I'd like to see the data on how Phil models next steps; on how he
makes sure that "everyone can use (the concepts for udnerstanding
the process of reserach) to name their own experience; on his
heuristic use of theoretical concepts as a schedule of questions,
not a framework for answers.
I'd like to see that "long list of questions" he gives students in his
sociolinguistics class to prompt their thinking about data on
jargons that they collect. I'd like to see other artifacts,
syllabi, etc. I've already seen the analytical framework for
studies of genre & student papers, which are at Phil's website.
What are the simple analytical frameworks you
use for the class on ethnography? sociolinguistics?
I especially liked the idea of a simple analytical framework to
set against empirical work. However, in my seminar, I make the
struggle with difficult texts central, and foreground key ideas
as possible frameworks for thinking & writing about actual
practices. I found that students were remarkably capable of
developing their own methods out of a dialectic between theoretical
concepts and data on actual practices. I personally like to avoid
formal methods with all the theory hidden behind the "how-to."
Because my students worked with transcript data, I gave them the
one method that I was given, that opened up for me the nature of
talk, which was simply to "chunk the transcript." Even that biases
the analysis, but in such a general way, that other key questions
or notions cut right through. Formal methods should be given only when
they serve an already well-formulated quest. I wonder if anyone
disagrees with this position. & I would like to see Phil's array of
concepts for understanding the process of research.
- Judy
Judy Diamondstone
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
.................................................