languages. As one of the individuals pointed out speaking a different language is beneficial because it is used in different purposes of communication. Tone is also an important aspect when speaking because it presents the informal or formailty of a conversation.

Data collection for October 12, 12 p.m. to October 13, 12 p.m:

12 pm to 4 pm:

• Texted my cousin in semi formal Bengali about random things
• Spoke to my dad over the phone in a semi formal Bengali and English
• Told my mom I was buying lunch from outside
• Ordered my food with the people in the restaurant in a formal manner
• Texted my friends in slang English about fantasy football
• Texted my mom that I was leaving to go to college

5 pm to 8 pm:

• Spoke to my friends about the readings we had to do for the class
• Spoke to other classmates about the exam we had the class before
• Texted my brother right before class about random issues

8 pm to 11 pm

• Came home and spoke to my cousin about random things
• Talked to my dad over the phone about random issues
• Ate dinner with my family and spoke in semi formal English
• Spoke to my cousins and brother in semi formal English
• Texted friends about random things going on

11 pm to 8 am

• Sleep

8 am to 12 pm

• Ate breakfast and told my mom I was going to college
• Spoke to my group about starting our project
• Texted my friends and cousins about random things

Some of the challenges I faced while logging my own language is actually forgetting to log right at the moment I was talking. I was actually talking a lot and I was busy at work so I would forget to log my dialogue. Some things that surprised me was actually noticing they way I changed my language so quickly  at different times of the day. I was also surprised at the way I was hearing myself talk to different people and I noticed that speaking semi informal is something I do a lot.

Summary: Gee talks about the term language and how it is not just grammar and the dialect but also the way one speaks the language is just as important. The author later introduces us to a term called Discourses. He says that discourses are how one uses language of thinking and acting to be accepted or be part of a group or network. Discourse is something that is not taught to somebody but is in a way made inside of you. It is made based on the people you interact with, where you grow up, and just a certain lifestyle that you like to follow.

Evaluation: I think Gee’s definition and idea of Discourse is very interesting. I agree with most of Gee’s claims that Discourse is a thing that is sort of shaped into you based on your lifestyle. One thing I do not agree with is when he states that learning two discourses helps with the primary discourse just like speaking two languages. I speak two languages and i believe that if, I or other people who are bi- lingual,  only spoke English, that my English vocabulary would be much better.

Data collection from October 7 12 p.m to October 8 12 p.m.

12 p.m – 1 p.m:

• Told my mom and aunt that I was going to work in Bengali.
• Called my brother to pick up the car from the mechanic in slang English.

1 p.m – 4 p.m:

• Spoke to customers at my work in almost formal English.
• Spoke to my manager and supervisor in semi formal English to fix the back stock of Home Depot.
• Spoke to co workers and friends in slang and semi formal English.
• Texted my high school friends in a group chat about random things in text/slang English.

4 p.m – 5 p.m:

• Told my manager that I was taking my lunch break in almost formal English.
• Met up with another co worker and spoke to her in informal English on where she wanted to go to eat.
• When I got to Oxido I ordered my food in formal English.
• Talked to my friend about different things in informal English.
• Texted my brother in informal/text English.

5 p.m – 8 p.m:

• Spoke to customers in formal English about products in the store.
• Spoke to manager about completing some online tutorials.
• Told my manager and colleagues that I was leaving work in semi formal English.

8 p.m – 9 p.m:

• Texted my cousin that I was coming home in slang.
• Texted my friends about more random things in slang and semi-formal English.

9 p.m – 12 a.m:

• Came home and spoke to my cousin about a customer at work in slang English.
• Spoke to my mom in Bengali about what she was cooking.
• Played NBA 2K18 with my cousin and spoke to him in slang.
• Texted my friends about more random things in slang English.

12 a.m – 12 p.m:

• Went to sleep
• Texted my mom in formal English that i was leaving to go to work.

In general, I thought this project really showed me how I am as an academic writer and it also helped me really look back into some of my old projects and reflect on how I did them and my journey on just creating my best work. Its something I really do not think about everyday but this project made me think just how well I am as academic writing and how I can improve on things I struggle with. I also really like the way we reflected on an article about academic writing because I believe there is no clear definition to academic writing. The article by Joshua Rothman really gave me a better understanding on academic writing and also how academic writing is supposed to be written. I also liked the way we did a peer review for our drafts because i think getting a piece of writing checked by another classmate is really important to developing the project. Getting feedback from other writers on your own writing is a great way to begin revision, because there were many things that i did not see wrong with my writing but my classmate saw. He helped me better structure my essay so that it was easier to connect things to each other and create a flow for the reader.  The fact that we were using our own piece of writing as a source for academic writing was great because it helped us reflect on writing and it also showed our personal views towards academic writing.

Academic writing is a type of writing that refers to expository and argumentative prose that is used mainly by university students, faculty, and researchers to convey information about a certain subject. Academic writing is usually precise and straightforward. As an academic writer throughout my years in college and grade school, I wouldn’t say I was bad writer, but it wasn’t something I liked to do.

As an academic writer, certain topics would interest me, but personally I prefer to write on a topic that is fascinating to me. In my freshman year of college, I was given a project to write on whether or not Lucy could be a human ancestor? I have always found certain historical times and cultures interesting and wanted to learn more about it. The topic of Lucy and early human ancestry was really intriguing, but the professor had restrictions, like the project has to be a minimum of ten pages, or we have to find information from certain resources, and the way the essay was structured was also very crucial to the grade we received. What I mean by that is certain information had to be in paragraphs and they had to be in a certain order. Before beginning my draft for the essay, I thought to myself that I would not have a problem elaborating and expanding my ideas. While I was doing my draft I noticed that I was running out of things to say and the information I had did not reach the 10 page minimum.  All of a sudden an interesting essay which I wanted to learn more about, became something I was forcing myself to do. To me, elaborating and digging deeper into certain details is something I can definitely improve on with academic writing. Most of the time I elaborate my ideas I feel like I’m repeating something or adding a detail that is not necessary. So for this particular essay I got my professor to proof read and basically go over the essay with me. The professor noted some of the important details I was missing and also gave me some more resources to find important information. Writing and academic writing are probably two of my least favorite things to do but in terms of being successful as an academic writer, I would say I am pretty good just based on grades and feedbacks from old teacher and professors. Academic writing, I believe takes a lot of obedience because there are usually restrictions or formats we must follow in order for the essay to even be graded and graded well.

Another piece of academic writing that I’ve also done in college is an informative essay on how Chinese Americans have become a model minority in the United States. For this essay it was strictly data and factual information from college databases. We weren’t supposed to give any opinions on this topic because my thesis was being backed by reasoning. Again I did well on this piece of writing in terms of grading because all directions were followed the essay was very straightforward. Writing academic essay with a class and getting them looked over by other classmates and the professor also improved my writing because they noticed revisions that would make the essay better for the final version. For this particular essay I used some of the parts from the Toulmin method and also Logos to give my reader information on this topic.

In the article, Why is Academic Writing So Academic by Joshua Rothman he explains the difference between other types of writing and academic writing. He writes, “Ordinary writing—the kind you read for fun—seeks to delight (and, sometimes, to delight and instruct). Academic writing has a more ambiguous mission. It’s supposed to be dry but also clever; faceless but also persuasive; clear but also completist. Its deepest ambiguity has to do with audience.” I strongly agree with this statement because as I’ve pointed out before academic writing is a test of obedience and following directions, kind of like a mission. Whereas when I am writing for fun on social media, texting, or even writing about a topic I enjoy and want to write on I don’t think of it as something I have to do but rather something I want to do. Academic writing is personal because there is a small audience and you are writing this work specifically for the professor or your own classmates.

In conclusion, academic writing is used mainly for research and university writing purposes. It is very straight forward and to me it tests obedience in following directions and certain procedures. As an academic writer myself I strongly believe the things Joshua Rothman said about the differences that academic writing and writing for fun is. I also believe I am a good academic writer even though writing is my least favorite thing to do in school. Some of my experiences with academic writing is that I believe I do better when I write drafts so that I can receive feedback from not only the professor but also my other classmates. I believe drafts are very important to the academic writing process because it allows you to see edits and revisions you normally wouldn’t see.