eml8 deliverable

Once Upon a Time

Gregory A. Bennett

Georgetown University

March 1, 2013

The story of my ethnography of communication in the

EML 8 classroom

03.14.2012• The Opening Residency

• The day my particular ethnography began

My ethnographic process:

Nearly a

year of

participant

observation

Transcription

of classroom

data

EML8 Norms

• In linguistics,

– ‘unmarked’ = norm/standard

– ‘marked’ = the deviation, that

which stands out

• EML8 Unmarked Practice?

– MULTITASKING

My ethnographic process:

Nearly a

year of

participant

observation

Transcription

of classroom

data

Coding for

narratives

Preliminary Coding Schema:

Types of

Narrative:

Linguistic

Characteristics:

Personal

Narrative

(PN)

• Use of first person “I”

• Orienting details of experience

(i.e. When I was working for Freddie

Mac)

“Other”

Narrative

(ON)

• Use of third person “he, she, they”

• Details about another person’s

experience

Hypothetical

Narrative

(HN)

• Use of “you,” if-statements,

hypotheticals

• Details about an event that did not

actually happen

Narrative:

It’s how we see the world

So…

personal

experience

Upgrade assessment

rights*

VIA

personal narrative

*Heritage & Raymond (2005)

What ‘sounds’ like a narrative?

*Labov (1972)

PARTS OF A NARRATIVE*

Part: Description:

Abstract • What was this about?

• (i.e. I saved the company.)

Orientation • Who, what, when, where?

• (i.e. I’ve been working there since

September.)

Complicating

Action

• Then what happened?

• (i.e. Then I came along.)

Evaluation • So what?

• (i.e. It was such a great time.)

Resolution • What finally happened?

• (i.e. Took away bonuses for

everyone.)

Coda • The termination of the narrative

• (i.e. “The end.”)

How it all played out

1.Someone starts telling a story

2. I look around and count the number

of people looking at the speaker

3. Recorded this number as ‘viewership’

4. Compared this number with

‘viewership’ levels when someone is

not telling a story

Let’s talk numbers

Auron’s Presentation


(01) Auron: But, just to give you a quick, um, overview of Regolith [Abstract]

(02) Um, starting in 1970, um, y'know a HUGE huge success. [Fact]

(03) So, y'know I've been working there since September. [Orientation]

(04) And, y'know, everybody I meet with, all they ever say is,

(05) "No, the good old days, steady Regie, it was such a great time,

(06) we made money hand over fist."

(07) And so many people seem to live in that time frame

(08) but it lasted for such a long time.

(09) In fact, even as-as recent as, as 2000, for about six years

(10) they were doing doubling their growth. Year by year.

(11) Until they got to a point of being

two and a half trillion dollars in size.

(12) Not MILLION, not BILLION, TRILLION.

(13) Um, and for an entire employee base of roughly 5300 people,

(14) that's a lot of money to be divided up.

(15) So, it was a very lucrative place to work,

(16) unfortunately that's not the case anymore, but uh… [Evaluation]

(17) We-we-we try to do what we can, but now we've had to put a freeze

(18) on everybody's pay, uh, there's no more merit increase

(19) um as recently as 2010 and then I came along [Complicating Action]

(20) And changed even THAT, took away bonuses, um, for EVERYONE.

[Resolution]

• Contextualizing facts using personal narrative


(01) Auron: But, just to give you a quick, um,

overview of Regolith [Abstract]

(02) Um, starting in 1970, um, y'know a

HUGE huge success. [Fact]

(03) So, y'know I've been working there since September.

[Orientation]

(04) And y'know everybody I meet with all they ever say is,

(05) "No, the good old days, steady Regie,

it was such a great time,







(09) Auron: In fact, even as-as recent as-

as 2000, for about six years


(11) Until they got to a point of being

two and a half trillion dollars in size.


(13) Um, and for an entire employee base

of roughly 5300 people, [FACT]



(16) unfortunately that's not the case anymore, but uh…



(17) Auron: We-we-we try to do what we can,

but now we've had to put a freeze

(18) on everybody's pay, uh, there's no more merit

increase

(19) um as recently as 2010 and then I came along

[Complicated Action]

(20) And changed even THAT, took away bonuses, um,

for EVERYONE. [Resolution]


• Contextualizing facts using personal narrative(01) Auron: But, just to give you a quick, um, overview of Regolith

[Abstract]

(02) Um, starting in 1970, um, y'know a HUGE huge success. [Fact]

(03) So, y'know I've been working there since September.

[Orientation]

(04) And, y'know, everybody I meet with, all they ever say is,

(05) "No, the good old days, steady Regie, it was such a great time,




(09) In fact, even as-as recent as, as 2000, for about six years


(11) Until they got to a point of being two and a half trillion

dollars in size.


(13) Um, and for an entire employee base of roughly 5300 people,



(16) unfortunately that's not the case anymore, but uh…

(17) We-we-we try to do what we can, but now we've had to put a

freeze

(18) on everybody's pay, uh, there's no more merit increase

(19) um as recently as 2010 and then I came along

[Complicating Action]

(20) And changed even THAT, took away bonuses, um, for EVERYONE.

[Resolution]

03.01.2013• Talking Business Project Presentations

• The ethnography continues

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