1. Module B Lesson 1

2. SEMINARS – 45 mins each (3 participants) A seminar is basically an illustration and detailed discussion about a particular topic by a small group. Each group will lead a seminar and organise the class discussion. I will sit in the class, help and contribute and evaluate what you are doing. Analysis use the readings to give you an idea of what and how to analyse remember that narrative has to be part of some part of the analysis transcribe the parts of episodes that illustrate a point you want to make about the talk (not the programme as a whoe; this does not need transcription) remember that you can analyse things going wrong to illustrate what kind of show it is supposed to be

3. Choose one particular object of analysis, e.g.: News talk Ordinary talk show Celebrity talk Big Brother talk TV series Movies Possible areas of investigation: concentrate on four recent episodes of one type of show/broadcast and explain its nature in detail explain four different types of show/broadcast from the area show how one particular show from the area has changed over time (diachronic study); analyse 4 different episodes from different times show how current English, US, French and Italian shows from the area differ (an example of one show from each culture with the same basic format)

4. Before your seminar before your seminar one member of the group should send me: a file with all the transcripts/handouts which you would like participants to read before the seminar and to have during the seminar. a one page document which explains roughly what you are going to do and which member of the group has done what During the seminar take it in turns to introduce different aspects of the seminar (divide up the speaking time equally) make sure participants have the material before you start show us the important bits of episodes, i.e. the bits that illustrate a point about the programme that you want to make ask the participants questions. make your points but try to get the participants to make them for you use Powerpoint to illustrate your points

5. Participation and attendance I will be taking attendance and you should attend 75% minimum of all seminars remember that I am marking the participation of every member of the class as well as the members of each seminar group so you should try to take an intelligent interest in what is being said.

6. Seminar Purpose It is essential to remember that the aim is not competition, but increased understanding of the issue HOW? finding ways of processing information and introducing it to others articulately and engagingly. other students will be asked to raise questions in relation to your presentation. You will then either have to try and explain or defend it, or perhaps concede their point (the principal aim is for the class to understand your argument and the basis for it).

7. Issue vs text-based If the seminar is issue-based, analyze the issue into a number of points, work out the relation between them, research what significant thinkers have said about them, and decide what is important to present to the class. If the seminar is text-based, read your text carefully several times, asking questions like: what is it about, what are the main points it makes, how does it make them? Try to contextualize each text and its issues by answering questions like: to what situation does the text address itself, and for what purpose?

8. How to lead a seminar discussion it is often helpful to frame one or two questions which have occurred to you in the course of your reading. This can provide the seminar with a starter for discussion. Although seminar questions vary depending on the text/issue, there is a consistent set of characteristics that defines a strong question. All the questions that you ask during the seminar per se should be open-ended, thought-provoking, and clear.

9. Open-ended All seminar questions should be open-ended. Open-ended questions elicit numerous correct responses. To be correct, a response must be justified preferably based on the text. A correct response may also be substantiated based on other credible references. Thought-provoking Seminar questions are designed to elicit student thinking: to explain and manipulate complex systems. Thoughtful questions inspire participants’ thinking by challenging them to analyze, examine assumptions, evaluate, and synthesize. Clear As much as possible, seminar questions should be clear. Participants should immediately understand what is being asked. Often clarity comes with simplicity: usually the fewer words in a question the better.

10. In addition to being open-ended, thought- provoking, and clear, Seminar questions are grouped into three types that together provide direction for the dialogue. Opening questions Core questions Closing questions

11. Opening Questions are designed to get participants to identify the main ideas and/or values in the text. – Example: What word or phrase in the text is most important? Why? Core Questions are designed to have participants closely analyze the details of the text. – Example: Based on the text, what is meant by... ? – What is the relationship between _________ and _________ ? – What might we infer based on... ? Closing Questions are designed so that participants personally evaluate the ideas and values. – Example: What does this text teach us about... ?

12. To sum up… Is it open-ended? (How many correct responses can you imagine?) Is it thought-provoking? (Does it require analysis, synthesis, evaluation?) Is it clear? (Can someone else easily understand exactly what you’re asking?) Is it an opening question? (Will it elicit participant identification of the main ideas from the text?) Is it a core question? (Will it require close analysis of the text?) Is it a closing question? (Will it encourage participants to synthesize and evaluate the real world applications?)

13. An example Issue based seminar: What is narrative? Narratives are a pervasive element of communication, and they are put to a number of different uses throughout literature, culture, art and everyday life. They can take many different forms: pictures, music, mime, gesture, dance, words. Hence the scolarly concern for getting to a theory of narratives. A prerequisite for any theory is delimiting the field, starting from defining the object of investigation. How can we define ‘narrative’? Can you give me a provisional definition of it? OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS

14. How would you define the concept of “narrative”: Several correct (provisional) answers: Representations of events Telling about events Emphasis on change in time

15. Core questions: they help to focus the attention on specific aspects of the issue Are traditional definitions satisfactory? What definitions explain the concept better? We will start from Rudrum’s survey of extant definitions, on his criticism of them, and then decide whether his proposal is convincing and exhaustive.

16. Defining narrative "one will define narrative without difficulty as the representation of an event or sequence of events." (Genette 127) "A narration is the symbolic presentation of a sequence of events" (Scholes 205) "Narrative has been... defined as the representation of at least one event" (Prince, "Revisiting Narrativity" 43)

17. "Narrative... may be defined as the representation of real or fictive events and situations in a time sequence." (Prince, Narratology 1) "narrative is the representation of at least two real or fictive events in a time se (Prince, Narratology 4) "Any representation of non-contradictory events such that at least one occurs at a time t and another at a time t following time t constitutes a narrative (however trivial)." (Prince, Narratology 145) "What we get in a narrative text are not events as such, but signs, the representations of events." (Onega and Landa 5)

19. Core question: can both sequence 1 (Calvin and Hobbs) and 2 (assembling instructions) be considered examples of narratives If these definitions are satisfactory, we should be able to apply them just to 1 and not to 2 Test – Representation: applies to both – Sequence of events: applies to both – Structural interrelations among the various parts: applies to both

20. Rudrum’s point: Text internal parameters are not enough. A satisfactory definition can be atteined only if we take into account the mdediating function of awareness of the use which is currently made of representations of a sequence of events CLOSING QUESTIONS Is that convincing? Does this amount to a definition of ‘narrative’?

21. Conclusion we still need to find a satisfactory definition of narrative which accommodates Rudrum’s observation on use

22. Further developments: What can models of narrative analysis add to our undersatnding of the concept? Text grammar: Werlich Structuralist theories Sociolinguistic models

23. Werlich Categories of text grammar (1) Text types Narrative Descriptive Expository Argumentative Instructive Texts groups Non-fictional fictional Text forms Impressionistic vs technical description Narrative vs report … groupings

24. Text types Texts conventionally focus the addressee’s attention only on specific factors and circumstances from the whole set of factors. Accordingly, texts can be grouped together and generally classified on the basis of their dominant contextual focus Text types

25. If grouped together on the basis of dominant contextual foci, texts can be classified into 5 text types Focus on factual phenomena in the spatial context: descriptive texts Focus on factual/conceptual phenomena in the temporal context: narrative texts Focus on de-composition (analysis) into constituent elements, or the composition (synthesis) from constituent elements of concepts: expository texts Focus on the relations between concept: argumentative texts Focus on observable future behaviour: instructive texts (Werlich 1983, pp.19 e 20) Text types

26. Categories of text grammar (2) Point of view Presentation Person Focus Tense and aspect voice mode composition Introduction Sequence form Text structuring Text unit Variety Idiolect Dialect Sociolect Register Text idiom Style Medium Text constituents

27. Point of view Point of view refers to that set of constituents which indicates and delimits aspects of the mental or physical position from which the encoder speaks and to which he relates all his reference phenomena Point of view

28. Composition An inclusive term used to refer to the text internal constituents from the view point of their type, order and arrangement in the spatio-temporal extension of texts. composition

29. Description

30. Point of view

31. Composition

32. styles

33. Language focus: technical description

34. Language focus: impressionistic description Adjectives: – Factual (colour, material…) – Evaluative (author’s view) When evaluative adjectives are combined with factual adjectives, evaluation comes first

35. Narration

36. Point of view

37. Composition

38. first frame The old man talked about all this, and suddenly I realized he was telling me my favourite Channel story […] second frame It happened during one of the great storms …