Group reflection - skills and anxieties

Our group has been successful in communicating about our research project over the summer and this augurs well for the coming semester. Collectively we bring good organisation, co-operation, corpus knowledge and analytical and research skills. Concerns that have been highlighted are choosing the right topic, working more independently and arranging a regular meeting time to suit all members. We are interested to see whether the other subjects studied by the group’s joint honour students can be incorporated into our research. We all feel confident that our experience of group work in Year one, will ensure our success in this project.

Independent reflection on relevant skills

After taking the module investigating language last year, I feel that my skills in using and navigating a corpus have improved. This could be an important aspect of our project this term as it can be used as a good way to look at and compare different language use. I also feel that my skills in teamwork and cooperation have improved over the last year.

One of the aspect I would like to improve is my referencing skills. Due to following two different guides for both English and drama I sometimes still get confused as to which is the correct way for each course. I’m hoping that the more practice I have, especially with this module, the easier it will become.

Individual Reflection - Tara Kergon

Learning how to conduct investigations into language through corpus studies, questionnaires and literature reviews was not only interesting but an important grounding for further study. Over year one the importance of communication within a group was also highlighted, which I believe will prove useful for the upcoming second-year projects.

Over year one I believe my analytical skills developed, as well as my understanding of the tools and methods available for an investigation. The benefits of working in a group and collating research also became clear, as it opens up many potential areas of research. However, one area that needs improvement is my use and formation of questionnaires.

Thurstan - Individual reflection of 'Investigating Language' tasks

Reflecting on the four tasks that we did in Investigating Language, I feel that my weakest area was the questionnaire process. Our group’s questions were not well structured which hindered any really useful conclusions. As a result, I don’t have confidence in this skill. Also, I didn’t have enough practice of transcribing to feel proficient.

I was comfortable with researching and writing the literature review, and I found the Corpus investigation really interesting and look forward to doing more in this area. It was fascinating to discover a deeper meaning and usage of words than is visible on the surface.