Observational Project and Presentation: Individual Work (25%): This activity is designed to help you gain more
sensitivity to listening and noticing socio-cognitive linguistic variables affecting usage. Although I do not expect you
to go through the IRB process for this small observational project, I would like to alert you to an important piece
about the ethics of data collection. Please use your judgment and discretion of the ethical guidelines that dictate
academia when you make observations. In addition, please be aware of the complications of trying to make
assumptions based on looks and appearance because the nature of phenomena is always deeper than
appearances.
Choose an item of expressive American English features that exhibit variability in a speech, advertisement,
newspaper article, short story, or other language sample. Some examples are:
 “if I were” vs. “if I was”
 “real” and “really” or “good” and “well” used as adverbs
 the use of objective (e.g., me) vs. nominative (e.g., I) case in object or subject position (particularly
conjoined NPs such as “between you and I” or “Me and my brother went”)
 pronouns used to replace singular nouns of unspecified gender (e.g., “Someone has left their books
here.”)
 the use of “whom”
 tag questions
These are only a few examples. You have many options to choose from.
Collect data. Each time you hear or see a variant of your item, write it down with the utterance you heard it in (i.e.
don’t just write down “who”, but write down “I don’t know who you’re talking about”). Keep your ears open (or
your eyes—printed materials are sources, too). Every time you record a token, also record demographic
information about the speaker and addressee(s) (sex, age, race/ethnicity, place of origin, relationship between the
two interlocutors) and information about the setting. This is very important. What you are trying to do is to
uncover the patterns of usage of your variable. These patterns typically reveal themselves in the categories. For
example, Southerners may be more likely to say “y’all” for plural “you” than Northerners, and Northerners might
be more likely to say “you guys.” If you collected lots of tokens of ways to say plural “you,” then you could look at
the characteristics of speakers or settings to see who was using which variant in which setting.
 You may use data collection sheets so that you can quickly gather the socio-cognitive linguistic variables
upon hearing the utterance.
 You can construct your own data collection sheet. Here is a very basic template you may want to use.
Date
Speaker
Data Collection Sheet
Utterance
Setting
Grammar Point
Note
Once you have collected at least 20 (the more, the better!) tokens/examples, look for variation. First, identify all
the variants you have found. Next, look for patterns. This means that you will look at, for example, how often
different social groups (for example, groups by age or gender) used each of the variants and then compare groups
to each other (for example, men to women). You might find, for example, that only women use “whom” and that
men rarely do. You should also look at other variables such as settings or regions of origin. You might find, for
example, that “whom” only occurs in print and never (or rarely) in spoken language. Your data probably may not
fall into discrete categories, but you will notice tendencies for there to be factors that condition the occurrence of
specific variations.
After doing the analysis, you are expected to do two modalities of report: (1) a PowerPoint presentation (about 15
slides) and (2) a written report.
The PowerPoint slide should be clearly laid out as you make an oral presentation, and include visual graphics, such
as graphs and tables, to report the results of your observation. You will present your project to your classmates in
the last class session.
Both types of report should describe:
 the aspect of American English that you have collected your data on
 how you collected your data
 the variants you have discovered
 an analysis of your data with a table for each of the analytic categories that you found to demonstrate
patterning (e.g., Table 1: that variant as it is distributed by gender, Table 2: the variant as it is distributed
by age, Table 3: the variant as it is distributed by setting, etc.)



A written report is to be 10 pages long at maximum, including a cover page, tables/graphs, and
references. The APA format is to be used.
You can turn in a term paper on the last day of class or submit it via the Digital Dropbox on Bb by 11:59
p.m., 6/6/10.
This is not a big project, although it may sound like it. If you open your ears and eyes in your daily
activities with increased awareness, you will get this project done very easily. A raised awareness matters!
Grading Rubric
Elements
Grading Rubric
Incomplete
Acceptable
Exemplary
Title
Vague as a whole
Presents a picture of the body
but unclear
Clearly captures the body as a
whole
Organization
Weak logical flows; Needs
further development in
the structure of the
argument.
Sequence is clear and major
components are presented, but
the argument is not supported
in a logical fashion.
Objectives/Goals
Objectives are missing,
unclear, or inappropriate
Objective(s) are clearly stated;
provides purpose, but main
goals/objectives in relation to
previous research are not
provided
Well organized with the major
components of a prose (intro,
body, and conclusion); aligned
with the scope and sequence of
the argument; logical structure
and step-by-step sequence
Objectives are measurable with
precise research questions;
connections are made between
previous research and the present
argument/research questions;
Evidence/Literature
Review
Shows a weak relevance
from previous research to
a topic under
consideration
Most prior knowledge and
concepts are clearly articulated
but some important skills are
missing
Explanation/argumentation is
supported by evidence and
examples that are clearly
attributed to sources for which
proper citations are provided
Content
Shows flaws or deficits in
understanding of the
topic and inabilities to
integrate prior knowledge
and a research topic into
a paper
Methods are appropriate and
marginally matched to the
objectives/goals of the paper.
Well developed; clear and logically
coherent explanation and
argumentation that fully respond
to the question(s) posed.
Unity
Lack of unity; a sloppy
argument without
supporting materials.
Some coherence is found by
insufficient to achieve a whole
unity.
Demonstrates a clear continuity
from the beginning to the end;
lays out the argument in a logical
and convincing form.
Conventions and
Mechanics
Needs improvements in
terms of writing
mechanics.
Partially meets the writing
conventions and shows frequent
grammatical errors; too many
quotations
A clear, grammatical English
prose; credits to sources are given,
using the APA style; quotations
are kept to an absolute minimum
Reflection
Lack of critical reflection
No clear critical reflection
Clearly articulate original and
critical insights into the given
topic; states implications of the
argument made.