Final Post

Hello,

I would like to share some information and ask some questions from Antaki et al. study. This study is very important for me because I am still struggling to figure out what the discourse analysis really is and why we need this kind of analysis. It really requires kind of deeper consideration for me. I think it is because I conducted some qualitative research before and analyzed the data using thematic analysis. Since during the discourse analysis we try to understand more how the participant(s) says what he or she (they) want to say, I was confused about how to separate a thematic analysis from discourse analysis. I think this study was really helpful because the study explore the crucial requirements for discourse analysis.

I think both in thematic analysis and discourse analysis, the transcription is just a first step that prepares the researcher for analysis. To me, transcription is more important in discourse analysis than thematic analysis. When preparing for my presentation last week, I realized that I put all the umm..s, uhh..s, and ahh..s into my transcription. However, I did not even use any of them during my analysis because it was not important for my analysis. During my presentation last week, I understood how all these can be important for my analysis. I can basically say that I am more clear now since I overcome my misconception about the use of any detail in an interview or conversation.

  

Now, I am more clear that a summary cannot be a discourse analysis because it is shorter and tidier. A researcher needs more detail about the discursive constructions. Otherwise, he or she can lose information. This is called as “under-analysis through summary” by Antaki et al. I think what I did before was a kind of summary because I was just trying to explore certain themes focusing on what the participants said. 

The second issue is about the researchers’ position taking during the analysis. I am wondering if this issue is about the bias that the researcher is making. We always try to distance ourselves from the participants in terms of sympathy and scolding. I can understand this issues but what about if we realized the participants’ sympathy or scolding for us as researchers shape the participants talking? I think it may not be a big deal but it is still a little bit confusing. At this point, the quotes can help us to distance ourselves from the participants, but my last question is about “isolated quotation”. I am confused about it. What is the difference between the use over-quotation and isolated quotation?

Finally, I am really glad to take this course. I really appreciated with help and supports from at first Dr. Lester and then all my classmates. Since I am still working on my research, my plan is to take all other transcription into account and convert the study to a discourse analysis study. I think this is what this class has contributed to my academic carrier. I am really happy with it.

Thanks,

About my Presentation

Hello,

This week, I will share some additional excerpts to make sure that I am on the right way. Actually, I know this Wednesday presentation will be a good spot for me get feedback from my colleagues, but I want to share something valuable during my presentation.

Before going ahead the excerpts, I would like to share what I am planning to do during my presentation and get feedback from you. Because I do not want anyone to be bored during my presentation.

Normally, I have around 9 pages transcript, but I am not going to share all. I will just divide them into some excerpts. Then, I will explain my study background with my research question about 3-5 minutes. Instead of individual feedback, I will try to get group feedback after 10 minutes discussion. Since I really need constructive feedback about which approach to analyze the data and initial findings, I will request my colleagues to provide feedback 10-15 minutes.

My research question is going to be:

How does an instructor discursively construct his/her beliefs for developing online teaching?

Also, I am wondering if you know some readings related to beliefs using discourse analysis.
I hope it will go well.

Excerpt1 ( Line 85-90)

… after they give them the criticism, and I think it's↑, I've just found it to be, um, you know, the feedback to be really, really helpful. 

R: Hmm-Hmm, OK. 

P: <Because it's not just me giving feedback>, it's:, you know, everyone, giving feedback to one another, and I, I mandate the feedback to where they have to give feedback to:o three people per assignment, and they rotate on who they give the feedback to, so.

My Interpretation

It seems that the instructor believe that students giving feedback to each other is important because it is helpful. Therefore, the instructor makes this kind of assignment mandatory.

Excerpt2 (93-99)

P: OK, so, it's a, it's ey portfolio course, but↑ they're building their own website, and so:, I wanted them↓ to: learn some co:de, you know, and be able to understand, um:, basic WordPress tags, and↑, some HTML and CSS, <but I didn't want them to feel like they had to have> ah: ↑ like a coder background coming in, like they, um, <they should be able to come into the course> with no, little to no coding knowledge, and, um:, get some confidence with code, um, <I didn't want them to come in and feel like they had to learn PHP>…

My interpretation

It is interesting to me that the instructor was making the pace of his speech slow down. I feel like his was trying to emphasize the importance of giving the students freedom in terms of selection of the tools.

Excerpt3 (158-170)

R: Mm hmm. Okay. What is, you know you you mentioned constructivist criticism? What's that? What what do you mean? 

P: Oh, so, I would say that, I encourage them to be as honest as possible  with one another, and so if, for example:, a student was using, um:, a color scheme that was really hard to re::ad, or, someone just thought that the color scheme was ugly, I would want them to say that, you know you might, and say it in a nice way, and just say, you might want to consider using a color scheme with better contrast, for: a, for example for persons that, ah:, that, that can’t see as well, or you might want to consider: moving your sidebar from the right to the left, you know, very specific elements that, um, that the person whose working on the template might not have thought of on their own. And if, and even when they think that, um, a classmate is doing a really great job, just giving them encouragement, and saying, you know, this part of your, um:, template is really great, and um:, ↑I just wanted to, you know, praise you for doing such good work. So. 

My interpretation

The instructors believes that when the students give feedback to each other they should make constructivist criticism. When he explains this issue, he usually uses example to make the issue more clear. I think he believes that some assignments can be lower than others in terms of quality. However, it seems to me that he doesn’t want to directly say this to the students. Instead, he prefers being “polite” when explaining the importance of politeness.

Excerpt4 (175-192)

R: You know. When you decide on how to set up online discussion, what was your consideration? You know like yeah

P: So um:, like why did I choose that tool in particular? 

R: Yes, and yes, yes absolutely yeah.

P: Okay. I think in part because I've used it before, and I thought it was:, it was a really comfortable way to go back and forth, because visually, you can, um: ↑ as a student, you can follow the progression of a conversation because they're threaded, you know, and they’re indented one under another, you can really go back and it's um: (0.1) it documents communication so that you can refer back to people's comments from before. And so it's kinda of building like a conversation archive, which I really like, and it's nice from an instructors perspective to be able go back and se::e how much a student was participating and be able to quantify that. Whereas, in a face-to-face class uh: you can make notes to yourself after class, but you never really have that sam::e ability to go back, you can remember what a student may have said in class, or you could possibly videotape it, but um: online, having a forum, you can actually go back when you're grading, and see exactly what the person said, and I think that's really pretty nice as an instructor or facilitator. And for students I think that, you know, it allows them to be um: very honest with one another, and also, um: ↑ keep track of their correspondence. 

My interpretation

I think in here especially after the line 184, the instructor is referring to all instructors. He is making a generalization to all the instructors who are teaching online. At this point, I believe that making empathy is shaping the instructor’s belief. 

 

Thanks,

 

Introduction to Analysis

Hello,

This week I want to think deeper about my research question. This has helped me to understand the importance of right research question. Otherwise, it is very hard to analyze the data according to discourse analysis or conversation analysis. So, first of all I would like to share my research question.

RQ: How does an instructor discursively construct his core judgments when developing online teaching?

My concern is not the action of “online teaching,” instead I am interested in the development of online teaching. Core judgment is a type of design judgment, which is related to the designers’ values, beliefs and thoughts that is more personal to the designer. Therefore, I consider the instructor as instructional designer. Actually, it is very interesting for me to see that I am focusing on online learning because when I did my mini literature review for this course, I realized that almost all the studies in my field focused on online environments. I hope I will both contribute to the field by conducting studies using discourse analysis and increase my understanding about it. So, I would like share some of the initial points that I found interesting and useful. Any of your feedback will be great for me before my presentation next week.

Excerpt One

(P is the participant, R is the researcher)

R: Yeah, how did you decide on the, the teaching online, you know, like what was your consideration when I when you, you know, think about that

P: Okay. Umm:, so, when I started out, umm:, before I was even teaching, <I was helping a lot of students with their portfolios>, and, umm:, they would come see me in my office, and I thought, you know, I'm able to give them a lot of, you know, good one on one instruction because they don't, um, they're not strictly bound by time, when they come to see me, you know, and it's very much ah: one on one(.) and so I started thinking, if I could offer that same level of um, you know, service to more than one student at a time, and make into like a formal thing, that, that students would learn a lot, and so, um:, I had the idea for the online course I suppose because I was uh, working on coordinating online courses for the school, and I started thinking, you know, wow, it's be really nice to teach online, umm:…

My interpretation: I think the researcher is directly asking the question in order to catch the instructor’s core judgments. At this point, the instructors’ selections of the words, such as “thought” and “I started thinking” “I had the idea”, show his core judgment. Also, I think it is important to emphasize the instructor’s self-confidence about teaching online because he indicated his intentions towards teaching online even before his started online teaching.

Excerpt 2

P: … And so, um, when I started thinking about the assignments, for umm:, the course, at first I started and I wanted to make it, like very open, because everyone's portfolio is different, and I realized that, um↑, I didn't want it to be, I wanted it to be technical but not too technical. So I, um, allowed them to each start with their own template that they would choose, and then umm:, develop it as they saw fit, and then, come to me when they needed help(.)

My interpretation: I think the instructor’s previous experience contributes to his consideration about online teaching. He is trying to take the students’ needs into account. Therefore, I want to say that the students’ needs shape the instructor core judgment, especially the decision of assignments and tools.

 

Thanks