Blog 17

Final Draft: Discourse Analysis Paper

Subrina Samaroo

11/17/2011

Eng. 3029

Dr. Chandler

         

             In a literary transcript between a college professor and one of her students, the two discussed the student’s personal experience using online chat rooms. In the first excerpt the interviewer represented by “Ch” asked the interviewee who was represented by “A” a series of questions regarding the student’s first experience talking to someone she did not know in a chat room. The subject “A,” responds to the questions by telling the story of how she thought she talked to a pedophile and how she was scared in the situation.  A also explained that her parents did not know much about computers, and because of her experience monitored her siblings while they used the internet. In the second excerpt, of the transcript Ch asked A about what kinds of activities she and her friend did on the internet. A explained all of the different things they would online while browsing the web including talking to people in chat rooms.

In my analysis of this chat room transcript, I attempted to analyze how through A’s growth from excerpt 1 to excerpt 2, she was able to gain the authority needed to become a confident internet user. In excerpt 1, A is represented as a child using the internet for the first time. A states the quote below:

“and you could also chat strangers - which was dangerous cause I think I talked   to a pedophile I'm not sure, I I was in fifth grade I gave him my phone number when he called me I hung up I was so scared.”  

In this response by A, there are a few assumptions that can be made just by the language she used. It can be assumed that since she was not sure if it was a pedophile she talked to in the chat room, that her authority within the conversation was limited. This leads us into the following question as to why she gave the person her phone number. In this situation it seems as if the person A was talking to in the chat room had all of the authority because as A mentioned in the beginning of the transcript, she did not have much experience with the internet before this. After this response, Ch asked the question if she ever told her parents about this situation at the time it happened.  A responded by saying the following:

“no I never told my mom or my dad.” “I mean, I think I told them later on when I was in college, but it's dangerous, cause my parents weren't familiar with computers or web tv and I was a child exploring it -like - there was no restrictions, my parents didn't know how to put restrictions, they weren't too familiar with it.  It's only maybe three of four years ago that my mom learned how to use a computer so being a child, discovering it on your own could be really dangerous when there's chat rooms, and talking to people telling you that they're your age, but they're not.”

Here, a big question that could be asked is why did she not tell her parents? Was it because she was scared that she would get in trouble? That is a possibility, but since A stated that her parents did not know much about computers at the time of her experience with pedophile, who had the authority to control A’s online activities? Or was there any authority at this point in A’s life regarding using the internet?  If we look at the language in the above quote, A explains that she was still a child exploring something that no one in her family was familiar with. So as A learned new things by exploring, we can assume that she began to grow and gain some authority to help her know some of the dangers the internet holds.

 In the second part of excerpt 1 in the transcript, A described as she got older she monitored her siblings while they used the internet. A stated:

“I was careful, and then I was strict on my younger sister and my brothers using the computer.  I also hogged the computer because I liked talking to my friends. But when my sister started going online I would check up on who she's talking to, I would look over, I would check the history, see what websites she went on.”

 Here, it can be assumed that A was a little overprotective of her sister and the kinds of websites she used online. A question that can be asked is why was A more concerned with her sister more than her brother? Did it have to do with gender or more of the authority A gained through her experience with the pedophile? We can see that in this situation A has authority over her sister and can take control over what she does on the internet. A ‘s language in this quote also shows her confidence in using the internet. There was no hesitation as she explained to CH how she overlooked what her sister was doing. A knew exactly what things to check for to see if her sister was in danger. For example, A told CH that she knew how to look up the people her sister was talking to, and she had now gained the authority to warn her sister about questionable persons in chat rooms and what things to look for that could be suspicious.

This brings us to excerpt 2, where we can see A continue to grow as an online user, as well as how A gains some more authority on the internet. CH and A discussed another chat room experience with A and her friend.  CH asked the question, “so what did you and your friends do on the computer in a typical session - if you went over to your friend down the street?” From this question, we can that assume that A was not alone on the internet this time around, how would her responses be different than in excerpt 1, where she was by herself when she spoke to the pedophile.  A responded with this answer:

“our emails, check our home pages, see if people left us messages, go in chat rooms and chat with our friends, exchange pictures with people that lived in our area that was our age, which could be dangerous, cause they could be imposters, we really didn't care.”

Here, it is quite clear that A is much more confident with her online skills.  She now knows how to email, message and chat with friends, and exchange pictures. So she has gained authority of using the internet and feel in control of what she does and who she talks to. So why did she not care if she exchanged pictures with people who may have been imposters? Was it because she was with a friend or perhaps the reason might be because now that she was surer of her abilities, A had gained authority over how she approached different situations through her experiences. Even though her friend was there, A still had control over her own identity from the knowledge she picked up while exploring various websites. Unlike excerpt 1, where she was not confident in her actions with the pedophile, in this excerpt A seems more than confident and more or less carefree in her internet activities.

Here is another example of A’s growth in excerpt 2 in comparison to excerpt 1.  A stated:

um, one time we were in a chat room, chatting, well my friend and I were like, oh lets go with that guy's sceen name, and then, he was like do you have a picture, we sent a picture, we found out it was our pastor's son who was like 20, and we're like eeuew he's like an older brother, and then when he saw our picture he's like why are you doing that, why were you sending pictures to strangers, and kind of got mad at us.”

Here we see a similar situation like in excerpt; however A’s language seems to be completely different. Why was A not scared this time around and how were actions different? In this situation with the pastor’s son, A has gained the online authority to do things with assurance. She picked the guy she wanted to chat with and knew how to send pictures to him. Although this could still be a dangerous situation, A felt a little disgusted and embarrassed because it was with someone she knew from the neighborhood. If we take a look at the language, A says “eeuew” and did not seem to care that the pastor’s son was mad that they were sending pictures in the chat rooms. So why was A not scared this time around? Was it because the person they were talking to was some she knew? If we analyze the situation at this point, A had gained enough online authority to upload pictures so we can assume she would know how to delete them if need be. She also knew that the pastor’s son was someone who would not harm her, and figured he was in chat rooms just to have fun just like her.

From the transcript we can assume that A growth and experiences helped her to gain the authority she needed to be confident on the internet. In excerpt 1, A was quite scared and not in control of the situation, because she lacked the authority needed in order for her to be confident of the internet. However, as she got a older and became a little more familiar with the “online world,” A was strict on her siblings and was now gaining authority be know what aspects of the internet were dangerous for her sister. Then in excerpt 2, A seemed to have grown a lot since her first chat room experience. She now had the authority to be in control of her online actions which lead A to have confidence in the places and people she came across while being in the “online world.”

Blog 16

Ideas/topics for Research Paper:

• So for my research paper I am thinking about researching effective strategies teachers use to teach kindergartners to write the letters of the alphabet.
• I am thinking for the methods to use I would pick ethnography and interviewing.

      1.) Things I would observe and take notes on:
       -> The classroom environment
      -> What specific tools do teachers use to help students learn to write. (for example,    pencils, notebooks, tracing utensils, ect.  
      -> How does the teacher interact with the student to help them he or she practice writing the letters.
      -> these are just a few ideas I came up with so far.... still thinking and brainstorming........

       2.) The second method I would use is interviewing.
         -> I would interview a teacher who teaches kindergaten students.
         -> Questions I would ask:
                      -what are some techniques you use to help students with their letters?
                      - what activities to you do in the classroom to give students practice? (ie. worksheets, games, group work ect.)
                      - Do you find that students have a easy or difficult time with ths concept?
                      - How do you get parents involved in helping their children write thie letters?
Again these are just a few things I came up with...............
                  

Blog 15

Notes for Revision for my discourse paper


So after receiving feedback from Dr. Chandler about my discourse paper, I feel a bit confused and think that I might have missed the point of discourse analysis. My paper consisted of my main focus and evidence from the chat room transcript to back up my the purpose I stated in my introduction. I have set up a conference with Dr. Chandler so hopefully that will help me get a better understanding as to where I need to go with the paper.


Feedback notes:
1. My paper did not dig deep into the language and cultural aspects of discourse.
2. Not enough evidence to go along with my focus.


I guess I have a lot of work to do!!!

Blog 14

What I did well in my discourse analysis paper:
1.) I think I had a very good introduction because I stated the focus and explained the main purpose of the paper.
2.) I think I presented a few good points to back up my main focus.

What I need to work on in my paper:
1.) I think I need more evidence to support my claim.
2.) I am not sure if I've done everything needed to make this paper regarding discourse.

From Feedback
From the feedback I receive from Dr. Chandler I hope I can get a better understanding as to if I am on the right track with my paper. As well as how I can go into more detail with the language and uncover some of the aspects that are not so obvious in the chat room transcript

Blog 12

DISCOURSE Analysis Essay notes:

Topic: So I have narrowed my topic ideas and believe that I have come up with a reasonable and hopefully on the right track of what Dr. Chandler is looking for.

• A"s unawareness of the dangers of the internet put her at risk with the unsafe parts of chat rooms.
• It is important that young children have someone who is knowledgeable about the "online world" such as a parent of friend to monitor and teach them the dangers of the internet.

Points from transcript that I will focus on:

• A's chat room experience with the pedophile.
• A's parents not knowing much about the internet.
• A's experience made her very cautious and made her monitor her sister use when they were older.
• A's chat room experience with the pastor's son.
• The pastor's son acting like a parent figure, questioning the girls online safety.

This is what I've come up with so far......I will begin to write my introduction and see where I get with my paper.

BLOG 13

Subrina Samaroo

November 3^rd, 2011

Rough Draft for discourse analysis

Dr. Chandler 

            In our society today, it is more than obvious to say we are living in the age of technology. Children of all ages use the internet on a daily basis as a part of their everyday routine. The internet has become the place to go to do research, download music and play games, as well as to communicate with family and friends. However, the internet can be a very dangerous place especially for young children. It is important for parents to monitor and restrict their children from certain websites and various social networking forums. The chat room transcript is a reflection of how children are unaware of the dangerous aspects of the “online world,” and illustrates reasoning behind why parents should have a vital role in their child’s online activities.

In the chat room transcript between Dr. Chandler (CH) and Angela (A), the two discuss A’s experiences using chat rooms. In excerpt 1, A tells the story of how she thought she talked to a pedophile and how she felt about it. A stated, “and you could also chat strangers - which was dangerous cause I think I talked to a pedophile I'm not sure, I I was in fifth grade I gave him my phone number when he called me I hung up I was so scared.” Here we see one example of how dangerous the internet can be, and we also see that A was unaware of the danger because she gave the pedophile her phone number. She did not realize that this person she was talking to might have been lying about their age and who they were, until she received the phone call.

After describing how scared she was, Ch asked her did she ever tell her mom and A said, “No I never told my mom or dad.” A goes on to explain that her parents did not know too much about computer and had only learned recently. A stated, “cause my parents weren't familiar with computers or web tv and I was a child exploring it -like - there was no restrictions, my parents didn't know how to put restrictions, they weren't too familiar with it.  It's only maybe three of four years ago that my mom learned how to use a computer so being a child, discovering it on your own could be really dangerous when there's chat rooms, and talking to people telling you that they're your age, but they're not.”

As we see from A’s first experience with chat rooms, she had no restrictions and was pretty much free to do whatever she wanted. Since her parents did not much about the internet, they were not able to monitor the programs or websites A came across. She had to go through the experience with the pedophile to learn that sometimes people on the internet do not always tell the truth and you have to be very careful of whom you talk to and what private information is given out, and she used her situation to guide others to be cautious of chat rooms.

Since A’s parents did not know much about computers, when she was a little older she became very strict over her siblings. A stated, “I was careful, and then I was strict on my younger sister and my brothers using the computer.  I also hogged the computer because I liked talking to my friends. But when my sister started going online I would check up on who she's talking to, I would look over, I would check the history, see what websites she went on.” Here it can be determined that A was acting like the parent and monitoring what her sister was doing on the internet. Since A had already had a scary experience with the pedophile, she knew what kinds of websites to look for that could propose dangerous risks. A was now aware of the unsafe parts of the “online world” and could prevent her siblings from going through some of situations she faced.

In excerpt 2 of the chat room transcript, Ch and A discussed another experience using chat rooms. However, this time A was not scared because she was talking to someone she knew. A described the situation as, “um, one time we were in a chat room, chatting, well my friend and I were like, oh lets go with that guy's sceen name, and then, he was like do you have a picture, we sent a picture, we found out it was our pastor's son who was like 20, and we're like eeuew he's like an older brother, and then when he saw our picture he's like why are you doing that, why were you sending pictures to strangers, and kind of got mad at us.” In this excerpt, the pastor’s son assumes the parent role and questions A’s actions. He gets mad at A and her friend because he is aware of the dangers of sending you picture to someone you do not know.

Once again A does not see the danger in her action because the pictures were sent to someone who she viewed as an older brother. A stated, “it was kind of embarrassing, we were like eeuuew, we go to church with him, he's old.” A found this experience to be embarrassing rather than dangerous because it was someone she knew, rather than a complete stranger. What A failed to realize was that this still could have been a dangerous situation because even in cases where you know the person in the chat rooms, that does not always mean you can trust them with your pictures.

This transcript is just one of many examples of how dangerous certain aspects of the internet can be. Chat rooms may be a great place to meet new people and talk to family and friends, but it can also be very risky and get people into a lot of trouble. Young children especially, who are not yet aware of some of the harmful and unsafe parts of the “online world” need to be extra careful when talking to strangers in chat rooms. Parents need to monitor not only what their children are doing, but also who their children are talking to on the internet. In some cases, like A where parents do not know much about computers of how to check the websites their child is using, should have an older sibling or a trusty friend or family member keep a close eye on their online activities. This way parents can ensure that while their child is having fun with the internet, they are still be safe and are aware of the dangers that it beholds.