From now on, we will have your MINI LESSONS every FRIDAY (in the order of our list), and occupy ourselves with our term paper every MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY.
Today, we are laying the foundation for our big semester paper (either a research paper, or a newspaper/magazine article; your choice).
The paper will deal with grammar. The first steps are the same for ALL, regardless of whether you choose to do a research article or a newspaper report. You will sign up for a given topic at the end of this blog (multiple sign-ups per one topic are possible), or pick a topic of your own which I will approve before you start collecting data for your research.
STEPS:
1) establish data pool (through sending out of an online survey)
2) analyze the incoming data (after 2 weeks of collecting)
3) write paper about data, incorporating 3 outside sources
- those who write research paper: Your sources MUST be from peer-reviewed, published research articles from data bases such as JSTOR, ERIC, Google Scholar. You have to cite correctly in APA or MLA style, both in-text and in your References. Attention: if you are sick and have to research these data bases from home, remember that JSTOR requires a password. You need to log into Morris Library with your DAWG tag number first, and THEN access JSTOR!!!
- those who write a newspaper/magazine article: Your sources can be quotes from famous people about grammar, or stem from research articles. You won't cite in MLA or APA, but follow newspaper conventions of how to integrate quotes.
5) The papers are due as hard copies on the last course day of November, so you have plenty of time for data collection, analysis, and editing.
If you are NOT in class today (Monday, Oct. 5th, 2009), you NEED to perform the steps below at home, so you won't be left behind. If you have questions, call me or email during my office hours. Don't worry, the whole unit can be performed online, so all you need is a computer with Internet access. People who have the flu or are otherwise out of class for an extended time are EXPECTED to perform the same task at the class at about the same time, using this blog and their email accounts.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Pick one grammar topic from this list you would like to research.
Pay attention:
- If you do a "public opinion survey," your audience will be anybody from the general public, which means you can put the link to your online survey on your facebook page, email it out to all your friends and family, and to people whose email address you acquired.
- If you do a "teachers' perception survey," your audience consists only of teachers (high school, or college, or mixed). YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO EMAIL ANY SIU FACULTY!!! (because they get mad at me for doing those surveys every semester with my classes ;-) Therefore, pick different teachers/professors.)
- If you do a "students' perception survey," your audience will be college students (NO MINORS; NOBODY under 18 years of age!). You ARE allowed to ask SIU students.
WHOEVER your audience is, you must have MORE THAN 10 RESPONDENTS. That means, you MUST send out our online survey to at least 20 people, because 50% generally won't take the survey. If you should end up with less than 10 respondents although you emailed 20 or more people, your own peers will simulate being your audience and take your survey for you (for EXTRA CREDIT). This means, you can still analyze your data, but your results will be fake (won't have any impact on your grade, but you know your research isn't worth while).
Topics to pick from:
1) Public opinion survey about gender: Are females better at grammar than males? (or vice versa)
2) Public opinion survey: Should sentence diagramming be taught at high school?
3) Teachers' perception: Do college students today know enough grammar?
4) Students' perception: Did high school prepare us well enough for college with regard to grammar?
5) Public opinion survey: Does good grammar in one's native language help one to learn foreign languages?
6) Public opinion survey: Does grammar knowledge rise or decline with age?
7) Public opinion survey: Does "good grammar" depend on the region one lives in? (dialect/slang; survey about socio-economic and environmental variables)
8) Public opinion survey: Does good grammar help one to be competitive on the job market?
9) Public opinion survey: Is it important how well our political leaders use grammar?
10) Public opinion survey: Should grammar be taught in grammar-only classes, or integrated into English classes?
11) Public opinion survey: Would learning Latin early in high school help students to be better at English grammar, and the grammar of foreign languages they might study?
12) Public opinion survey: What is the right grade level to start teaching grammar to students?
13) Public opinion survey: Should grammar be taught through drill and practice, or through imitation or other methodologies?
14) Public opinion survey about race: Are (put in a race; e.g., African Americans) better at Standard American English grammar than (put in a race; e.g., Caucasians)?
15) Public opinion survey: Does socio-economic status have an influence on grammar?
16) Public opinion survey: Does texting make students' grammar worse?
17 - 25: Topics of your own choice which you can type on this blog after my approval. Come up with ideas during class!
When you have chosen a topic, log into this website http://www.surveymonkey.com/, in order to create a NEW SURVEY. I have emailed you the log-in and password!!! Go to your email here: Choose the GENERAL template, pick a background color, and start your survey.
Guidelines:
1) Name your survey: firstname_lastname_topic; e.g. Christina_Voss_grammar_in_HS
2) Your survey must have a minimum of 20 questions, and a maximum of 24 questions.
3) The first 4 questions MUST be demographic (e.g., ask gender, age, provenance, income (only if it makes sense for your survey, e.g. if you want to find out about socio-economic differences), level of education, years of grammar at school/college, etc.).
4) There must be 10 questions that are a grammar quiz (if you do it about sentence diagramming, you can design diagrams by hand and insert a scan into your survey!) After all, you want to know whether your audience says the truth and is really good/bad at grammar!!!
5) The remaining questions are up to you (those are the content question where you explore people's attitudes and perceptions).
We'll model and do the survey together in class (you'll finish it up for homework). If you're not in class today, try your best from home and call/email if you encounter problems.
WHEN your survey is finished: I'll show you how to create the online link, and we'll post it on this blog under your name. For those who missed class: I will access surveymonkey, and will get your URL by myself, and put it on this blog.
Your topics:
1. Beck, Chad: texting vs grammar
2. Bleyer, Dan: link
3. Byhring, Jason: Texting vs. Grammar
4. Chemasko, Allison: HS vs. College Grammar
5. Cunningham, Karita: Texting vs. Grammar
6. Duran, Mallory: Grammar survey for teachers
7. Fry, Cory: link
8. Greiner, Kimberly: Grammar vs. Technology
9. Holcomb, Erin: Politicians and Grammar
10. Janis, Kathleen: Grammar and Socio-Economic Status
11. Kern, Robin: Latin in HS
12. Lantrip, Kendra: Age Vs. Technology
13. Lukes-Howard, Brandon: HS Grammar
14. Martinez, Stephanie: Grammar Teaching Methodologies
15. Mason, Melissa: Grammar Survey
16. Meredith, Ryan:Grammar and the Job Market
17. O'Laughlin, Timothy: Politician's Grammar Survey
18. Pyatt, Meghan: link
19. Ragan, Nolan:Text Message Survey
20. Robinson, Shaina: Females Better Than Males in Grammar?
21. Sauerwein, Kyle: Male vs. Female and Grammar
22. Takach, Matthew: Grammar in HS
Here are 3 Example Surveys from the recent grammar 300 courses:
A. The Effects of Computers on College Grammar
C. Grammar Awareness amongst Teachers, Coaches, and Student Athletes
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