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

35. The Lang of TV fly-on-the wall/ TV programmes (eg Big Brother)

36. The Lang of Telephone sales

37. The Lang of Chatroom names

38. Comparison of literary texts (eg Yellow Wallpaper & Bridget Jones. Re: Lang Change)

39. The Lang of Birthday Cards

40. The Lang of the Bible/Religious texts

41. The Lang of War-related texts from 1939-1945.

42. Teacher Talk. Record a teacher working with their students. Examine power features
employed.

43. Gender issues. Record a male group & female group discussing the same topic/ stimulus.
Compare the differences.

44. Gender differences. Record a woman in a ‘male’ environment, or a man in a ‘female’

environment – eg a woman in a motor mechanics garage, or a man in a lingerie shop.

45. Taboo language. Record 2 different age/social/gender groups and compare their use of
taboo language. Is it becoming more prevalent? More acceptable?

46. Occupational lexis. Record a person at work, or within any social group
47. (eg: doctors/solicitors/mechanics/football fans) where specialised language
48. might be used. Examine the functions of their jargon. How & why is it used?

49. Child Language Acquisition. Record children talking as they perform a task – eg lego
building. Read them stories and ask them to re-tell it in writing, or on tape.
50. The Lexis of sports commentators. Record & transcribe a few commentaries. Compare
extracts of at least 3 different speakers to investigate if there is a recognisable genre.

51. The Lexis of Football/ Sport. Record a group of fans discussing a sport. Could examine in
terms of field-specific lexis, co-operation and/or power shifts.

52. Choose 3 adverts for similar products. Analyse in terms of target audiences. Are there
any differences? Similarities? You can compare adverts from different times

53. How shop names/brand names of cosmetics/ band names/ car names reflect the
concerns of society and how they have changed over time.

54. An investigation into the growing informality of English, as evident in e-mail and chat-
room culture. Examine in terms of a few carefully selected e-texts.

55. The prevalence of Black English Vernacular in popular culture. Why is it fast becoming
the most popular variety of English for teenagers today? Examine in terms of a few
selected texts.

56. To what extent is there an increasing influence of Americanisms on the English

Language? Examine in terms of 3 selected media texts.
57. (eg: newspapers/magazines/music/radio & TV scripts)

58. Gender stereotyping in children’s’ literature. Select 3 extracts from texts from perhaps the
1940s/1950s (like Enid Blyton’s “The Famous Five” or Arthur Ransom’s “Swallows and
Amazons”) and examine for gender bias.

59. Gender stereotyping in any type of text you would like to examine. This could be – tabloid
newspapers, lifestyle/sport/car/fashion/music magazines. Analyse in terms of the target
audiences and shared cultural assumptions. A good one to do might be superhero or
fantasy-type comics, where stereotypes are often employed.

60. How attitudes to gender roles have changed. Compare different texts, such as a Mills &
Boon story and the Roger McGough poem “Jogger’s Song” to illustrate how society has
altered its views. You could possibly choose problem page letters to agony aunts in
magazines from different decades.

61. Investigation into the language of menus

62. Differences in dialect use between 3 generations in one family

63. Does the language of personal ads vary depending on gender and sexuality?

64. The use of language in English and Irish newspaper reports on the decommisioning of
weapons in NI.

65. How flyers for classical and dance music persuade their different audiences to attend

66. The representation of David Beckham after the Greece v England game compared with
previous press coverage

67. Aims and use of language in song lyrics of Gil Scott Heron and the speeches of Tony
Blair and George Bush

68. Change in tabloid and broadsheet papers as the war in Afghanistan develops

69. How has language in fashion ads. Changed due to social and fashion development in the
last 30 years
70. The use of derogatory terms for social minorities in mixed-sex groups of 14 and 40
71. Billy Connolly's use of Scottish dialect as he has developed from local to international
performer

72. Influence of gender on ads. For the same product in men's and women's magazines

73. Representation of sportswomen in journalism

74. Techniques used by Frank Skinner to entertain his audience

75. Adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh for a modern video

76. Gender and conversational behaviour, looking at interruptions

77. Influence of the Internet on English

78. Mixed and same gender conversational interactions

79. Comparing R&B of the 1950s with present day equivalents

80. Languge of men's and women's magazines

81. Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream' compared with Shakespeare Made Easy

82. Gossip in the work place in soap operas

83. Recreational magazines aimed at teenage girls in the last 40 years

84. Influence of other children on the development of children's language

85. Representation of women in a range of national newspapers

86. Celebrity Chefs: a study of the language of recipes

87. A study of the language of press releases

88. Newspaper accounts of England/Germany football matches over 40 years

89. The language of American and English guitar magazines

90. How national newspapers reported the Conservative leadership election

91. Car adverts

92. How males and females describe visual art

93. Male and female speech in children's books over time

94. Development of children's writing, looking at male and female writers over 6 months

95. Scottish and West country speech, looking at the effect of West country context on
Scottish speaker

96. Presentation of celebrity gossip in Sun and Hello

97. The language of 'Rocky Horror Show' and 'Frankenstein' examining pastiche

98. Conversation in real life and Eastenders

99. TV and radio football commentaries

100. Child language development, looking at one child over 3-4 months

101. Representation of terrorism and terrorists in a range of newspapers

102. An Investigation into the ways in which male and female writers covertly use
gendered language in writing their ‘Dream Journey’ Original Writing.

103. ‘Bush for Brains’ An Investigation into how George Bush uses language to justify
military action on Afghanistan.

104. ‘Transformers…Robots in Disguise’ An Investigation into the changes within

children’s television programming over ten years.

105. ‘The writers and illustrators [of comics and books] portray their own ideas of the real
or an ideal world, showing implicit discrimination by sex’ – Just Like a Girl, Sue Sharpe,
Penguin, 1976. To what extent do the differences in language used in two children’s
annuals written in 1963 portray such gender bias?

106. ‘Notorious Nanny in Child Death Shocker’ – An Investigation into how Judge Hiller
Zobel’s summing up speech could have influenced the jury’s final verdict in the case of
Louise Woodward.

107. An Investigation into the content of teen magazines. Do they inform of the risks
involved in sex or do they use sex as an entertainment strategy.

108. An Investigation into the use of Politically Correct language. A comparison of Enid
Blyton and J.K. Rowling.

109. An Investigation into whether the presentation of the Royal Family in the press has
changed from the 1950’s to the present day.

110. ‘Those Who Can…Teach’ – How do teachers use different linguistic techniques to
command authority in the classroom.

111. An Investigation into how the Middle East Crisis was reported in a Lebanese as
opposed to an English newspaper on June 21st 2002.

112. ‘The Thatchill Speech’ – An Investigation into Margaret Thatcher’s 1982 Falkland and
Winston Churchill’s June 1940 Battle of Dunkirk speeches.

113. ‘Ooh er…Missus…No!’How has Political Correctness changed language use in

comedy movies, with reference to the ‘Carry On’ films from 1968 and 1992.

114. How does Tony Soprano use language to try to retain power with the women in his
life and gain power over his psychiatrist?

115. ‘Kung Fu Fighting in Saipan’ – How does the tabloid press attempt to influence public
opinion when writing about national football teams?

116. Graham Norton: Comedian or Chat Show Host? How does Graham Norton use
language to create comedy within the chat show framework?

117. Representation of 'war against terrorism' in newspapers for minority groups

118. Language of magazines for girls of 13 and 18

119. Language of TV programmes for children under-5

120. The conventions of personal adverts. Look at the styles of 3 different newspapers or
magazines that offer this kind of dating service. You might choose to compare The Times,
The Sun and The Evening Post?

More Investigation Ideas…

A comparison of Business and personal email

Writing acquisition in bilingual children
Language acquisition in twins
The imact of carers on language acuisition
Gender and message boards
gender and MSN
Language of extreme sports commentary
language of lying - an investigation into the speeches and answers of Richar Nixon
Changes in the use of 'Euro' over time
The language of Internet and Medicine
Comparison of US and UK reporting of terrist incidents
Gender and magazine editorials
Pseudo-Scientific language in Beauty advertising
An investigation into 'Chav-Speak'
Generational Language change with families
The language of 'official' and 'unofficial' internet sites for rock bands
An examination of whether accepted Gender theories hold for the speach of modern young
women
The Language of Innocent Smoothie Labels
The Language of Gendered Instruction: recording the instructions given by guides to their
blindfolded partners around an obstacle course
The Language of Jamie Oliver
The Language of UCAS Applications (gender comparison)
How Mum Talks to the Dog!
The Language of the Merger (promotional literature to do with our school’s merger)