Blog Post #2 (8.28.13)

Initially, I was hoping to be able to collect data relating to the field of education. My main interest was in teacher talk during faculty meetings; however, we have not had faculty meetings lately because our principal has been sick. Because I'm not sure when we will have one this semester, I doubt this will work out. I considered some alternatives, but since we don't have a faculty lounge or a very large faculty, I'm not sure of another way to ensure I will collect 30 minutes of conversation. I also considered collecting data on classroom dialogue, but because I work with students with hearing loss, I would need to video record the discussion. Dr. Paulus mentioned video was not ideal for this project and I worry that I would be taking on more than I can handle because transcribing the video would also require translating it, which would get complicated. I am also interested in religion and how people use language to better understand it as well as to express their interpretations of it. I find it fascinating that so many people who claim to have a shared belief system have such varied (and, at times, extreme) interpretations of that belief system. I assume this might be similar to how in my literature classes in undergrad most people had varying interpretations of the texts we read and discussed. I know prior knowledge and experience impact how we interpret and remember what we read, but the degree to which it happens within one religion still intrigues me. I would like to collect my data from a Bible study group which meets weekly and includes members from different denominations of Christianity. Some members were raised in Christian homes while others were not, and one member is Canadian. I'm not sure that being Canadian has any relevance; however, because everyone else in the group grew up in the Bible Belt of the United States, I expect he has had different experiences as a Christian which may have shaped how he talks about his beliefs. Based on this week's assigned readings, it seems some would find cultural differences relevant, while others would not. For a text, I would like to find something posted to the internet on which Christians (and possibly non-Christians) discuss/debate an issue. I really like the format and potential for discussion through the comments feature on http://www.apologetics315.com/;  however, I'm not sure there are enough comments on the posts for analysis, but I would like to find something similar.

Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method is one of the most difficult books I have read. I struggled through Chapters 1 and 2. While Chapter 3 was easier, I regretted not having used some form of graphic organizer to help me make sense of the information and remember what Jorgensen and Phillips had said about the different theories, approaches, and researchers. While I feel I am becoming more familiar with the terminology and names of the researchers who have influenced and helped to develop DA, I still feel unsure of my understanding of what exactly DA is and how it is done. I found the illustration in Chapter 3 to be very helpful, especially since it seems to be set up like our class project. In Chapter 3 the authors state, "Critical discourse analysis does not, therefore, understand itself as politically neutral (as objectivist social science does), but as a critical approach which is politically committed to change." I've always thought of research as being unbiased. If the researcher is biased, how can we trust the results or their presentation? And if the researcher has such a passionate end-goal, is it even possible to not be biased in the interpretation and presentation of the data?

The article "Critical Discourse Analysis in Education: A Review of the Literature" relieved some of my confusion when the authors explained the amount of disagreement in and criticism over what CDA is and how it should be done. The criticisms and disagreements remind me of the field of Deaf Education. In terms of research, it seems to be a relatively new field and the way research has been done within it has been heavily criticized. Perhaps such criticisms and debates are to be expected with any new field of research. I think the perfect summary of both the book and the article is encapsulated in this statement from the article: "The problem or object of study may be shared, but the authors are eclectic in their methods." Again, this really helped me to feel less overwhelmed by what I read in Chapters 1 and 2 because I was starting to think that Discourse Analysis had an extremely complex and seemingly contradictory methodology.