My Investigation

What is your investigation and what you hope to find out?

I have decided to do my A2 English Language investigation looking at the language change in Vogue Editor's letters, I will look at editor's letters from certain eras. I hope to find out that there is a significant change within the languages throughout the years, which maybe represent the views of the era at that time. 

Why did you decide to do this investigation?

I have chosen this investigation as I have an interest in fashion and I like looking through magazines. With my sources that I have, I think that I could collect interesting and helpful data to help me with the project. 

What aspects of the course it has sprung out of?


There is a few aspects in which my investigation has sprung out of, firstly is language change. However I could also incorporate language and gender to see if there are gender stereotypes within the writing. 

What data will you need to gather and how are you going to set about this?

I will need to collect editor's letters from Vogue magazines throughout different eras. I will look in the Vogue archive, available through Moodle. The Vogue archive will be a use tool to use as it has a wide range of data available. 

What theorists you think will be valuable to give you a perspective on what you might hope to find or for suggestions of a methodology to use when gathering your data sample?

I will focus on language change, however within that I think the language and gender theorists could be helpful within my investigation, for example Lakoff, Tannen etc. These will help as I can see within the text to see if the gender values have changed throughout time.

My Investigation Ideas

Reflection On Looking at Previous Projects

There were 5 projects which were done in previous years which I looked at. I looked at 2 A's, 1 B, 1 C and 1 D. By looking at a range of grades it helped me understand what it takes to get each grade and the differences between them. By looking at them I also noticed what kind of projects works well and what doesn't, for example I don't think looking at babies/young children language will be a successful project topic. I also think looking at friends speech in college wouldn't be a good idea as it has been done a lot, however it could still work well if the projects I think of fall through and as a last minute I have to choose that. I think by looking at the projects language and gender could work well; in addition by looking at it at AS will help me because I already have knowledge. I also think looking at fashion articles over time could work well as I have an interest in that subject.

Reflections On All The Mini Investigations

What are your thoughts about the presentation you have seen?

The presentations I thought were all to a high standard. They had detailed analysis, accurate linguistic knowledge and a range of concepts and ideas. I enjoyed the fashion articles as I am interested in fashion and thought it was interesting to look at the difference however I did not enjoy the football reports as I am not interested in it, however it was still to a high standard. 

What are the characteristics of a successful investigation?

To have a successful investigation I think firstly you should choose a topic in which you enjoy. In addition to that then choose good texts to compare and spend a lot of time picking them. Using quantitative analysis is also a good idea, using graphs and visual things helps me personally to see the analysis. 

What do you think about doing a language change investigation? 

I think that it will be interesting to look at language change, however I think it is important to chose a topic which you like. The cons of it however I think it will be hard and stressful if I don't choose a topic I like as I will not want to do it. 

What topics do you think you might want to investigate next year?

I think I want to do something written and something new. However I will decide when I have looked into more.

Diary Entry Investigation

Practice Investigation

What the investigation needs to consist of?

The investigation needs to have a hypothesis to estimate what you think will happen and the differences and similarities of the two texts. You also need to include a methodology which will explain how you went about finding the text. Remember to write down what you use to include in your bibliography. Try and write about the different linguistic methods and how they are in the text. You will also need to include a conclusion and evaluation. 

What tips you've picked up about what makes a successful investigation? 

To make a successful investigation you have to make sure you pick a good comparison text to start off with. 

What are your feelings about doing a Language Change investigation?

At first I didn't think it would be exciting and I wasn't looking forward to it, however as we can pick on what subject we do I think that will make it a little better. Then when we were introduced into the quantitative analysis' I thought that it would be just based on numbers which I wasn't looking forward to, however when using them they were easy to understand and use.

What investigations might have the most potential?

I think the ones which have most potential from doing the practice ones is the fashion articles, problem pages or diary entries. This sound like the most interesting ones to look at and the most change if finding a good text.

What websites and web tools you think might be useful to you later?

I think the vogue archives (if I choose do fashion articles) this is because they are quick and simple to use. In addition they have a good variety of texts which you could use. The web tools which might be useful are the quantitative analysis, the ones which stand out to me are Concordle, frequency of word use over time and using graphs. This is because they are a visual representations of the numbers which for me personally are easier to understand. 

What, if any, ideas you have so far about your own investigation?

After looking at everyone's practice investigation I think that fashion articles would be interesting. This is because