ACTIVIDAD 2 SOCIALIZACIÓN DE RESULTADOS DEL MANUALDE ESTILO
9. MANUAL DE ESTILO DC CUENTA, DOCUMENTAL Y CRÓNICA
The orientation (ORI) is optional and presents the characters, the setting, and the
circumstances of the TPN. In the database, 84 of 97 total TPNs include an orientation, so the
teachers in this study regularly employed an orientation in their TPN. Important features of
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According to Labov (2013, p 27), the ‘heads of clauses in the orientation are most
often be, have, and other stative verbs, and for the ordinary behavior of the participants, most
often the past progressive’. Also, an adverb of time in the orientation such as now, last summer, or a long time ago, can mark that a TPN is about to take place (Cortazzi, 1993).
The orientation normally follows the abstract though it can appear in other sections of
the TPN where it is most appropriate (Labov, 2013). In this study, however, the orientation
either appeared after the abstract or at the beginning of a TPN where no abstract was present.
5.2.3.1 Orientation Based on Student Level
The level of detail provided by teachers in the orientation may depend on the level of
the students they are teaching. There appears to be an identifiable pattern between those who
teach lower-level students and those who teach higher-level students in the way the teachers
present their TPN orientation as explained in this section.
Lower-level students, those whose English is at the beginner or low-intermediate
levels or whose reasoning skills may still be developing, may require detailed orientations in
order to follow the TPN. Whereas higher-level students, those with intermediate to advanced
levels of English and who may regularly utilize higher order thinking techniques, may not
need as many details in the orientation because they can predict the unspoken elements
themselves.
In section 5.2.2.3, J-sensei’s unique one-line abstract was presented in Extract 5.5
(see appendix P for full transcript). It was followed by this very typical orientation presented
in a clear and logical manner. This TPN takes place at the end of the extensive reading
activity in class and is told to the whole class.
Extract 5.9 (Orientation 1: The Shinkansen, J-C-100212-2-2)
ORI T I went to Osaka, (-) on Sunday. (-)
2
ORI .hhh there: wa:s a:: (-) teachers’ conference?(-)
3
ORI by this company? (-) P******. (-)
4
ORI P***** >K*******.< (-) this company? (-)
5
ORI there was a teachers’ seminar or conference? (-)
6
ORI it was a:: (-) kenshuukai? [workshop] for teachers, (-)
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ORI like (-) elementary schoo::l, junior high school,
8
ORI high school university teachers. (-)
9
ORI and I was asked to:, (-) give a talk, (-) a lecture. (-) 10
ORI at that conference? (-)
11
The order in which J-sensei describes the orientation is:
1. Who: I (J-sensei) (line 2) 2. Where: Osaka (line 2) 3. When: Sunday (line 2)
4. What: teachers’ conference (line 3, repeated in line 6)
5. Why: to give a talk (line 10, relexicalised as ‘a lecture’ in line 10)
It could be that J-sensei was very detailed in her orientation because the students were
Freshmen who perhaps need more guidance and language scaffolding (Ellis, 2012). J-sensei
uses a linguistic marker typical for TPN orientations, the be verb in lines 3, 6, and 7.
The following orientation stems from M-sensei’s TPN (see appendix U for full
transcript) which took place during a class activity in which he was showing students how to
teach using the grammatical structure ‘used to’. This TPN is the fourth in a series of four showing this particular grammatical structure and is shared with the whole class.
Extract 5.10 (Orientation 2: Play Mamagoto, M-C-111111-6-16)
ORI T =yeah play hou::se (-)
6
ORI ye:ah I used to do that. (-)
7
ORI even now I do. (-) 8
ORI yo - you don’t? (-) anymore? (-) 9
ORI I do it even no:w (-) 10
The order in which M-sensei describes the orientation is:
1. What: play house (lines 6-7) 2. Who: I (M-sensei) (line 7)
3. When: sometime in the past as evidenced through ‘used to do’ (line 7) 4. Where: unknown
5. Why: unknown
In this case, M-sensei has left out the place (where) and the reason (why) as well as
provided vague details about the time (when). It can be assumed that the place is ‘in/around
the house’ since that is where most people who play house, that is children, do this kind of activity. Furthermore, the reason for this story is perhaps not necessary and may be addressed
during its telling. Several time markers are used throughout this orientation. In line 8, ‘now’
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intonation, vowel elongation, and word stress. In line 9, another adverb of time is present
‘anymore’. The combination of these three time markers show that M-sensei is about to begin a TPN.
It is interesting to note the contrast between J-sensei’s orientation of The Shinkansen
and M-sensei’s orientation of Play Mamagoto. J-sensei clearly addressed all aspects of an
orientation: who, what, where, when, and why. M-sensei, on the other hand, only explicitly
addressed two: what and who. This suggests that there may be a difference between the types
of students one is teaching. J-sensei is teaching Freshmen or lower-level students, whereas M-
sensei’s students are all Seniors or higher-level students. When considering the five aspects of an orientation (who, what, when, where, and why), it is interesting to note how many the four
case study teachers use in this study. J-sensei uses an average of 4.6 out of five of these. Ms.
L, who teaches Sophomores with one more year of education than J-sensei’s students, uses
3.2 wh- orientation aspects. Both Mr. H and M-sensei who are teaching a mixture of Juniors
and Seniors use three out of 5. It seems like a pattern may be emerging in that J-sensei is
clearly explaining her orientations in much more detail compared to the other teachers.
However, it may be difficult to make such claims based on the small sample size in this study.
Therefore, with lower-level students, it may be necessary for teachers to clearly
communicate all aspects of the orientation in order for students to understand what is being
said. For higher-level students, certain elements can be omitted and students will still be able
to follow the story (see section 8.6.2.1).
5.2.3.2 Orientation of an Artful Narrator
Artful narrators, coined by Labov, present lengthy orientations or orientations that
weave together orienting information along with evaluative statements (Labov, 2013). Some
instances of the artful narrator are evident in the dataset, in particular, J-sensei as examined in
the previous section with her longer orientations and Mr. H as presented in this section who
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with evaluative statements in the dataset, one from M-sensei, three from Ms. L, and six from
Mr. H.
In this example, Mr. H is telling the whole class how technology, specifically
telephones and cell phones, has changed family and social relationships over time. The TPN,
A Telephone in the Kitchen (see appendix V for full transcript), leads into the students being assigned homework for the following week on technology and addiction. The evaluation in
line 1 marks the beginning of the TPN; there is no abstract.
Extract 5.11 (Orientation 3: A Telephone in the Kitchen, H-C-050712-2-15)
EVA T I:::: think I'm lucky. (-)
1
EVA I >think I'm really lucky< (-) 2
ORI because I'm 42 years old. (-)
3
ORI I come from a different generation than you guys. (-)
4
ORI when I was a kid, (-)
5
ORI <we had> (-) <a telepho:ne in the kitchen.> (-) 6
Lines 1 and 2 are evaluative statements; Mr. H believes he is lucky. In the orientation, it is
unclear why he is lucky; however, it will be made clear by the end of the TPN. It might be
said that he is lucky because he is ‘from a different generation’ in line 4, but it is not a clear explanation as to why he believes he is lucky. His two evaluative statements act as hooks to
get the audience interested in finding out why he is lucky. Thus, initial evaluations may also
have an interest arousing function.
5.2.3.3 Summary
The following conclusions can be made based on the above discussion of the
orientation element of a TPN: (1) the orientation is almost always present in a TPN, (2) for
lower-level English language students it might be beneficial for teachers to provide a clear
and logically-flowing orientation by addressing the following: who, what, where, when, and
why, (3) linguistic markers such as adverbs of time may aid students in noticing an upcoming
TPN, and (4) an artful narrator, such as Mr. H, may include evaluative comments with the
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