How Essential is Code-Switching to our Everyday Discourse

For this second project, you will go beyond preparing to write a report (as you did in Project #1). This time, you will prepare to write–and then actually write–a Social Science Research Report. The focus of this project will be your own use of language. As such, you will first investigate your relationship to language and literacy by collecting primary research data on yourself (specifically, you will document the languages you use and encounter in your daily life). Then, you will work with secondary sources, using them to analyze your primary data in relation to specific key terms and language theories. The purpose of this project is to reveal something interesting about your language use and to relate that finding to the larger issues of language, discourse, and literacy. To complete this assignment, you will follow these steps: 1. Read about language variety and language use: These readings are provided in the course. You will use them to familiarize yourself with the language and literacy terminology and concepts you will need for the project. 2. Primary data collection: You will each study your own language use/contact within a 24-hour time period. You will collect this primary research data by creating a 24-hour language-use log to analyze the languages you use, the way you use those languages, where you use the languages (discourse communities), the language domains you use (reading, writing, speaking, listening) and the amount of time you spend using each language. You can collect your data on your phone, in a physical notebook, or using whatever method works best for you. All “languages” count, whether you comprehend them fully or not. Once you have collected your raw data, you will need to turn it into a readable chart. 3. Analyze your raw data: You will use the assigned readings to analyze your organized raw data. To do so, you will consider the following questions: What patterns do you notice? What elements of the readings do you see in your data? How might you connect a key term or two from the readings to your data? 4. “Write up” your data and analysis: Using the structure below, you will insert data and analysis into these sections, being careful to only include the appropriate data in each section: a. Introduction: introduce the topic of your study, contextualize it within existing research, and provide a brief overview of the research you conducted and your analysis of that research; b. Methodology: describe how you collected the data and conducted your analysis; c. Results: present your data using one or more charts/graphs/diagrams and explain what is surprising about the data–but do no analyze it here; d. Discussion: discuss the importance of your findings—their extended meaning. Connect these points back to the readings you noted in your introduction. e. References: create an APA Reference page that cites the readings you used as well as the primary data you gathered. f. Addendum: include you organized raw data here.