Discourse Analysis in Education – Transcription & Analysis Practice (TAP)

Overview
This assignment asks you to draw on the traditions and concepts you read about in the course in order
to transcribe and analyze a data excerpt furnished by you or your instructor. You will complete this
assignment twice: for 09/04 and 09/18.

Purpose
One of the ways you may engage with discourse analysis, beyond our class, is as a producer of
research: you will identify discourse (in or outside classrooms, interviews, etc.) that you want to use
for inquiry purposes. How does that “data” become “evidence”? Below are two questions that will
guide our practice in answering that question during this course:
1. How will I transcribe the discourse?
a. Transcription is an interpretive process of representing discourse as data for an
audience that involves
i. Deciding where to bound, or start/stop the transcription
ii. Deciding what conventions will best represent the interactions for your
purposes
2. How will I analyze the discourse?
a. Writing up discourse analysis for an academic publication often involves
i. Deciding what discourse concepts to apply to your data
ii. Deciding where and how to parse or break up your transcriptions/explanations

Procedure
• In this assignment, you will draw on the course readings to create a transcription and
analysis of a discourse excerpt
• Your evaluation may apply to one of the discourse excerpts furnished by your instructor, or
to one that you have chosen (with permission from your instructor).
• Your evaluation should follow these guidelines:
o 1-3 pages, 12 pt. Times New Roman, Double-spaced, 1” margins
o 1 additional page that explains your transcription conventions
o Written for an informed, generalist, academic audience (e.g., your classmates and
instructor)
• In your transcription and analysis, please:
o Choose a discourse excerpt of no more than 5 minutes/2 pages (e.g., from a lesson,
from an interview, from a written text, etc.), or use one furnished by your instructor
o Provide context in a few sentences for the discourse excerpt: Who participated? Doing
What? When? Where? Why?
o Explain the focus of your inquiry in transcribing and analyzing this excerpt: these data
are potential evidence of what?
o Transcribe the discourse excerpt, using traditions/concepts/conventions from our
course readings
o Analyze the discourse excerpt, using traditions/concepts/conventions from our course
readings

Grading
Transcription and Analysis Assignment: 10% X 2 = 20 % of final grade
Checklist:
þContext for the discourse excerpt
þFocus of the inquiry
þTranscription (and transcription conventions)
þAnalysis
Rubric
Criteria/Grade 4 3 2 1 0
Complete Includes context Includes context Includes Includes Does not
for the excerpt for the excerpt or context for the context for the include
and focus of the focus of the excerpt or excerpt, as context for the
inquiry, as well as inquiry, as well as focus of the well as excerpt, focus
transcription and transcription and inquiry, as transcription of the inquiry,
analysis analysis well as or analysis transcription,
transcription or analysis
or analysis
Transcription Uses the readings Uses the readings Uses the Uses the Does not use
to apply concepts to apply concepts readings to readings to the readings to
and conventions and conventions apply apply apply concepts
to the data that to the data that concepts or concepts or or conventions
are clearly are relevant to conventions conventions to the data
relevant to the the inquiry focus to the data to the data
inquiry focus that are
relevant to
the inquiry
focus
Analysis Uses the readings Uses the readings Uses the Uses the Does not use
to thoroughly to thoroughly readings to readings to the readings to
interpret the interpret the interpret the interpret the interpret the
data; clearly data; organizes data; data; data and data; does not
organizes data data and organizes interpretation organize data
and interpretation interpretation data or difficult to and
interpretation follow interpretation