Personal Blogs

My first experience of OU Live today (an E301 tutorial).  Overall, it seemed quite similar to Elluminate but more people seemed to have problems with sound quality.  However, this might have been chance.

I have recently downloaded this to my phone and iPad.  It seems quite useful although not all of the modules I teach seem to have content available.  I would have thought it would be most useful on tablets.

Due to circumstances, I had two Elluminate sessions on the same day last Saturday (one should have been a face to face tutorial but was changed to Elluminate as the venue was closed and many students would have found it difficult to get to Bristol anyway with the transport chaos).

It was very much more tiring than a similar amount of face to face teaching would be and the intensity of Elluminate teaching was very apparent.

This post attempts to apply some of the ideas from a course I am teaching on the Art of English (E301) to a football podcast for the football team I support (Coventry City).  It tries to show that the language used in the podcast displays many features of creative language use.  I first give some background information about the podcast and then discuss some of the instances of creative language use in one episode (number 14).

The podcast is called the Nii Lamptey Show and is now on the 14th episode.  It can be found here and is released towards the end of each week and consists of a few supporters of Coventry City discussing the previous week in a fairly irreverent way. 

The title itself is somewhat creative.  It makes use of the name of an ex-player for  Coventry City.  However, he did not have a particularly distinguished career for the team - see the posting on September 5th 2012 here.- although he had seemed to be a promising player when young.  It is possible that his career is seen as a kind of metaphor (Cameron 2006) for the fortunes of the club, who have had a decline over recent years.  This is a kind of intertextual reference (Swann et al 2004 in Gillen 2006) where the reference to a relatively obscure player would be recognied by supporters of the club but perhaps not by many others.

The podcast abounds in intertextual references that will make sense to the audience of Coventry City fans but will largely be obscure to outsiders.  For example, there is the punning feature "Go for Gould" which puns on the name of an ex-player and manager, Bobby Gould and the more obscure "Pead all about it", referring to a less well-known player, Craig Pead.  There is often a use of humour that mocks the team.  For example, they refer to a tradition of getting five goals from the distant past and the fact that a five goal win was secured by bringing on a poor quality striker when the team was winning 5-0 so that they would not get more than 5 goals.

There are other references that would be more recognisable to football fans in general but perhaps mysterious to people outside this group.  For example, there is a reference to the "hairdryer treatment".  For most people interested in British football, the would be a clear reference to Alex Ferguson and stories that he stands very close to players he is angry at and shouts at them in order to motivate them.

There are a number of metaphors used in the podcast.  Some examples are football related such as "the midfield got squeezed", "the goals flowed", "we were bombing on" or "Hartlepool got stuffed". There are others that refer to the  incidents in the game "that was the least X certificate stuff" (referring to some violent behaviour) and "he buried that" (ie he scored).  There are metaphors used to describe the way players are playing "Moussa's on fire".  There are also metaphors that are more general.  For example, Hartlepool is described as an "armpit of Britain".

Idioms are sometimes used creatively in a way similar to those mentioned in Carter (2004) .  For example, the idiom, "the roof caved in" is used and adapted for the context.  One speaker said "in a nice way, in a beautiful way for us for Hartlepool the roof caved in".  Of course, it would not have been a beautiful way if the roof really had caved in but the idiom refers to the way that Coventry were successful in the second half of the game.

There is frequent use of hyperbole (McCarthy and Carter 2004, Carter 2004). For example, there is reference to "our 89th left back of the season".  While it is true that the team has had many left backs, eighty nine is an exaggeration.  There is another entertaining example where the speakers says that one of the players drops back because it is very important for him to find a place to play "20 minutes of head tennis, every game".

Styles are switched frequently.  As can be seen from the examples above, the register is often informal and there are also uses of relatively mild swear words.  There can also be some relatively formal language used for an incongruous comic effect.  For example, the manager is described as "young Mr Robins".  Another interesting example is when describing the tactics at a corner and the speaker seems to suggest that there is something clever and complex but then undermines it by saying "dirty bastard".

New words are invented (Carter 2006).  For example, there is the following exchange:

A:  What effect did leaving John Fleck have?
B:    It left us a little Fleckless

This gets an acknowledgement of creativity in a "hey".  Similarly, there is the invention of nicknames for players.  One player, William Edjenguele has been renamed "Billy Edge".

Language is used creatively to show the relationships between the participants.  For example at one point, an idiom seems to have been misused by accident ("tugging at the heartsleeves") and the other participants laugh at this and use it.  This seems to be an example of language pattern reforming that becomes pattern reinforcing (Carter 2006).  The joking about this comes to an end with a couple of jokey comments about it having been a hard week and then there is the comnment "What a player he was" as presumably it sounds like a player's name. 

Sometimes, there is a comic sense of anticlimax as in the exchange below:

A: Is that a serious point?
B: Not really.

This gets a laugh and is part of the irreverent atmosphere of the podcast.

These are just a few examples of the creativity used in a podcast - almost all of the examples are from a 20 minute extract.  The podcast is very clearly intended at a particular audience and the creativity of the language use is largely what gives the podcast interest for the intended listeners.  There are other podcasts that are aimed at different audiences but they tend to share the linguistic creativity.  Another example is the Guardian Football podcast, which can be found here

References

Cameron L (2006) "Metaphor in everyday language"in Maybin J and Swann J (eds) (2006) The Art of English: Everyday Creativity Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Carter R (2006) "Common Language: corpus, creativity and cognition" in Maybin J and Swann J (eds) (2006) The Art of English: Everyday Creativity Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Carter R (2004) Language and Creativity: The Art of Common Talk Abingdon: Routledge

We had an Elluminate meeting on Saturday for L185.

There are now issues relating to level of experience with Elluminate.  A few years ago, all students tended to need an introduction to the technology.  However, many of the students are now familiar with it from other courses.  For these students, introductory activities are perhaps not so useful but there are also students who are new who need a gentle introduction.

I suppose I need to clarify to students the expectations of the first session and also provide more content that is interesting in its own right.

As I mentioned in a posting on 9 Feb 2011, there seem to be problems with the privatisation of interpretation services and this is referred to in today's Guardian at

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/05/interpreters-courts-lost-translation-editorial

This seems to raise important issues about whether people's human rights are being eroded.

Here is the handout for a session I gave at the Taunton Day School.

***********************************************

The Textual Function

Aims

1 To examine what themes and rhemes are.

2 To examine what effects are produced as a result of changes in the organisation of texts.

Different ways of representing similar meanings

Compare the following text with alternative versions.

Which of these texts do you find most powerful and why?

Compare the following

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree.

My true love game me a partridge in a pair tree on the first day of Christmas.

I was given a partridge in a pair tree by my true love on the first day of Christmas.

Why is the first one the one that is used?

Theme

The first element in a clause is of great importance in English and this is called the theme whereas the rest is called the rheme.

Thompson (1996: 119) defines these as follows:

“Theme is the first constituent of the clause. All the rest of the clause is simply labelled the rheme.”

Halliday (1994: 38) writes that the theme is “what the message is concerned with: the point of departure for what the speaker is going to say”.

The theme “must include the whole of the first item in the experiential meaning. This means that the division between theme and rheme always comes at the end of the first group or phrase relevant to the experiential function and meaning” (Butt et al 2000: 136).

When the theme slot is occupied by a nominal group, it is the whole of the nominal group that is included.

Task

What are the themes in the following texts?

He replaced the receiver in its cradle without answering her ….(Frantzen 2001).

The price on the beautiful paper wrapped filet that he was handed was $78.40.

(Frantzen 2001).

The concept of writing as interaction between writers and readers adds a communicative dimension to writing …..(Hyland 2002: 34).

Circumstances as themes

Quite often the first element is a circumstance as in the examples below:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me.

The following Tuesday, Chip made dinner for Melissa….(Frantzen 2001).

In these examples, there is just an experiential or topical element. However, in many cases, this can be preceded by interpersonal or textual element. In this case, the clause has multiple themes (Butt et al.2000: 137).

Often, we link our experiential meaning to the previous part of the text. Conjunctions are used and when they occur at beginning of clauses, they have to be considered as part of the meaning but they are not the starting point. They are referred to as textual themes.

The examples below show how there can be textual and topical themes in a clause.

(Butt et al 2000: 127)

The examples below show some combinations of interpersonal and topical themes:

( Frantzen 2001)

Analyse the following extracts from a novel.

But she laughs at this suggestion. (Lahiri 2004)

But, darlings, you don’t know how fond I am of you (Nesbit 1906)

Theme and markedness

The idea of theme can help to explain why we see some kinds of clause as being marked and others as being unmarked. This is one of the most interesting uses of the idea.

Giving information

Task

Some statements are given below. Rank them in terms of how marked they seem to be writing 1 for the least marked, 2 for a slightly marked statement etc.

1. My alarm clock wakes me at 7.30.

2. I am woken by an alarm clock at 7.30.

3. At 7.30, my alarm clock wakes me.

4. With the ring of an alarm clock at 7.30, I wake up

In declarative clauses, an unmarked clause would have the actor, subject and theme in the same nominal group. This would be true of “The cat sat on the mat”.

Where the nominal group are goal and subject as in “The book has been read“, the theme seems more marked. This, however, is not so marked as when the first group or phrase is circumstance or adjunct as in “In my road, there are some very old fashioned lampposts.”

Where the first group is attribute and complement, the theme is extremely marked. Butt et al (2000: 140) give the following example: “Happy is the bride the sun shines on.”

Where might you see such marked themes?

Demanding information

Task

Rank the following in term of markedness.

1. Seen the new film?

2. Have you seen the new film?

3. That new film, have you seen it?

An unmarked theme for a yes/no question would include a finite (the interpersonal theme) and a subject as in:

For wh- questions, the wh- word is the unmarked theme as in, for example “Who is he?”

What would be a marked version of this?

Demanding goods and services

Process/predicator as theme would be the unmarked theme eg “Put the rubbish out”. Marked versions would have the subject or adjunct as the theme as in “You, put the rubbish out” or “Under no circumstances, forget to put the rubbish out”.

Theme and clause complex, paragraph and text

There can be complexities in how theme and rheme are considered in cause complex. Thompson (1996: 131) gives the example “As the universe expanded, the temperature of the radiation decreased”. Here, “expanded” and “decreased” could be considered as rhemes for the preceding parts. However, the starting point is really that the universe expanded.

At the level of clause complex, the first clause can be regarded as theme for the second.

If you see her, say “Hello”.

Thematic progression

If the theme is the starting point of a message, the rheme might be considered the destination (Butt et al 2000: 142).

Most themes will relate back to themes or rhemes that have occurred in a previous part of the text.

What are the themes and rhemes in the following extracts and which of the themes build on previous rhemes?

Given and new

Organisation into given and new is parallel rather than the same as theme and rheme. The most unmarked way of giving information is for the given to be in the same place as theme and the new information to be the rheme.

New information is shown by a proclaiming tone whereas given information is shown by a referring tone. Proclaiming tones are shown by a fall whereas referring tones use fall-rise tones.

Implications of an awareness of this way of viewing the textual function

An awareness of theme and rheme and how they are related can be very useful for learners of English as they read or listen to texts and help them when they produce their own spoken and written texts.

When students are writing (and, to a lesser extent, speaking), they need to use textual themes to help the structure of the text clearer.

The idea of markedness can help learners to become aware of how certain texts are attempting to emphasise certain aspects of the message. This can be useful in the receptive skills because it will allow the learners to read or listen more critically. When producing language, learners might be able to produce language that achieves their purpose by using more or less marked forms. This awareness of marked ness may be particularly useful when reading literary texts (writers on literature and language teaching (eg Short 1996) tend to refer to this as deviance).

The idea of given and new is very important in terms of pronunciation, especially for intonation. Being able to use pronunciation effectively so that the new information is highlighted can have a great influence on how intelligible a speaker is.

References

Bartram S (2002) Man on the Moon: A day in the life of Bob Dorking: Templar.

Butt D, R Fahey, S Feez, S Spinks and C Yallop (2000) Using Functional Grammar (2^nd Edition) Sydney: Macquarie University.

Frantzen J (2001) The Corrections London: Fourth Estate.

Halliday MAK (1994) An Introduction to Functional Grammar (Second Edition) London: Arnold.

Hyland K (2002) Teaching and Researching Writing Harlow: Longman.

Lahiri J (2004) The Namesake London: Harper

Nesbit E (1906) The Railway Children London: Puffin.

Short M (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose Harlow: Longman

Thompson G (1996) Introducing Functional Grammar London: Arnold.

Weinburger E (2005) “What I Heard about Iraq” London Review of Books 27: 3.

During Saturday's E303 tutorial, we were practising using the Monoconc concordancer and tried comparing "bad" and "poor" as two words that can often be synonyms.  The main differences we found were:

- the common collocation of "not bad"

- the common use of "poor" to express sympathy - eg "poor little thing/poor dear"

A new L185 has recently started.  I did the first Elluminate session with one of the groups a couple of days ago.  It seemed to work reasonably well although there were some problems with loss of sound.

Would any of the participants care to comment on how they felt about it?

I have just finished marking the first assignments for E852.  Most students did well, probably most did better than those writing the first assignments for E844 used to.  Perhaps the three part structure helped and it also seems that more people are coming on to this course having had experience of previous Masters modules.

The more I look at the E852, the better I think the course is.  There are some great readings coming up as well.