Matching Items (3)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Advertisements
- All Subjects: L2
- Creators: James, Mark A.
- Resource Type: Text
Description
This project is an institutional ethnography (Smith, 2005, 2006) that examines the lived experiences of nine second language (L2) writing teachers, specifically with regard to the interpersonal, material, and spatial relationships inherent in their work. Using interviews, focus groups, and a mapping heuristic for data collection, the study investigates the current culture of L2 writing that is (or is not) created within this specialized community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and the individual participant motivations as actors within a complex and dynamic network (Latour, 2007). Because findings from the study are relevant for a variety of fields and audiences, the dissertation is separated into three freestanding but interrelated articles.
Article one focuses on the data of one participant whose teaching roles/ranks in the writing program shifted over time: from graduate teaching associate to part-time adjunct faculty member to full-time non-tenure track writing instructor. Article two uses all nine participants’ data and focuses on their perceptions of and experiences with L2-specific teacher training. Results share the perceived benefits and drawbacks of teacher training to specialize in working with multilingual student populations considering various material conditions present in the institution. In addition, the article locates additional programmatic spaces where professionalization happens (or can happen), and ultimately assesses and questions the justification of specialization of teachers within the writing program and where that specialization can/should occur. Article three reflects on a specific data collection technique—a mapping heuristic—and discusses the ways in which this method is beneficial, not only for observing the different connections that L2 writing teachers create in their work lives, but also for collecting data in any institutional ethnographic study.
While these three articles are intended to be independent of one another, together they comprise a dissertation-length institutional ethnographic inquiry that demonstrates the diverse voices, motivations, and experiences of second language writing teachers that inform the decisions made in an institution known as a writing program. WPAs can use the knowledge and takeaways gained in the study to learn more about how to support and advocate for this important stakeholder group.
Article one focuses on the data of one participant whose teaching roles/ranks in the writing program shifted over time: from graduate teaching associate to part-time adjunct faculty member to full-time non-tenure track writing instructor. Article two uses all nine participants’ data and focuses on their perceptions of and experiences with L2-specific teacher training. Results share the perceived benefits and drawbacks of teacher training to specialize in working with multilingual student populations considering various material conditions present in the institution. In addition, the article locates additional programmatic spaces where professionalization happens (or can happen), and ultimately assesses and questions the justification of specialization of teachers within the writing program and where that specialization can/should occur. Article three reflects on a specific data collection technique—a mapping heuristic—and discusses the ways in which this method is beneficial, not only for observing the different connections that L2 writing teachers create in their work lives, but also for collecting data in any institutional ethnographic study.
While these three articles are intended to be independent of one another, together they comprise a dissertation-length institutional ethnographic inquiry that demonstrates the diverse voices, motivations, and experiences of second language writing teachers that inform the decisions made in an institution known as a writing program. WPAs can use the knowledge and takeaways gained in the study to learn more about how to support and advocate for this important stakeholder group.
ContributorsO'Meara, Katherine Daily (Author) / Matsuda, Paul Kei (Thesis advisor) / Rose, Shirley K. (Committee member) / James, Mark A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The vast research in advertising discourse has extensively explored commercials on traditional media such as TV and printed magazines. However, less is known about the advertising discourse on social media platforms, especially across these platforms internationally. The social contemporary phenomenon of advertising via social media platforms is increasing rapidly because of their popularity among millions of users in Saudi Arabia. This dissertation represents a first attempt to cover the existing gap in previous research in terms of media platforms and international scope. It examines advertising discourse by three Saudi female social media influencers on Snapchat. The study uses mixed methods in data collection and analysis. The data include a survey identifying three outstanding media influencers in terms of their popularity and self-presentation as well as a total of 33 advertisements. The analytical framework employs Critical Discourse Analysis following Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework. It also draws upon multimodality analysis and identity construction analysis. Findings reveal noteworthy similarities and differences among the influencers’ advertisements including linguistic features, visual aspects, and identity representation. The influencers all construct a powerful relationship with their audiences which is reflected in their informal spoken and written texts through the frequent use of Arabic pronouns (e.g., we, you, and yours) and address terms like “girls”. The results further show that the influencers display power through using different discursive strategies to persuade the audience of the value of advertised products. This dissertation’s new insights contribute in important ways to the field of advertising discourse. The researcher claims that these new findings demonstrate the value of research associated with advertising through different social media platforms in their global context. Thus, future studies should examine commercials on online media by individuals regardless of their nationality with access to the media and the skills needed to create a product line and an audience moved by their promotion styles.
ContributorsBanjar, Halah (Author) / Adams, Karen L. (Thesis advisor) / James, Mark A. (Committee member) / Ali, Souad T. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
This dissertation investigates a subtle yet complex contemporary issue of colorism in India that traces its ideological roots back in the British colonial period or even prior to that. It focuses on the issue of skin-color discrimination in urban Indian men, which is significantly under-researched. This project aims at investigating the issue of skin-color discrimination through analyzing a small corpus of thirteen YouTube commercials dating from 2005 to 2017 for men’s skin-lightening products of a popular skin-care brand called “Fair and Handsome” from a multimodal critical discourse analytic perspective. This study further aims to understand how the discourse of colorism is operating in these Indian commercials for men’s skin-lightening products, what kinds of semiotic and socio-cultural (discourse) elements are naturalizing the notion of “fairness,” and finally, how the construction of male gender is facilitated. Although the project’s main theoretical arc is critical discourse analysis (CDA), the methodological needs necessarily require drawing upon theoretical tools from advertisement analysis, multimodal analysis, gender studies, social psychology, history, cultural anthropology, race theory, and other related fields of study. After successfully facilitating an exhaustive analytical undertaking, this dissertation contributes to the understanding of colorism as more than intra-group racism in India and situates this perpetuating issue as a contemporary research target in the socio-cultural contexts of globalization and urbanization.
ContributorsMukherjee, Sayantan (Author) / Adams, Karen L. (Thesis advisor) / Gelderen, Elly van (Committee member) / James, Mark A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019