John Langshaw Austin proposed, in 1962, thatspeech acts are forms of speech that express or presents information from an individual, along with a definitive action that is taken. In addition, the speech acts can be analysed inthree levels: locutionary act, where the semantical meaning is literal; illocutionary force, defined as the force or the hidden meaning behind the locutionary act; and the perlocutionary effect, understood as the effect of the locutionary and illocutionary acts in the form of the listener's emotional or physical response.
Metacognitive analysis:
During the process of watching the video on this new topic, I felt comfortable with the clear explanations and the supporting images, which I consider valuable as they substitue -in some way- the human presence.
Whenever videos or powepoint files, as the one that twe were asked to do (through a speech act delivered from you, Stella -our teacher- to us, students for the previous entry, with significant perlocutionary effects of all kinds) enclose a variety of appropriate allusive images, they work as a needed support, providing a better chance to engage ourselves with the discourse at a deeper level.
Learning what a speech act is, as well as the way in which performative acts act upon the world depending on their context and reception, discovering that both context and reception create the felicity conditions (rules under which the performative can be enacted) helps us understand why some performative acts have more weight or effect than others.
Now we know that, if the performative cannot be enacted, more performatives will follow. A familiar example could be:
Performative: "Do not leave your homes during the pandemic. "
In some cases, the performative will not meet the felicity conditions, and will lack the power to denote action. Then, new performatives will be produced: "You are under arrest", or "Go back to your house immediately" or "Please, son, was it that important to go to lucy's house?".
In conclusion, I think that understanding these concepts is very useful for pedagogical purposes. The reason is that we definitely want our students to learn how to apply their linguistic knowledge of the second language in specific contexts correctly. If we show them the importance of gaining awareness on the social rules, we will pave their way to the desired felicity conditions.
There are several ways to cite a source (MLA, Turabian, Chicago). Here you have APA Citation Style
Author(s). (Date). Title of Book/ "Title of Article"/ Title of Periodical/ Volume. Pages. Place of Publication. Publisher.
Journal or Magazine Article
Wilcox, R. V. (1991). "Shifting roles and synthetic women in Star Trek: The Next Generation". Studies in Popular Culture, 13(2), 53-65.
Journal or Magazine Article
Dubeck, L. (1990). "Science fiction aids science teaching." Physics Teacher, 28, 316-318.
Newspaper Article
Di Rado, A. (1995, March 15). "Trekking through college: Classes explore modern society using the world of Star Trek." Los Angeles Times, p. A3.
Article from an Internet Database
Mershon, D. H. (1998, November-December). "Star Trek on the brain: Alien minds, human minds." American Scientist, 86, 585. Retrieved July 29, 1999, from Expanded Academic ASAP database.
Book
Okuda, M., &; Okuda, D. (1993). Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future. New York: Book Pocket Books
Article or Chapter
James, N. E. (1988). "Two Sides of Paradise: The Eden Myth according to Kirk and Spock," in D. Palumbo (Ed.), Spectrum of the fantastic (pp. 219-223). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Encyclopedia Article
Sturgeon, T. (1995). Science fiction, in The Encyclopedia Americana (Vol. 24, pp. 390-392). Danbury, CT: Grolier.
Website
Lynch, T. (1996). DS9 trials and tribble-ations review. Retrieved from Psi Phi: Bradley's Science Fiction Club. Last visited: May 15th, 2020. Available at: http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/ep/ 503r.html
Notes
Arrange the items on your reference list alphabetically by author, interfiling books, articles, etc.
Use only the initials of the authors' first (and middle) names.
If no author is given, start with the title and then the date.
Magazine articles: include the month (and day) as shown under Newspapers.
Websites: if the date the page was created is not given, use (n.d.).
Tobar, H. (2020, May 25). "Is the age of the road trip over forever?" The New York Times, p. 4.
Metacognitive analysis #3 Oftentimes, while we are writing, we feel tempted to cite, establishing intertextualities that can be either overt or covert. It is natural, and it has been like this from the beginning of times, when discourse was only oral. In a letter to Robert Hooke in 1675, Sir Isaac Newton wrote: “If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” This beautifully humble quote shows that even the greatest ones had to lean on their predecessors to reach that far. It is a fact that culture evolves without ever dismissing the previous productions and thoughts. In culture, as in nature, everything is born from something preexistent. As stated in the bible,nihil novum sub sole ( nothing new under the sun).The point is that it is perfectly fine to borrow someone else's words, as long as we acknowledge and credit the source. Every scholar must be respectful towards the importance of citing sources carefully, for it reflects not only honesty, but also all the research that has taken place. Proper citation is a good habit and a compulsory one, so we better get used to it sooner than later. It takes time, it tasks you, it can be a real pain. Still, we want to be honest and avoid misconducting. Above all,
Metacognitive analysis # 2 This week, I have found myself using the Google Slides app for the first time in my life, being a complete inerudite to this or any other slideshow tool. As expected, the debut did not lack a serious amount of agitation and clumsiness. Nevertheless, I managed to find the nerve to get down to work, and the result is before your very eyes.
I must admit that I am very pleased to have become aquainted with this tool. However, I will draw a distinction: the slideshow is, in my opinion, more suitable for an oral presentation than for online consultation. Some people even use it to study, after searching for a specific topic in the net, but it does not seem to be very helpful, since the slides usually include a very brief summary of points. Thus, I believe that the natural environment for a slideshow is an oral presentation. Moreover, it is an optimum guide to follow as you speak in front of an audience, while it offers the convenient chance to include images, bar charts, symbols, animation, a variety of colors, fonts and effects that make the presentation more appealing. Precisely, the use of bright colors in contrast with black or white text fonts is a resource that can be seen along my presentation, as well as images matching the message that is (hopefully) being conveyed. I am aware that I may have overused bright colors, images and icons, but -in my defense- I claim that the length of the file (21 slides) demanded an adorned layout, given that it is supposed to be addressed to young adults who are starting their University life.
I tried to keep the text concise, although 2 or 3 slides are perhaps too loaded. In an attempt to cover the whole original text, I had to arrange a hierarchy, and give more relevance to some contents over the others. I dared to experience a few simple animations, images that appear on the slide a few seconds after the slide becomes visible. It provides a sense of movement that balances the effect of the fixed text, presumably.
As for the material that we have worked with, I consider it extremely valuable. Still, I would have prefered to treat it with more patience and attention, for it consists of a marvelous piece of information for anyone who has the need to write academic works. It is indeed a very complete compendium of guidelines. Most certainly, I will return to it oftentimes.
The Crystal Ship (The Doors) - Lyrics Intro: Fragment of 'Ghost Song', written and recited by Jim Morrison A vast radiant beach in a cool jeweled moon Couples naked race down by it's quiet side. And we laugh like soft, mad children Smug in the woolly cotton brains of infancy. The music and voices are all around us. Before you slip into unconsciousness I'd like to have another kiss Another flashing chance at bliss Another kiss, another kiss
The days are bright and filled with pain Enclose me in your gentle rain The time you ran was too insane We'll meet again, we'll meet again
Oh tell me where your freedom lies The streets are fields that never die Deliver me from reasons why You'd rather cry, I'd rather fly
The crystal ship is being filled A thousand girls, a thousand thrills A million ways to spend your time When we get back, I'll drop a line.
Source of the video: YouTube Source of lyrics: Songfacts.com In both cases, last visited May 6, 2020
This song has been recorded in Los Angeles (California) in 1966, and released the following year in The Door's debut album (also named The Doors). I could write for hours, even days, about this band that has so well comforted me, back in my teenage years. But such is not the purpose of this post, so I will conclude this brief informative introduction by saying that its lead singer, Jim Morrison, died at the age of 27 in a bathtub in Paris, victim of his addiction to drugs and alcohol.
An endearing connection between The Doors' art and me was originated as a sudden spark that immediately took all that was there to be taken: my whole teenage being fell under their spell. I was captivated by the mischievous Jim, his dexterous and picturesque fellow musicians, and all that poetry pouring out from their songs, blooming for me, to whom everything was new; the souls of Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Blake, embracing mine through this gifted singer who acted as a medium with his rough, still sweet voice. Discovering The Doors was for me the reification of a whirwind of previously diffuse emotions and fantasies about love, life, beauty, excess and death. I watched their videos (in VHS, it was the 90's) and eagerly listened to all of their records, including low-fi recordings of some of their gigs. So earnestly did I seize these songs, that I still consider them a remarkable part of my formation. Nevertheless, I could not assert that they represent a moment of my current life, since three decades have gone by from the moment I first heard of them. But, after all the music I have devoured -and it has certainly been a fair deal- I cannot help but go back to them, if asked about a transcendental rock band in my life.
The Crystal Ship merges sadness and joy (or finds joy in sadness?), it is dark but bright. "The days are bright and filled with pain...", in the second stanza, is an unpretentious oxymoron that condenses a two-sided perception of things. Whereas, in the final line of the last stanza, "When we get back, I'll drop a line", a goodbye is announced and a promise of return is sealed, at the same time. How ravishing it is to find an equivalent image, and may the comparison be condoned, in Robert Burns' celebrated poem A Red, Red Rose: "And fare-thee-well, my only Luve! And fare-thee-well, a while! And I will come again, my Luve, Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile". Now I wonder if teenage years are not precisely about that, a farewell to infancy and a preparation for adulthood.I see this song as a passage. Everything in life is a passage, an entrance, a door to something else. I hold in high regard this idea of being in transit, of seeing oneself as a pilgrim embarked in a personal search. There is plenty of poetry and life in it.
The video that accompanies this song is a true jewel to me: it displays documentary images of young people sporting carelessly in a river. Bucolic and naive, they represent a whole generation: the Flower Power counterculture -even though Jim Morrison's artistic and cultural formation owes the poètes maudites a great deal, them who had not much in common with the hippie worldview. And this is exactly another feature of this artist that stands out: his multifaceted personality. He would not content himself with following a single line of thought, but grasped from here and there. Probably I am a bit like that too, I can mirror myself in that attitude towards life. But I will definitely not jump on a crystal ship to collide with the rocks. Shamefully, he did.
Jim (lead singer of The Doors and poet) and his girlfriend, Pam.
Source of the picture: 60sblog.com (last visited May 6, 2020)
I have visited Jim's sepulchre twice, at the legendary Cimitière du Père-Lachaise, in Paris. Although someone took a picture of me sitting on the ledger stone (ah, those indomitable 15 years old...) the file which contains that image behaves furtively at this height of the night. Hopefully, I will find it soon and post it here.
Because a promise made is a debt unpaid, here is the picture.
Visiting Jim. 1990.
And also a (very awful) close-up of the epitaph, worth posting for its message in ancient Greek
James Douglas Morrison ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ, literally meaning "according to his own daemon" or "true to his own spirit"
The Doors were named upon Blake's phrase
“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.”
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
____________________________________ ____________________________________ Metacognitive Analysis #1 To work with a song is an awesome chance to analize a poem and all the imagery that it brings along. To work with a video of a song is even better, considering that there are tangible images to include in the analysis. To work with a video of a song of our choice is unbeatable: it intermingles the two previous possibilities, and adds a very special feature, one's personal engagement. Songs have always been a great source of input for second language learners. It is enough to look back at our childhood/adolescence years to find sufficient proof. Even the least music lover remembers a song in English, and has grasped something -at least one lexical item- from it. Music is a natural vehicle for words, in any language they might appear. And infants, as well as teenagers, adore working with a song. They perceive it as a break from those rigid and lonely drills, that unfortunately still persist in a classroom. Finally, I hold that the analysis of a song of our free choice is a lovely invitation to speak about ourselves as individuals. The way we behold art, the way we express our emotions, and the most important things in our lives, will surely be revealed in that analysis.
I am glad to host you in my blog, and I hope you enjoy your stay.
If all goes well, and I am certain it will, we as students will share a year of growth, of overcoming unexpected (and even unimagined!) events, and hopefully, of improving our writing skills under Stella's tuition.
I am eager to write! I only hope to be able to deal with technology successfully, and for that purpose I am treating it kindly and with utmost patience during our first days of relationship. I was born in the 70's, so I'm an older model :)
