BLOG POST 11: Composing in Context

Anzaldua began in a dentists office and took a turn from a normal routinely root canal into an extensive report on the different types of Spanish speaking people in the united states and how they’ve adapted and been forced to adapt their language.

She links language to identity. Anzaldua talks about how the dialects of different regions defines the speakers personality. Spanish speakers in the states are seemingly more “westernized” and less authentic according to native regional Spanish speakers. This is a bias that not only the Spanish face. Many other reasons to be judged is because language is a huge part of writing, communicating both verbally and literally. Maybe the way that the language is adapted to the surroundings changes the way it is spoken. Language is a show of character as well, but it can’t be a way to judge.

MAJOR ASSIGNMENT#2

For my second Major Assignment I wrote an research report on yoga groups followed by an entire case study on how anyone should go about joining a yoga group. I identified the requirements and values and underlying meaning of the requirements of the group. Here’s the entire MA.

Major Assignment #2Download

Activity 9

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html

Stephanie Shyman, “The Subtle Body “, The Story of Yoga in America, 2010.

COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary, https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english, Copyright HarperCollins Publishers, accessed 24 October 2019.

Ayala Sujata Ghosh, Wallson Kenneth, Birdee Gurjeet,Characteristics of Yoga Practice and Predictors of Practice Frequency. , International Journal of Yoga Therapy. Nov2018, Vol. 28 Issue 1, date accessed 24 October 2019.

Key Concept Check In

The key concepts that we discussed in the first half of the semester were

  1. Genre
    Genre is the type or category which the discourse is a part of. Depending on the genre, several of the other key concepts can be determined or predicted like the purpose, context and most importantly, the audience.
    Genre can not be easily adjusted to suit the readers wants as it is the essence of the entire discourse. It can be merged with other genres if needed. Like “Rom-Coms”, a combination of both romance and comedy, it will be of interest to fans of either and both.
  2. Audience
    Audience consists of all the persons the disourse is meant for, intended for, or even read by. The audience plays an important role in the communication of information. The audience is like a medium of transport of the material in the writers work. Through teh audience the intended can happen depending on the other key concepts, like interest or the rhetorical situation.
  3. Rhetorical Situation
    Rhetorical situation, can be defined by the three main aspects of it, the exigence, the audience and the constraints. The rhetorical situation is the sole reason for the existence of any rhetorical discourse. So there must be an exigence, an audience and a set of constraints for it to exist as well.
  4. Discourse Communities
    The group of people that share similar interests, ideaologies. They may have a specific method of communication or even certain words that only they can understand that people not a part of the same discourse community would understand. The way each discourse community functions is different and unique to its “genre” or reason for its existence.
  5. Context
    What the discourse is conveying. The material of the writers work which is what is to be read, understood and acted on by the audience. The context is what the entire discourse is composed of. It is the entirety of the writing.
  6. Purpose
    The goal that the discourse is written to achieve. Each writer has an aim when they start any discourse. The purpose is either indirectly or directly said or implied in the discourse, and is meant to be set into action by the audience.
  7. Knowledge
    Knowledge is what is known and it cannot be changed, but knowledge which is “discovered”
    and following the discussion we’d write a reflection on the topic/key concept

DRAFT ACTIVITY 7

Field research plan
My research question is “What is a yoga group? what is the point of a yoga group?”
Using this as the basis of my inquiry based research report, I’m hoping to understand the various reasons why people join a yoga group or why they practise this ancient exercise. I want to research the requirements and necessities that anyone interested in joining a yoga group may need to possess before actually joining. This would be a very informative type of report and will probably enlighten potential yoga enthusiasts to join a yoga group. I’ve based my research question of the research prompt “case study on an individual striving to fit into a discourse community” the discourse community here being the yoga group, so the context of the report should be on how one must be or act to become a part of a yoga group.
I’ve been doing yoga a for a few years now and I know that there are several “aasnas” (poses) in the yoga terminology that people who have never done yoga before would not know and may need to forst witness before actually practising. Many times certain aasnas are performed for certwain reasons and in most classes, those reasons are mentioneed before doing. This is actually very useful and helpful in case anyone may have some body ache or inability to do the exercise.
To conduct my research, I’m going to attend a session at the yoga studio. There are three sessions 1) Roots or the Foundation class (for beginners) 2) The advanced class and 3) class for children. I can attend two out of three classes. The classes take place once a week and I can adjust my schedule to make time for this outing. I will attend the class and observe the teaching method and how easy or how hard it is to follow along in the advanced class (which is the class that I’ll be attending). Since Yoga has its origin in India (yogaasna) and since I learnt the majority of my yoga in India under certified professional yoga gurus, I can contrast and compare the teaching methods and effectiveness. I will interview one of the members of the yoga group. I’ll have an already printed out list of questions that I’ll be asking them and hopefully they’ll let me record their replies. I’ve also gathered some sources for my secondary research. I will be using a spiritual book from the UCBA library titled “The Subtle Body” written by Stephanie Shyman. This book seems apt as it has a lot to do with the widespread of yoga in America and that’s essentially what my research report is about, however I’ll probably be referring to this book after I’ve conducted the majority of my interviews so that it doesn’t bias my opinion on the entire situation.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL (activity6)

” What is a yoga group? what is the point of one?”
This is the research question that I’ve chosen for this inquiry based report. I chose this question for my inquiry based report as I know a few people that I can ask and interview to finish this project, and also because I want to know what other people are doing to stay healthy and maintain their fitness goals. I love doing yoga and have been doing it for a long time, it helps me stay focused and healthy, it would be insightful to know what people with the same mindset are doing. This question is very broad and I can come up with several additional questions as its related to a topic that I’m very interested in. I can attend a yoga group session in my gym. The yoga group is every Friday from 7:15-8:15, which is the perfect way to end the week and is also very convenient as I usually finish my workout by 7:15. I’ll observe the way the instructor pronounces the yoga postures, as the English names for most of them is very different from what I’m used to hearing. I’ll interview a member of the yoga group after the class and ask her why she attends the class and how it helps her. What kind of readers will my research project attract? I’m assuming that people interested in doing anything related to self care and fitness involving spiritual and mental strengthening or within the fitness and muscle relaxing workout area will be interested in my report as it concerns various aspects of the same area. More and more people are gaining interest in ancient workout methods like yoga and their may intrigue them.
The purpose of my research project is to find out the ways in which yoga helps other people and how it affects their day to day lives.

TIMELINE
observations deadline: by October 12th 2019
Interview Deadline: by October 13th 2019
Data Analysis: by October 19th 2019
Rough Draft: by October 21st 2019
Library Research whenever necessary

BLOG POST 7: KNOWLEDGE

What does “knowledge” mean to me? Knowledge is what is known to us. You need not be an expert or have a degree to be equipped with the knowledge for all topics. But for certain areas of understanding, a particular level of expertise or proof of that understanding is required, like a PhD for astrophysicists or an MD for surgeons to be truly respectable or considered knowledgeable.
“Learning” is the acquirement of knowledge. Knowledge can only be attained by learning, either through experience, practice, reading/writing, etc. Without learning the knowledge is incomplete and lacks understanding.
How is knowledge different from information? Information is the context on which the knowledge built. Without information, there wouldn’t be anything to be knowledgeable on. All the understanding and knowledge that can be gathered about various items and phenomena and are true and legit are considered as information.
Collaboration is crucial for all those ideas that are incomplete. Many ideas are only from one persons perspective and they go unresolved or incomplete. When another person with the “missing piece of the puzzle” combines with their idea, its complete.
In Johnson’s video, he explains and illustrates how combined efforts towards the same goal often than not helps the knowledge making process. When there are multiple people working on the same problem but from different angles or perspectives, each area of the problem is being tackled and solved leaving less or no gaps and the knowledge “created” is more than it would’ve been if it was handled by a single person. More people with similar goals having different levels of understanding can be valuable resources to one another on the topics that they are not respectively disciplined on and can aid in making the process easier and more accurate.
Using these two contexts, I will conduct a One on one interview with a subject that is well informed on the topics that I am keen on learning and understanding more about. Hopefully this interaction will allow me to absorb more information and become more knowledgeable by listening to my interviewee.

ACTIVITY 5

A research question must be well constructed so that it can touch upon all the concepts and topics that the article is intended to cover. The research question should be easily understandable and clear so that it will give the much needed reason for the context of the research. The research must be conducted with sophistication so that it does not repeat information stated by other researches. If there are any underlining assumptions or information that is known or used by the writer it should be mentioned so that the readers do not misunderstand anything in the report. The report should be such that it generates the desired results and objectives. When researching for the report, only credible sources must be utilized. If the information mentioned is not legit then the research ceases to be reliable. The most important point is that the quality of the research depends on the commitment and interest the researcher puts into their work.

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