Please return your completed assignment to arrive no later week 11.
In this assignment you will write an essay of 1000 words based on analysis and interpretation of linguistic data. The assignment assesses your ability to accurately describe and interpret linguistic data. It relates to your study of Blocks 1 and 2, and 3 and represents 20% of the overall continuous assessment score (OCAS).
Before you start this assignment, refer to the general guidance on writing assignments in the module guide. While the TMA contains different steps, you will be given a holistic mark for the assignment.
The TMA consists of three parts, each of which consists of a series of steps.
Please submit your TMA as a single word document.
Part 1: Choosing two texts
Part 2: Grammatical analysis
- Step 1: Reading the texts
- Step 2: Taking initial notes about the texts (not for submission)
- Step 3: Analyzing the texts
- Step 4: Writing up your interpretation (1000 words)
Part 1: Choosing two texts
Choose two media reports/articles on the same event/topic; one report/article from a newspaper/magazine published in English in Britain or the United States and one from an Arab newspaper/magazine published in English (e. g. Kuwait Times, Gulf Times, etc.).
The texts you choose should be 200-250 words in length and should also be RECENT; i.e. published over the last 2-4 weeks. You can access most daily newspapers or magazines on the internet.
You should expect to spend a reasonable amount of time selecting your texts, as your choice of text will potentially affect the quality of your answer. Do not be afraid to reject your initial choice if you come across something better, since you will inevitably have gained insights from the process of selection. However, you need to remember to leave yourself enough time to spend on the analysis of your chosen texts.
Part 2: Grammatical analysis
Step 1: Reading the texts
Read carefully the two texts that you chose. Your assignment is to write a linguistic comparison of the two texts of 1000 words which evidences and explains the different ways in which the two newspapers represent the same event. Note that you do not need to write anything for this step.
Step 2: Making initial notes about the texts
Make some notes on what you notice about the texts and how they differ in terms of the way in which they represent the same event/topic. This will provide you with a set of questions or hypotheses which you can explore. You will not be assessed on this step and you should not include your notes in your submission.
Step 3: Analyzing the two texts
Analyze the texts, focusing on some lexicogrammatical choices relating to field. It will help you if you divide the texts into clauses using clause boundaries: || indicate a boundary for an independent or dependent clause; [[…]] indicate embedded clause boundaries; and << … >> indicate interrupting clause boundaries. Please note that there is inevitably some variation in how grammarians analyze clauses, so don’t worry if you would have made slightly different choices (for the purposes of this TMA you should follow the clause analysis presented in the module textbooks). Below are some suggestions as to what you might want to focus on, but you can look at other features you feel are relevant or significant:
- process types
- participant types
- voice (i.e. passive/active)
- noun groups
- choice of lexis
- circumstance types
- noun groups/phrases
- ….
It will help you demonstrate knowledge and skills in grammatical analysis if you use color-coding or another kind of annotation system to mark up the texts. You should display your analysis in tables
Step 4: Writing up your interpretation
Drawing on the parts of your analysis that you find most illuminating, write an essay in a word document of up to 1000 words (not including the appendix) on what the analysis reveals about the main similarities and differences between the two texts. Relate your discussion where possible to the context of the texts as this relates to the register variable of field (that is, the topic being discussed, how it is being represented, and why). Your interpretations must relate to your analysis (Step 3). For instance, if you have focused on the choice between active/passive voice and process types, you will discuss the effects of these choices. You should include examples from the texts in your interpretation to support and evidence the specific points you are making. You will need to be selective in the data that you include. Make sure that you select the data that relates to and supports your interpretation (Step 3). If you include too much data, this will detract from your ability to put together a clear and convincing interpretation.
You should write up to 1000 words.
