The following are some coursework topics sent to us by the moderator. Some of these seem more suitable than others - are the ideas going to provide data that is comparable/ethical/reliable? Read them all to generate ideas so that you can discuss possibilities with me and then collect some sample data.

Examples of possible areas for investigation

1.    Language change e.g. recipes, magazines, children’s books.

2.    Gender issues e.g. Jamie Oliver vs Delia Smith, Richard and Judy, Jo and Twiggy, Des and Mel.

3.    Comparison of language in news programmes – R4, newsbeat, local radio

4.    Interview techniques e.g. Paxman, Parkinson, Jonathan Ross.

5.    Study of transcribed examples of a regional variety of spoken English – accent and dialect.

6.    Observations of how parents speak to children.

7.    Analysis of a stretch of everyday discourse e.g. making requests, gender mix in conversation, telephone calls, Big Brother, sales talk, greetings, gossip, funeral speeches, occupational variations (politicians, lawyers, detectives, doctors, hairdressers…the list is endless).

8.    Comedy styles – stand-up, sitcom, taboo.

9.    An investigation into strategies of human politeness behaviour and whether these are age related.

10.  Analysis of differences between spoken and written English e.g. radio v. press, news or sports reports.

11.  Observations of young children learning to speak read or write.

12.  Exploration of stylistic features of media forms e.g. magazines, tv programmes, websites. Look at how language is related to the audience.

13.  Do women have less confidence than men in their recognition and use of computer related jargon?

14.  How is slang used differently by 16-19 year old students at one state and one private sixth form institution?

15.  An investigation into the gendered use of taboo language.

16.  Has the use of occupational titles changed over time?

17.  Is there a gendered difference in the use of text messaging language forms?

18.  Is there any evidence to suggest that the language of text messaging is undergoing any of the processes of standardisation?

19.  Does the degree of friendship influence the power dynamics of conversation between same sex pairs of teenage friends?

20.  Do common linguistic definitions of gendered language match ordinary people’s perceptions?

21.  Does British English of the last fifteen years still encode sexism?

22.  The Language of Beer Mats

23.  The Language of Toy adverts (Gender-related)

24.  The Lang of Nursery/Playground rhymes

25.  The Lang of Lonely Hearts columns

26.  The Lang of Car/Food/Cosmetic adverts

27.  The Lang of Dystopias (sci-fi,etc)

28.  The Lang of a Literature text – eg “The Color Purple”

29.  The Lang of Charity letters

30.  The Lang of Comics (gender issues)

31.  The Lang of Girls/Boys Annuals (re: Lang Change/Gender issues)

32.  The Lang of Political Speeches

33.  The Lang of Childrens’ books

34.  The Lang of Club Flyers