Ethnography of Communication Analysis in High School Film Essay

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Ethnography of Communication in High School Film

The EOC (ethnography of communication) is the analysis of communication within a culture, and practices of speech of a number of community. The EOC refers to the discourse analysis in linguistic drawing the anthropological field investigating the use of speech, their meaning or interpretation as being found in human groups or particular communities. The normative and cultural are two important concepts in the ethnographic communication analysis, which are used to analyze language, cultural norms, and situation context that influence communication among people.

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the concept ethnographic of communication using the film titled "High School" directed by Frederick Wiseman.

Part 1 of Project

The study uses the film titled "High School" to illustrate the concept ethnographic communication. High School is an American film directed by Frederick Wiseman in 1968. High School is an ethnographic film depicting Northeast High School student's events. After the film production, High School has been distributed on DVD through Zipporah Films and rented to colleges, high school and libraries on 5-year term lease.

The intent of this study is to present text in the film based on cultural and normative analysis of communication. A particular text in the film reveals the communication between three participants: a student, a school counselor, and the student mother. All of them were seated in the counselor's office, and based on the tone of their conversations, it was evident that the students had been reprimanded for misbehaving, and the school counselor called in the mother for a conference. The following ethnographic texts described the episode in the film that resulted in the student being reprimanded.

Student: All of us were just messing around. We locked her up in the closet and threw her a book...

Counselor: I must admit that the teacher was not doing the best that she ought to be. What is your contribution?

Student: She is just messing around similar with everybody else.

Mom: Well, can you tell me the meaning of what "messing around"? This is what I have been trying to figure out...Almost every time you keep saying messing around, what does messing around actually mean?

Student: I admit, we were, talking, laughing.

Mom: Just plain talking, well, and laughing isn't offensive.

Student: Uhm, well, we threw a book around or something...

Mom: You threw a book around. OK, ...

Student: Mom (pause), not just me

Mom: Whoever was involved?

Student: Yah, I know I did, I must admit I talked back a lot.

Mom: Did you actually talk back to your teacher?

Student: Yea. (pause)

Mom: And this is what you are referring messing around? Isn't that more disrespectful?

Student: What I did, I know I was more disrespect. What the rest, What I, and what else everybody did was also just messing around,

Mom (later): You know, to be disrespectful is one of the worst things to do in the manner of speech or in the way of talking.

The study uses three theoretical frameworks applicable to the data collected from the film "High School." "

Theory I

Name Theory: Rules Theory

Online Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40237289?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Brief Explanation of the Theory:

The rules theory describes the behaviors that are preferred, prohibited, or obligated in a given text. Typically, rules facilitate an effective process of communication as well as making symbolic interaction meaningful. However, rule varies across cultures, communities, languages, time and contexts. Although, there are varieties of rule theories in the communication field, however, these theories share the same rules in meaning, pronunciations, grammar and use. According to the rule theory, customs, conventions, taboos, prohibition, principles, guidelines, and norms are a common concept. (Shimanoff, 1980). For example, it is a general norm that a student does not come late to the class. Moreover, it is a general norm that students should respect their teachers and avoid talking disrespectfully to teachers.

Application of Data to the Theory

Different scenes in the High School film have been related to the rule theories. In the school, it is evident that there are rules that all students should follow and failure to respect the rules will lead student's punishment. From the data extracted from the film, the student has broken the school rules by using foul language on her teacher. Thus, the school counselor called her mother for a conference. The following data in the film has shown that the student has broken the school rules:

Student: All of us were just messing around. We locked her up in the closet and threw her a book..

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.

Mom: Well, can you tell me the meaning of what "messing around"? This is what I have been trying to figure out...Almost every time you keeping saying messing around, what does messing around actually consist of?

Student: Uhm, well, we threw a book around or something...

Mom: You threw a book around. OK, ...

The data shows that the student has broken the school rules by throwing the book at the teacher. Moreover, the student does not respect the school rules. She also uses the foul languages "messing around" at her teacher as being revealed in the data below:

Student: Yah, I know I did, I must admit I talked back a lot.

Mom: Did you actually talk back to your teacher?

Student: Yea. (pause)

Mom: And this is what you are referring messing around? Isn't that more disrespectful?

Student: What I did, I know I was more disrespect. What the rest, What I, and what else everybody did was also just messing around.

Theoretical Relationship between Culture and Language

In the analysis, the rule theory reveals that language and culture influence the tone of human communication. Typically, the environment and cultural background of an individual influence his or her tone of communication. As being revealed in the data extracted from the film, the student is using informal language in the school, and her tone of language has shown that the school has not inculcated the application of formal language in students.

Theory II

Name Theory: Social Identity Theory

Online Source: http://sk.sagepub.com/books/leadership-and-power/n16.xml

Brief Explanation of the Theory:

The social identity theory argues that people are motivated in order to achieve and maintain a positive social identity with a particular group. Essentially, the group is engage struggling for status, prestige, and power. Thus, an individual tries to adopt the norm of a group to be accepted by the member of the group. (Knippenberg, & Hogg, 2004). A person who does nor behave according to the norms of the group may not be accepted by the member of the group. An important aspect of social identity theory is that an individual should use the same dialect, and tone in the communication to belong to a member of the group. (Reid & Ng, 2003).

Application of Data to Social Identity Theory

Some aspect of data extracted from the film "High School" has revealed the linkages with the social identity theory with the tone of communication of the students. It is evident that the student adopted the tone of communication, which has been accepted as a general mode of communication among the group of students. For example, the student has used foul languages and behaviors in the data showing that the language is the accepted social identity communication among the students: The phrase "messing around" or other phrases are accepted social identity communications used in the data:

Student: All of us were just messing around. We locked her up in the closet and threw her .

Student: She is just messing around similar with everybody else.

Mom: Well, can you tell me the meaning of what "messing around"? This is what I have been trying to figure out...Almost every time you keeping saying messing around, what does messing around actually consist of?

Student: Uhm, well, we threw a book around or something...

Mom: You threw a book around. OK,...

Mom: Did you actually talk back to your teacher?

Student: Yea. (pause)

Mom: And this is what you are referring messing around? Isn't that more disrespectful?

Theoretical Relationship between Culture and Language

The social identity theory shows that a culture is a powerful tool that influences the behavior and method of communication. The theory shows that a group can develop a cultural norm that can influence the way of communication of all the member of the group. The data in the film shows that the student follows the cultural norm of the social group in the school.

Theory III

Name Theory: Speech Codes Theory

Online Source: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/theorizing-about-intercultural-communication/book225618

Brief Explanation of the Theory:

The SCT (speech code theory) expands ethnography of communication offering an analytical framework to understand the effect of culture in communication. The theory builds an idea of cultural communication to understand how a particular member of society performs and communicate based on the cultural context. The theory argues that the tone of individual's communication depends on their cultural background, which is transferred from generation to generation. The SCT points out….....

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