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Instructions
This journal entry is a more general one and responds to the claim that as we communicate we speak culturally. What practice of communication do you knowingly do that puts your culture on display? Using the SPEAKING mneumonic developed by Dell Hymes describe this practice of communication. Using the participants point-of-view identify some of the meanings operating in the practice.
i) A review and summary of the relevant literature (2-3 pages)
Presented in this class is a general theory of communication in culture and more specific activity
theories of facework, speech acts, person-referring forms, relational dialectics, cultural terms for
talk, norms and rules, and narrative. In your paper discuss, at a theoretical level, what any of
these theories of communication are. Use the readings assigned to that specific section of the
class to help with your review—you may go outside of the class readings should you wish to.
Cite your sources!
(ii) Data collection and its presentation (1-3 pages)
The data you will collect in this class will be conducted primarily through participant
observations and interviews. Simply put, you will observe and document communication in its
naturally occurring context. Document a short transcript of a conversation (it need not be any
more than 3-4 exchanges in an ongoing piece of interaction). The primary tool for organizing and
presenting your observations is through the Hymes’ (1972) SPEAKING mnemonic. Note in your
presentation of the transcription the setting or the scene, the participants, their ends or goals in
view, the sequencing of the interaction, the key or emotional tone, the instruments or medium of
communication (spoken, mediated, nonverbal, etc), the associated norms or rules, and whether or
not the interaction was part of a larger genre for communication.
(iii) An analysis of the data that examines features of a culture at work in communication
(2-3 pages)
Use the orientation you have developed in (i) to make a systematic analysis of this data in (ii).
Ask yourself how the data reveals a culture at work? By culture we can mean any number of
things: nationality, ethnicity, regionality, social class, gender (and all of its non-binary forms),
sexuality, patterns of power, intimacy, solidarity, deference, etc. If your observation is one of
intercultural communication how might the phenomena play into a sense of conflict, or
breakdowns in communication?
Each section of the journal entry is worth 10 pts each for a total of 30pts. Complete three of them
for a maximum total of 90 points. Each journal entry is due at the completion of the materials
associated with the activity theory in question.
Please follow APA or MLA writing guidelines.
