Dee Dee's Discourse Analysis homework

Hi all,

I'm posting this for Dee Dee because she was having some tech issues. If you have similar issues, let me know and I'll be happy to help. --Adam

The print advertisement from the USA featuring Maria Sharapova is somewhat depicting women as objects of desire.  I suppose that the point Nike is trying to make is that women are just as good and tough as men as athletes. However, Maria Sharapova portrayed in full makeup and earrings that she would not be wearing when she is in fact competing all the more makes me question “why?” I would have instead preferred to see her featured training and competing in sweat.

Nike print advertisement from Korea with Yuna Kim is practically showing her more genuine side as an athlete rather than putting an emphasis on her beauty and her physical figure, which had been the norm with other advertising campaigns until this series of advertisements by Nike had come along. The message printed has a deep meaning in its original language, i.e. Korean, and hence is quite difficult to translate while eliciting similar emotions and making a comparable impact. However, with best efforts, roughly translated to English, it says “you didn’t expect it to be this hard?” The underlying messages are: 1) being a figure skater (the big picture being athletes in general) is hard and 2) we (public/others) did not expect it to be so.

Week 6 -- Discourse Analysis

This we will be looking at Discourse Analysis and how to apply it language classrooms. The purpose of using a Discourse Analysis approach is to help our students develop an awareness of how language and symbols are used differently across cultures.

There's a lot of ICC reading this week (but not much in SLA).

1. Read Discourse analysis as an approach to intercultural competence Norton 2008.
2. Read Cross-Cultural Discourse Analysis and Intercultural Education in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning.
3. Read McConachy Raising Sociocultural Awareness through Contextual Analysis.
4. Answer the blog question/task below.


Blog Question/Task:
Find an advertisement that reflects cultural values, beliefs, attitudes or norms. This can be print or video. It would be ideal to find two advertisements for the same product, but from different cultures. Post the image/video link and briefly explain how you might use this/these in your classroom to raise your students' awareness of cultural differences and otherness.

Week 5 -- Politeness

This week we are getting into some heavier reading. The purpose is for you to reflect on your own language use and consider ideas you may have never considered. Essentially, we'll be asking "why do we say that"? There is a lot of symbols and things that look like math equations. Don't get caught up on that.

1. Read Interpersonal Politeness and Power.
2. Respond to the blog question below:

Blog Question: What is something you found interesting in the reading? What is something you found difficult?


3. Bring in two excerpts from two different interactions. This can be from a personal email correspondence, a transcription of a conversation you had (as best you can from memory), a transcription from talk show/documentary/other live event, or a script from a commercial, movie or TV show.

We will use these to analyze authentic language use. Because we are aiming for authentic use, your own interactions are ideal, but not necessary. If using your own makes you feel uncomfortable, using another source is perfectly acceptable.

Please see my example below from a recent email exchange with a former STG student. Each of your excerpts may be shorter but try not to have them be much longer than my example.

Adam:
Hi XXXX,

I hope your semester is off to a good start. Do you feel a newfound sense of freedom without the reading/lesson planning/writing demands of STG?

How is your family? I know you had some stress about that, but I hope it is all settled now. How about your PhD and research? Any big news?

Anyway, I'd be happy to hear a bit from you. The STG started two week ago, so I've been thinking of last semester's students. And if you ever want to grab a beer, I'd be up for it. 

Good luck and talk to you soon. 

Student:

Hey, good to hear from you. Sorry I'm late getting back to you. I've got a lot going on right now.

Beer sounds good. When are you free this semester? I remember that you are busy on weekends but have free days during the week. You wouldn't be up to coming up to the Hongik area, would you?

Adam:
Monday nights are probably the best for me. How about you? I don't mind coming to Hongdae.

Student:
I might be able to swing that. Let me get back to you. If I can't, I don't suppose lunch on a Tuesday or Thursday would be possible?

Adam:
Monday nights would be ideal, but if it doesn't work, Tuesdays and Thursdays are good for lunch. It doesn't have to be next week or even this month. It seems like you're pretty busy. Just keep me posted. 

Week 4

This week we're looking at what causes cultural differences and how people react to them. 

1.      Skim DeCapua & Wintergerst, pp 108-116 and respond to Blog Question 1

2.      Read Cultural Dimensions and Cultural Differences

3.      Read Bennett’s Developmental Model ofIntercultural Sensitivity

4.      Respond to Blog Question 2

5.      Prepare an interactive presentation on your assigned Cultural Dimension

Cultural Dimensions Presentations Groups:

Power Distance – Jasper, Jeff

Uncertainty Avoidance – Laura, John, Lawrence

Masculinity/Femininity – David, Dee Dee, Amy

Individualism/Collectivism – Liz, Kevan

Presentation Guidelines:

1. Keep it brief (less than 10 minutes)
2. Summarize main points
3. Make it interactive – ask questions that allow your classmates to personalize the content

Blog Question 1) Describe and reflect on your experience playing the "5 Tricks" card game. Some questions to think about: What emotional responses (cultural "attitudes") did you experience? How did you deal with them? Based on the concepts and ideas from last week's reading and our class discussions, why do you think you had those emotional reactions? What did you learn from the experience (if anything)? How might this experience be important to you as a teacher? Might an activity like this be useful for your students? If so, how would you adapt it?

Blog Question 2) Briefly state what stage of the DMIS best describes you  in Korea right now? 

ICC Week 3

Before completing any of the reading for this week, please respond to Q.1 in comments below. 

Read DeCapua & Wintergerst , pp. 7‐28 (Textbook)

After completing the reading, respond to Q.2.

1) Briefly describe an experience you have had in your classroom or workplace (in Korea or elsewhere) in which you had to resolve a cultural conflict or overcome intercultural challenges.What happened? How did you respond? What did you do to try and resolve the situation? How did it turn out?

2) After completing the reading, please skim pp. 30-47 of the DeCapua & Wintergerst textbook. Choose one activity that you might use in the classroom and explain why. Include a brief discussion of any shortcomings of the activity and how you might adapt or change it.