A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
ENGB4: Investigating Language
A2 Coursework
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
Index
You can use this pack in consultation with your teachers to develop your ideas
about what makes a good investigation and how to do well.
We have included guidance from your exam board, some tips on how to choose
your investigation and get going with it and some advice on how to present your
material in the end.
This is lengthy process and you will need to refer to this booklet along the way.
Pick something you are interested in and ENJOY YOURSELF!
2-3
Extract from specification
4-5
Official guidance on scope of topics
6-8
Methodology – spoken data
9 - 10 Tasks based on Angela Goddard’s list of 22 topics
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Angela Goddard’s 22 topics list
12-14 General guidance from AQA examiner’s reports
15-17 What makes good data?
18-19 More topic ideas (from Montgomery’s book)
20-22 Topics inspired by your personality
23-24 How to present your project
25-27 Mark Scheme
28
Work Schedule – an indicator of what you need to achieve by certain dates to
manage your time
29
Monitoring progress
30
Initial ideas planning – fill this in to discuss with your teacher
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
This is the official description of your coursework unit (module 4) taken from the
AQA’s specification.
The aim of including this is to give you the facts you need for absolute clarity
about the two parts of your coursework:
A. An investigation
B. A media text.
Read it carefully and ask your teacher if anything is not clear in this.
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
Please NOTE:
The requirement in the specification is that your choice of topic to investigate must be:
“assessable and manageable” within the word and time constraints. The final
decision on the suitability of your planned investigation must rest with your teacher and
you have to pay serious attention to his or her advice / instruction in this matter. Note also
that you must have a bibliography for both pieces of all sources used (even if you do not
actually quote them in the coursework) so keep a record of everything you refer to
whether in print or electronically. Please refer to the guidance on using sources in this
booklet: http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/files/2009-12-24-plagiarism-students.pdf
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
official guidance
what can you do your topic on?
The notes below are taken from a teachers’ guide published by AQA.
Topics for the investigation are to be chosen and clearly defined by candidates
after careful consultation with their teachers. Any topic which teachers judge to be
appropriate to the course, and to the ability and interests of their candidates, may
be attempted.
Teachers who are uncertain of the viability of a particular area of research are
advised to contact the Board for guidance.
In selecting topics for investigation, candidates should bear in mind the following
general points.
Language Functions
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the variety of uses for language in interpersonal and wider social
contexts
ways of describing and classifying functions
the significance of social context for language uses (eg gender and
power)
some relationships between language functions and language forms
differences and connections between speech and writing
Investigating talk
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the primacy of speech and its role in social interaction, varieties of talk
(contexts, purposes, the repertoire)
attitudes to accent and dialect
tape-recording and transcribing talk
ways of describing features of spoken discourse eg pauses, turn taking
changing topic, other patterns of verbal exchange
Investigating writing
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varieties of systematic, rule-governed nature of language
the structural features of written texts
social and cultural contexts for reading and writing
editorial aspects of writing (e.g. spelling and punctuation)
relationships between writers, texts and readers
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
Language structures
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consideration of the systematic, rule-governed nature of language
introduction to some grammatical concepts (eg to enable candidates to
describe differences between speech and writing, or to describe
distinctive grammatical features of style)
introduction to structural features of spoken English
In the investigation and the description of language use candidates should
demonstrate, where appropriate, ability in the following areas:

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accurate transcription and annotation of spoken English, using a layout
which pays due attention to clarity and readability. Conventional forms
of written English are acceptable except that punctuation would not be
required. The length of pauses should be indicated thus: (5 secs).
Intonation may be indicated by signs as long as they are consistent, or
by an accompanying commentary – eg spoken with rising tone. It is not
necessary for candidates to learn by rote the phonemic alphabet, but
detailed references to pronunciation will be helped by the use of
phonemic symbols;

the collection of data, or selection of texts, for analysis and discussion.
A respect for, and sensitivity in, handling chosen material will be
important criteria for assessment;

the application of theoretical points of view and principles to a chosen
area of language use, with due acknowledgment and sources;

the identification and description of significant and linguistic features in
an utterance or text;

discourse analysis with reference to features of rhetoric, register and
social context and their influences upon the construction of meaning in
texts.
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
methodology 1:
spoken data
In this section you are going to look at the different methods of recording
SPOKEN DATA. There are five main methods which have all been used by other
language investigators.
This will prepare you for planning your own investigation effectively and should
also give you useable notes for your actual project.
task one
For each method (listed below) you need to consider all the
issues:
 What type of research would the method be particularly
effective for?
 What are the inherent advantages of the method?
 What are the inherent disadvantages of this method?
task two
Be prepared to share your ideas with others in the group.
method 1:
notemaking
Researcher makes written notes on what s/he hears or
observes.
This method is suitable for which types of research?
advantages of 1:
disadvantages of 1:
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
method 2:
questionnaire on
self-reported usage.
Researcher asks informants to tell what features they use
or to give opinion on use of certain features. Can be done
verbally or with a form to fill in.
This method is suitable for which types of research?
advantages of 2:
disadvantages of 2:
method 3:
audio recording with
participants’
knowledge.
Informants know that you are recording, but may not have
been told the EXACT reason behind the recording!
This method is suitable for which types of research?
advantages of 3
disadvantages of 3
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
method 4:
audio recording
without participants’
knowledge.
You are legally obliged to tell someone if you are using their
data in a research project!
This method is suitable for which types of research?
advantages of 4
disadvantages of 4
method 5:
recordings from the
media
This method is suitable for which types of research?
advantages of 5
disadvantages of 5
REVIEW
By the end of this section of work you should have a good idea of:
 all five main methods for recording speech for an investigation.
 the relative merits of the different method for investigating
spoken data.
 the inherent drawbacks in each of the different method.
 the importance of thinking about methodology and the type of
approach you will use.
You have to discuss methodology in your investigation so the notes
you made in this section will be very useful if you do a speech based
investigation.
All of this work is derived from Angela Goddard’s
9
book:
“Researching Language”
A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
getting started with data investigation 1:
what type of project is this?
In this work you will look at a range of actual project titles in order to develop your
sense of:
 what sort of topics you might choose to investigate
 what “type” of project you might do
 what methodologies you might use
 what problems you might encounter
task one
On Page 11 is a list of 22 investigations which have been carried
out by A level students in the past.
For each project title identify both:
1. the main topic area investigated (gender / power / tech /
child learning / change over time/ a.n.other)
2. the main linguistic methods / frameworks you think were
needed for analysis
task two
Identify the speech based investigations in the list. Then decide
which method would be most effective for collecting relevant
data.
Remember we’ve considered:
 note making,
 tape recording with participant’s knowledge,
 tape recording without participant’s knowledge,
 self reporting,
 recordings from the media.
task three
Consider any issues which might arise from the methodology
you’ve chosen if you were attempting to do each speech based
topic?
the examiner says
The Chief Examiner1 for this module used to say there are three
basic types of investigation:
Where you have a question which you want to answer:
 “How does a clairvoyant use language to give an
impression of precise knowledge about the future?
 “What sort of language do teachers use to facilitate
learning in the classroom?”
 “How do Fanzone commentators negotiate their
differences?”
Question based
1
There is a new Chief now, but the ideas are still valid!
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
Hypothesis based
Descriptive Projects
task four
Where you test out a hypothesis from your own observation or
from previous study:
 “People make judgements about each other based on
their accents”.
 “People who live isolated lives develop patterns of
exchange which differ from those used by people in
regular contact with others.”
Where you set out to describe a particular variety of language
use:
 “Features of personal address in internet chatrooms”.
 “The way my family talks about Christmas”.
 “The development of my brother’s written story telling
skills from age 7 to 11.”
Go through the list of 22 projects overleaf again and attempt to
classify each one according to these three types of project:
question based, hypothesis based or descriptive.
Not all projects fall easily into one category and you could argue
about it – but this exercise should help you to think in these terms
when you are working out the focus of your own project.
All of this work is derived from Angela
Goddard’s book:
“Researching Language”
REVIEW
By the end of this section you should have a clearer idea of:
 the sorts of topics you might do for your coursework.
 how your AS studies will be helpful for A2 investigations.
 the importance of thinking about methodology and the type of
approach you will use.
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
Angela Goddard’s 22 topics list
Use this list for the four tasks on pages 9 and 10.
1. A study of the pronunciation of an eight year-old boy who has been referred to the
speech therapist.
2. A comparison between the accent spoken in North Lincolnshire, and Received
Pronunciation.
3. An examination of the use of swear words by groups of students of different
genders. I intend to explore the differences in usage, and to try to find reasons for
the existence of any differences I discover.
4. An exploration of how language is used between counter staff and customers in
food oulets.
5. A comparison of newspaper stories from The Times in the years 1920 and 1988.
6. A study of graffiti in different city centre venues.
7. An exploration of the spoken language of the Courts.
8. A study of the conversational rules in family interactions during meal-times.
9. A study of the language use of Afro-Caribbean speakers.
10. An examination of the development of children’s narrative skills in writing; a
comparison of stories written by seven year olds and eleven year olds.
11. A comparison between spoken and written instructions.
12. An analysis of a number of descriptions of sexual encounters in different literary
texts.
13. A study of the techniques used in a range of contemporary magazine adverts for
cars.
14. An analysis of the use and importance of personal names.
15. An examination of the way in which people stereotype others by their accents: I
intend to record a number of differently-accented speakers, and ask informants to
respond to the different accents.
16. An analysis of a number of TV adult game shows, to establish whether there is a
formula being followed.
17. A comparison between ‘Watch with Mother’ (a children’s TV programme from the
1950s) and a modern children’s programme.
18. Songs of Protest: an analysis of song lyrics by different artists aiming to register
political protest.
19. A study of the language of gravestones, with particular reference to euphemisms
about death.
20. An analysis of the language of crossword clues.
21. A comparison of problem pages from magazines written in 1930 and 1988.
22. An analysis of a range of political speeches given at Party Conferences.
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
getting started with data investigation 2:
what makes a good investigation idea?
This section includes various tips picked up from examiner’s reports over recent
years. You should read and absorb this guidance and ask your teacher if any of
it is unclear. You need to be aware of this advice when shaping your own project
ideas.
good
investigations:

TOPIC AREAS:
Examiners’ observations:
Good work has been done looking at children with disabilities of
some sort – especially hearing impairment – comparing their
development with another child. This is obviously only possible if
you know someone in this situation!
Related to this is the study of someone who’s had a stroke or
other illness which affects adult speech.
Links with primary schools lend themselves to study of writing
development, but do NOT focus on errors in this sort of study.
language
acquisition /
development
comparative
linguistics
norms and
variations
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come from clearly conceived, well-focussed studies with a
“question” to answer or an angle to explore
have a careful selection of good data
follow an analysis that stays on focus
are informed by good knowledge of appropriate theory
“The best candidates use theory to support their own
investigation or to provide a framework to test something out”
A popular topic is looking at the English writing of a penfriend, to
see how the original language affects their English. This is only
really possible if you have a very thorough grasp of the other
language yourself, or you will not be able to make meaningful
comment on the grammar or lexis.
Looking at aspects of bilingualism is another possibility, if you
know about this from your own life.
This is a when you undertake very detailed study into a relatively
small aspect of language use, such as the classified ads in local
papers, or the descriptions of dishes on menus. These projects
work particularly well if you are sensitive to nuances of register
and tone.
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
stylistics
This is a popular area, but also a minefield. You need a narrow
and precise focus for your work, as these two examples show:
Weak topic titles:
Better focus for topic:
“The language of advertising.”
The use of superlatives and
comparatives in advertising
soap powders.
“The language of health
leaflets.”
Healthy eating leaflets as a
marketing device in
Sainsbury’s.
Literary stylistics is also a possibility, where you focus on a
particular aspect of a writer’s characteristic features, e.g. “Use of
euphemism for male and female body parts in Mills and Boon”.
NOTE: You will find many books on stylistics in the school or
public library which might suggest interesting aspects for study to
you.
newspapers
You absolutely, completely and utterly, CANNOT do a straight
comparison between a broadsheet and a tabloid paper, OK?
What you can do is be specific on any number of issues and
study them, for example:
 the use of naming as a persuasive device in the Sun and The
Independent
 the use of pre-modifiers- for male and female personalities in
The Mirror and The Observer
TV and radio
programmes
Useful sources of data – but you need to pay attention to the
amount of editing and scripting which may underpin what you
actually hear.
Again a clear focus is crucial, so rather than the global topic “the
Language of Blind Date” a candidate succeeded with a detailed
analysis of the terms of address used to direct remarks to
 Participants (on either side of the screen)
 Studio audience
 TV audience
“The use of naming and other identification strategies in TV and
radio commentary” went down well as did “The use of set
structures in TV and radio commentary”.
Think about popular styles of programme that gain attention now,
and look for distinctive uses of language. The X-Factor, for
example, is a programme that some people regard as quite
formulaic. What are the characteristics of the language of this
formula?
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
language change
Current shifts in usage are interesting, particularly fruitful at the
moment would probably be looking at features of text messages,
or emails or chat room discourse (which builds nicely on your AS
work.) Accent and dialect can also provide very interesting
examples of change in progress.
Other Issues
background
studies
You need to review any studies and analytical models we’ve
explored together which may be useful as a starting point for your
own investigation. You should certainly aim to do some
additional reading in your chosen area.
There are three main ways of using previous studies:
1. To test out the “received wisdom” in your own context – to
challenge the usual thoughts.
2. To follow on from where another researcher left off.
3. To provide you with an analytical framework on which to
base your research.
collecting spoken
data
Lots of candidates fall down on this. Therefore, you’ve already
done lots of thinking about the methodology issues involved (and
do make sure you make explicit reference to it in your own project
write up).
A good tip for gathering data of friends’ conversation is to give
them a problem solving exercise to do, or a topic to discuss as it
focuses their mind away from their speech and onto something
they are trying to work out.
questionnaires
Again, we’ve looked at this issue already, but there are a few
additional points to be aware of if you collect data in this way:
 The basic structure should include an introduction which
touches on the issue of confidentiality and explains
something about why you are doing the research.
 Do not include any questions which you don’t really need,
especially on issues of gender, race, age etc. If you DO
ask for this information you need to know WHY in
advance!
 The hardest part is writing questions which elicit exactly
what linguistic data you want by communicating clearly
with your respondents. You will need to write about how
you constructed your questionnaire in your report.
Plenty of pre-planning will be required and you must PILOT a
questionnaire before circulating it widely.
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
getting started with data investigation 3:
what makes good data?
This section includes various tips ideas on where you can get your data from. If
you are not already brimming with ideas of aspect of language use you want to
know more about, this list of possible data sources could give you some ideas.
Source
Data
Possible Focus for
Analysis
Home
Old magazines
(19th and 20th century)
Old Comics
Letters
Your writing
School reports
Family records and
celebrations
Family talk
Adverts, Problem pages,
Feature articles.
Surf the net for sources
(we’ve got some tips
saved in Moodle)
Comic strips from ‘The
Beano’ etc.
Formal and informal
letters; old postcards, or
letters from friends or
family, correspondence
with a foreign pen-friend
Diaries, old school
exercise books from
primary school and
secondary school.
A grandparent’s report,
your reports,
younger/older sisters’ and
brothers’ reports.
The texts connected with a
wedding (invitations,
replies, cards, order of
service booklet, thank you
letters, speeches, the
script for the video),
baptism, funeral, 18th
birthday party,
grandparents’ golden
wedding.
Transcription of recordings
of conversations - talk with
friends/family members.
Transcriptions of the talk
of one particular family
Comparison with modern
mags; look at the lang
change issues;
constructions of
masculinity or femininity.
Comparison with current
children’s comics, & as
above.
Look at the variety within
the genre; compare old
and modern texts.
How did your writing skills
progress? Spelling?
Other interesting features
of lexis, grammar etc?
If you’ve got lots you and
do N+V.
Compare the old and the
new.
Compare primary school
with secondary school.
Also good for N+V if
you’ve got lots.
Look at levels of formality,
grammar, lexis etc.
Gender differences?
Consider the theorists
explored for AS. Are their
theories borne out?
Does your mother speak
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
member in different
situations.
to her daughters and sons
in the same ways?
Power issues in the
family?
Consumerism –adverts
in the home
TV/Radio Comedy
Junk mail, ads on internet
sites, transcription of TV
ads, radio ads.
Transcription
Films/TV Drama
Screenplay or
transcription.
Magazines
Articles, editorials,
adverts, problem pages.
Sports
Information and
Communication
Technology
Theatre Programmes
Cooking
Restaurants
Transcription of Radio/TV
commentaries; Sports
event programmes;
Transcription of training
session given by coach.
E-mail, text messages,
chat room text, and other
Interactive Written
Discourse texts
Adverts, information about
actors and playwright.
Recipes, transcriptions of
cookery programmes.
Menus.
Names
Radio Phone-in
programmes
Transcription of the
interaction.
N+V
Techniques used for
influential power.
Analysis of the humour –
though you need to use
humour based on
language.
Examination of the stylistic
features of the scripted
text. Representation of
spontaneous speech.
Choose a small number of
articles to explore the style
used for particular
audience; comparison of
articles/ads in magazines
with different audiences –
gender/age.
Comparison of radio and
TV commentaries, or
radio/TV and newspaper
reports.
Analysis of coach’s
teaching language.
Features of both speech
and writing modes; use of
slang, emoticons, clipped
words and other short
versions of words etc.
Features of the genre,
play on words in ads.
Comparison of TV chefs’
styles; comparison of old
and new recipe book
formats - Mrs Beaton and
Nigella Lawson?
Elaborate pre- and postmodification. Influence of
immediate social setting.
N+V
Openings and closings.
Gender differences?
Naming terms.
N+V across lots of shows
on same channel?
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
Part Time Work
Training material
Customer Interaction
The language of the staff
room
The language of the
supermarket
Transcription of training
videos, employees’
handbook.
Transcription of recordings
Transcription of recording
of spontaneous speech,
notes of greetings and
farewells.
Notices, signs,
euphemisms.
The corporate image – eg
McDonald’s. Script for
employees? Opening and
closing of interactions.
Politeness features.
Patterns in the exchanges.
As above.
Gender/power issues.
N+V
Language to persuade.
Special Interests
The Language of Politics
Transcriptions of political
speeches,
Party Manifestos
The Language of
Prospectuses
Transcription of TV/Radio
interviews with politician(s)
School, College or
University prospectuses
Lang to persuade,
memorable phrases
(sound-bites), keeping
hold of the turn
/interrupting etc.
Gender issues.
Comparison of old and
new.
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
getting started with data investigation 4:
inspired by academics
These ideas are derived from Martin Montgomery’s book, “An Introduction to
Language and Society” which is in the school library, and we have a handful of
copies that could be loaned out.
Montgomery concludes each chapter with some ideas of investigations to develop
the ideas raised in the chapter.
This brings us to the point that you really DO need to read around your chosen
subject area, if it is possible – Montgomery’s textbook could be a good starting
point for you. Certainly the ideas listed here will be clearer to you if you read the
relevant chapters in his book. Indeed you might not even understand this section
UNTIL you’ve read his relevant chapter.
Dialect / Accent
(see page 78 of Montgomery)
1.
Make recordings of lots of TV ads – look closely at issues of accent and
dialect, types of product being marketed, prestige etc.
2.
Construct a questionnaire to explore attitudes to local accent / dialect
features.
3.
Do you have any knowledge of a “secret” language or anti-language? This
could be analysed from a variety of levels, including lexical and grammatical.
4.
Bilingual speakers might be able to investigate and comment on the ways
their two languages interface with each other, say at home or at college.
Register /stylistics
(see page 128)
5.
Compare the tone / tenor/ field of advertising from the same magazine.
6.
Compare the tone of some financial service advertising with a letter from a
Bank manager to a customer who has exceeded their overdraft. (I’m not
suggesting that you get into financial difficulties to generate data for this
investigation!)
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
Child Acquisition based projects:
(see page 25)
Montgomery generally recommends these approaches to facilitate CLA studies:
 the use of video if at all possible
 trying to set up natural situations for the youngster
 avoid pressurising the child to talk
 make a transcript as soon as you can after the recording
 DO NOT focus on “errors” - since this shows you don’t understand the process
of learning language that children are engaged in!
7.
Analyse a child’s speech at the 2-word stage for the pragmatic functions of
her/his utterances. (You will need to be familiar with Halliday’s work in order
to do this )
8.
Use transcripts to comment on the role of an adult’s utterances and identify
distinctive features. Might be good to look at the same adult in relation to a
range of family members for comparison, say toddler, partner and teenage
son/daughter.
9.
Explore how dialogue is structured and sustained by youngsters of different
ages
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
getting started with data investigation 5:
use your own personality / interests
Yet more various tips / ideas on where you can get your data from.
You must start to feel inspired soon!
want to work in
advertising?
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/
This site has a massive resource of USA adverts from the 20’s –
50’s on topics like health and beauty, transport and World War II.
It is a really brilliant resource, literally thousands of old adverts,
reproduced as they looked way back then! And there are other
related resources out there too.
Projects could be done for stylistics, compared across different
periods and/or with contemporary product ads.
never quite grown
up?
Are you lucky enough to have an archive of your own writings
from Year One at school to the present day? If so, this could be a
wonderful resource to plunder and investigate the development of
writing skills.
Questions you might investigate in such a “corpus” of data:
How does vocabulary grow? (You can easily work out type-token
ratios (= number of distinct words/number of actual running
words) for small samples of the same length, e.g. 200 words,
across the years.) Are there any particular areas of growth - e.g.
academic or technical vocabulary?
How does grammar grow? One area to look at would be the
balance between coordination (and, or, but) and subordination of
clauses (if, because, who, that, ....), so you can count tokens
(how many coordinators/subordinators per 100 words?) or types
(how many different subordinators?).
What spelling skills or problems did you have? What are the
grapheme-phoneme correspondences in the local accent, and
did they show up in your youthful spellings?
How about a study of play-ground language in your old primary
school? - do the kids still using the same skipping rhymes etc as
when you were there? Do they use the same ones as in the
school down the road? There's some very academic reading
suggestions on this - see
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/bib.htm
The most well known “classic” text in this field is by Iona and
Peter Opie. The Singing Game which has historical background
to games too.
bit of a goth?
You might like to hang around the graveyards, so while you are
there - look at euphemisms for death, the way the dead person
is referred to, the grammar of death?
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
Ask such questions as: What can you infer about a society’s
attitudes to death judging from the gravestones? Have the
semantics and social connotations etc changed over time?
There may be interesting differences between the way
women and men are referred to. Maybe you could compare one
religion with another?
One student once investigated the language of burial services
throughout different world religions/beliefs. He studied aspects
such as metaphorical language, terms of address, register,
euphemistic language etc. I don’t think you need gate-crash other
people’s funerals to gather this data though, a chat with the
relevant spiritual leaders to get their texts would do it.
bit of a sports nut?
Cricket commentaries
You may be able to contrast the two styles of cricket commentary
- the first the direct reporting: “and it's Botham coming into bowl,
striding in, he bowls and ... it whistles past short leg's ear and
down to the boundary for 4 runs..” and the second the “old boy”
ruminating they love to do on the BBC 4 (long wave) radio
programme “well that's the fourth ball this session which has
popped up outside the leg side and that's not good news for
England on the fourth day.. ... oh, is that chocolate cake? Please!
....”
The turn taking conventions used in the two styles and the way
they integrate may offer quite good material. You can also
explore semantic fields - a brief statistical analysis will show how
unique the vocab is and how much a barrier to comprehension it
might be for a non-cricketer faced with notions of silly mid on,
long leg, third man, etc.
There is also the legendary sense of humour of these fellahs,
epitomised in the live broadcast from Brian Johnston: "The
batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey...."
Footie Fiend
One idea on football is to tape and transcribe the blokes on
Fanzone if you can get access to Sky Digital. Trust me – if the
footie is dire the men get funnier and funnier and provide endless
examples of male-banter, male bonding, positive stroking, having
to avoid taboo and some witty word-play, usually!
Lots of scope for analysis.
bit of a net head?
You could investigate the fact that some astonishing gender
stereotypes are still alive and kicking. For example find sites with
"blonde jokes" or checking out insults - but this might not be
quite enough for a full investigation.
More sophisticated would be to do a discourse analysis of any
message boards you regularly contribute to. They usually
follow very similar patterns, especially the rows and the character
who thinks it is their job to police the behaviour of other
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contributors, and tell newbies off for not knowing the “boardconventions”.
You could also experiment with creating two new log-ins to your
fave message board at the same time, one male and one female
and see if the way your exchanges develop is very different. At
the very least it would give you something to think about in terms
of how to “write like a boy” or “write like a girl” whichever your
personal starting point is!
If you do anything web-based you must remember to save, as
well as print out, your findings, so you can show a clean copy and
a “worked” copy in your appendices.
bit of a TV addict?
bit boring and not
interested in
anything?
Even ‘reality’ TV is often partly scripted and certainly heavily
edited so you’ve got to be careful, but this in itself might provide
interesting data (comparing the bits that are obviously scripted for
the presenters with the ‘spontaneous’ bits.)
Just open the yellow pages and do a Norms and Variations thing
on whatever page you land on. 
If you are still really struggling to think of something you can do, the
feeds I have set up on Edmodo, and the posts on my blog
(http://mrheald.posterous.com/) will give you a constant stream of
current language topics that could be pursued further.
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
presentation:
the finished product
The AQA specification (see opening pages) describes the way your investigation
should be presented. This page offers a little more detail on that for you.
You need to be aware of what you are working towards from the beginning and
keep an eye on your word count in each section.
Note your raw data, data that you quote in the main body of the investigation, and
any work in appendices, do not count to your word limit
Your coursework needs to follow a recognised structure and communicate clearly
with the examiner (imagine addressing a general educated audience).
Table of
Contents
Gives a professional appearance & suggests that your investigation is wellstructured and that pages are numbered. If you use Google Documents or
Word there are tools to help structure your work & automatically generate a
table of contents.
Introduction
You need to say why you chose this project, the stimulus for investigating
the aspect you are looking at and what you expected to find: the aim and
focus of your project.
You will either:
 set out the question which your project seeks to answer
 explain your hypothesis
 set out the type of material you will be seeking to describe.
You might introduce some reference to background studies here and tie in
your ideas to the wider context of the linguistic world. Keep it short and
snappy, say 200 words.
Methodology
Talk about the method which you used to collect your data. You have to
explain your rationale and methods you used.
This is also the place to introduce the analytical framework which you have
adopted.
Remember to show awareness of issues such as the observer paradox and
how you attempted to minimise the problems.
Keep this short and well focussed too, c. 300 words.
Classification
This is heart of your study – where you apply your chosen linguistic
methods in a systematic and thorough way to your data.
This will NOT be a section of the project itself, but it is a vital step towards
your analysis section. The work you do on classification can show in your
appendices and eventually appears in your analysis section in a
summarised form, perhaps in grids, graphs, tables or charts.
Analysis of the
data /
commentary on
findings
This is the bulk of your word count. Aim for at least 1600 words.
In this section you really show off your linguistic knowledge and how you
have developed your insight as a result of the study you’ve done. You
analyse and interpret your data in appropriate linguistic terms.
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
Make your observations really clear; pass comment on the patterns you
have observed; the expected and unexpected elements that close scrutiny
has revealed. Reflect on the effect of context on the data.
Link it back to the original aim of your investigation, the question or
hypothesis or descriptive points. Make clear and close cross-reference to
your data (featured in full in your appendices.)
Conclusion /
evaluation
This must be closely linked to the original focus of your investigation.
It need not be too long – you’ve already said most of it already, but you can
link back here to the other researchers or suggest ways in which your work
could be developed from here. It’s a good idea to evaluate your
methodology and outcomes here too.
Reflect on findings which were unexpected. Examiner’s say “the best
investigations often take time to reflect on why the unexpected might have
arisen.” Word count 200 – 300 words.
Appendices
All of your raw / annotated and classified data needs to go in the appendix,
together with any other relevant material to support your report.
 If you transcribe material we want a copy of the audio or video and want
to see as much transcribing as you’ve done too.
 If you carry out a survey we want to see all of your completed
questionnaire responses.
 if you do stylistics we want copies of the newspapers / magazines /
books / leaflets or whatever you have studied.
 If you made tally charts to show usages we need to see the originals.
These form part of the appendices of your project and are not included in
the word count – so put as much as you need in here.
Bibliography
Remember to keep a note as you go along of any reading that you do to
support your study, as well as the sources you use if you do a text based
project. Remember to consult this resource on how to cite sources:
http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/files/2009-12-24-plagiarism-students.pdf
SHORT VERSION – FINAL PRESENTATION:
You must includes these sections:
1.
Table of Contents
2.
Introduction (c. 200 words)
3.
Methodology explained (c. 300 words)
4.
Classification of the material and analysis / commentary on your findings
(minimum 1600 words)
5.
Conclusion (c.200 words)
6.
Appendices of “raw” data and classification work
7.
Bibliography
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
official guidance
what are they marking you for?
This is the official markscheme for this unit. You must bear in mind the AOs and
look at the descriptors to ensure you get the best marks possible.
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ENGB4 – COURSEWORK SCHEDULE
By end of term
(19th July)
Decide topic and method for your project and
get proposal agreed by teacher. Find
appropriate background reading. Decide on
media text and find style models. Begin data
collection.
Week beginning
2nd of September
Data collection should be well underway; any
‘manipulation’ of data (eg. transcription of
recordings, tabulation of questionnaire
results etc) should be started.
Week beginning
21st of October
All data should now be collected and
checked by teachers. Classification and
analysis underway. Introduction,
methodology & media text to be drafted.
Week beginning
Complete investigation and media text
handed in. During the Christmas holidays
your work will be marked and feedback given
prior to final submission.
16th December
Week beginning
10th February
Friday 14th
February
You must submit your completed
investigation, and media text.
FINAL DEADLINE
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A2 English Language at WCC – Investigation Booklet
monitoring progress
Avoiding malpractice
Make sure you are fully familiar with all the information here:
http://heald.edublogs.org/a-level-coursework-guidance/
including the documents in the links. This will ensure you both avoid the risk of plagiarism
and other malpractice and will ensure you positively meet all the requirements regarding
acknowledgement of sources and any other help received.
Teacher support
We will be arranging tutorials with you using class time (and possibly out of lesson time
too, if necessary) to ensure that you are progressing with your work. After reading the
above document you will be aware that the extent of the guidance we can offer is limited:
Examples of unacceptable assistance include:
o
o
o
o
detailed indication of errors or omissions;
advice on specific improvements needed to meet the criteria;
the provision of outlines, paragraph or section headings, or writing frames
specific to the coursework task(s); [nb this means specific to your individual
coursework – the general outline given above that applies to all coursework
is fine]
personal intervention to improve the presentation or content of the
coursework
Nevertheless it is important that we are able to offer you general guidance on the quality
and direction of your coursework, and that we can monitor your work, and see that enough
has been done under our direct supervision to be able to certify that it is wholly your own
work. It is therefore essential that you meet any interim deadlines you are set, and bring all
your work with you to all lessons and to any meeting with your teachers.
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Planning your Lang A2 coursework –
ENGB4 – Language Investigation.
NAME:
Fill in the boxes with as much detail as you can.
To be used for one to one discussions
If you have several ideas ticking over, you can write them out on separate sheets
using these headings. The headings are to help check that you are thinking along
the right lines. Re-read materials in this guide to help you focus your ideas.
Which broad aspect / topic of language do you intend to investigate?
(eg. journalism / children / change over time / adverts / politics / family discourse / IT etc. etc. etc.)
How will you focus your study with reference to both to area / topic and to the
linguistic methods / frameworks you will explore?
Will your project be Hypothesis based, Question based or Descriptive?
Attempt to map out a title for it:
What aspect(s) of the syllabus we have covered already will be relevant to this
investigation?
What further research will you need to do ensure your work is well informed?
What ideas do you have about methodology so far? How will you collect data?
What problems do you envisage with the investigation you are outlining here?
What idea(s) do you have for your media text?
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