What conclusions can be made about the different ways these two people speak

What conclusions can be made about the different ways these two people speak

Sample Individual Paper (excerpt)

Gender is a social construct. The idea that people who are born with one set of genitals or another automatically come equipped with all of the societal expectations and habits built into them has been proven to be incorrect, and has also been proven to be damaging. We are creatures of infinite variance and beauty, and restricting ourselves to an arbitrary set of boxes does not work to our advantage. However, this binary concept is worked deep into our core from a young age, impressed upon us from every angle, including from one of the most basic tools we use to communicate with each other: Our language. Language influences our idea of gender, and therefore can affect our actions in hundreds of subtle and not­so­subtle ways.

Over the last few weeks, I participated in a group study to attempt to suss out some of the ways gender can alter behaviors. In particular, we studied the interactions between men and women. We recorded a number of ten minute conversations between men and women of different ages, relationships, and doing different activities, and came up with some common differences between them.

In our conversations, men and women spoke, on average, for . . . . [end of excerpt from 3.5 page 8 paragraph double spaced paper]

TOPIC C: Language and Gender

Are there differences in the way men and women speak?

Observe a man and a woman talking for 10 minutes. Use the Topic C Data Sheet (attached) to record your observations.

Based on your observations, summarize your findings related to language and gender.

NOTE: This is a research project, so you must find a way to generate sufficient data for analysis. This means you must observe multiple sets of men and women talking together in order to formulate sound findings. You may choose to formally observe these conversations, which means you would notify your subjects and record their interaction (with audio/video/notes).You could even give each arranged pair the same discussion topic and set them loose to talk for 10 minutes.You may choose to randomly and informally observe conversations, in the dining or study areas on campus or in your workplace.Or you can have a balance of both forms of observation.You must do whatever it takes to gather enough data to conduct your research.Instructor suggests each group member analyzes and presents their own data/observations to the group, who then collects all the data, analyzes it, and compiles the findings into a cohesive presentation.

To support your conclusions, present your analysis of the following questions:

· What conclusions can be made about the different ways these two people speak?

· Could the differences have been as a result of their gender? Their age? Their
relationship?

· Did their physical appearances have any affect on the communication?

· How did they take turns?

· Who spoke the most? The least? Who had the most turns? Who took the longest
turns?

· Who interrupted whom the most often? What did they do when they interrupted?
How did gender, age, or other factors affect this?

· What type of “speech acts” did they perform?

· In what ways did they communicate about past and future events?

· How did they open and close their conversation? Did they use any social rituals?

Conversation Observation

1. Age (approximate if you need to)

Person A: Around 30s Person B: Around 20s

2. Sex

Person A: Female Person B: Male

3. Physical appearance (general remarks)

Person A: She is a white person who has brown long- curly hair

Person B: He is also a white person, but he looks younger than Person A.

4. Speaking time (Using a stopwatch, note each time a person begins and ends a stretch of speech. Then add the total time each person spoke.)

Time for Person A:4 minutes 42 seconds/10 minutes

Time for Person B: 5 minutes 2 seconds /10 minutes

Percent of time Person A spoke: 47%

Percent of time Person B spoke: 50%

Percent of time NO ONE spoke: 3%

5. Number of times Person A interrupted Person B: 6

Number of times Person B interrupted Person A: 1

6. Number of times a person performed the following type of “act” in relation to the other person

A questioning B:
4 B questioning A: 2

A demanding from B: 1 B demanding from A: 0

A instructing B: 2 B instructing A: 2

A correcting B: 1 B correcting A: 0

7. Number of times each referred to:

Person A Person B

Past event: 22

Future event: 1

8. Number of times each asked for clarification of some point.

Person A: 2 Person B: 2

If the observation included the beginning or ending of the conversation, answer questions 9, 10, and 11.

Who had the first word? Who had the last word?

First word (initiated interaction): A. Last word (closed interaction) A.

10.Who initiated interaction? How?

From a video person A, a female speaker introduced to the listeners firstly, and passed the introduction to person B, a male speaker.

11.Who closed interaction? How?

Like an introduction person A closed an interaction by what she and Person A talked during a conversation, and also asked to him if he wanted to say something.