INTRODUCTION
Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) is currently spread its name in the
internet world created by electronic communications. First of all, Alexander
Romiszowski and Robin Mason (n.d) introduced CMC as “the process by which
people create, exchange, and perceive information using networked
telecommunications systems that facilitate encoding, transmitting, and decoding
messages” (p.1). This CMC possesses two forms of CMC which are synchronous and
asynchronous text-based CMC. However, this study focuses essentially on
asynchronous text-based CMC which is blog. Romiszowski and Mason
(n.d) claimed that asynchronous CMC is known as delayed time of communication
between posting information and it being read. Blog is best example in
describing this phenomenon. Blog is shortened word of Web Log is
referred as journal entries that are posted on a web page. (Tech term, 2013).
This study is designed to seek ideologies of people in blog. This ideology
theory is derived from Critical Discourse Analysis which is one of linguistics
subjects. Norman Fairclough (1995) believed that CDA tries to investigate the
relationship between the language used in texts and the social contexts to
unpack the hidden ideology in the text. William (cited in Eriyanto, 2000) has
classified the ideology as “a set of belief that exists in social practices and
particularly belongs to dominant group” (p.6).
Thus, the researchers have selected an issue about the future plans of an
English degree in using blog as a platform to collect data. This study is
conducted due to few researches are studied. This study enables people to know
how the ideology is pointed out and how the researchers interpret it. Hence,
the research objective is to implement the blog in investigating the
ideologies among author and participants.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The rise of internet of blogging
has created dynamic in World Wide Web field. The rises of blogs give great role
in accessing and retrieving data. Blogs also able to help learners in
discovering new ideas and ideologies pertaining to various issues arise in the
world. Hence, there are many studies have conducted to seek information.
Study done by Catalyst Group
Design (2005) examined this phenomenon. This study was designed to investigate
whether people are capable in using and understanding a blog. Thus, Catalyst
Group Design (2005) conducted this study in New York City that participated by
nine participants on a live site using testing sessions method.
The findings indicated that most
of participants did know how to use blogs in seeking information that
interested them. But, they were unable to understand how blogs is functioning.
Plus, Catalyst (2005) noticed all participants had positive attitudes towards
blogs because the participants expected more from blogs. They claimed that
blogs able to provide good information from different perspective. This is how
ideology in Critical Discourse Analysis subject works. Blogs can be a good
platform for audience to voice out their opinions critically regarding to an
issue. However, over half of the participants were less confident of significance
of the posts in blogs since it was less credible as a main source.
In conclusion, people are able to
get new information via blogs. Blogs can be a good source to look up for
information as reference. However, students need to be careful in accessing
data since not all blogs are reliable, valid and good quality.
METHODOLOGY
The
general aim of this study is to find out the ideologies of authors and
participants pertaining to issue of the future plans for an English degree.
Thus, descriptive research design was used for this study. This design was the
guideline for this study. Descriptive design attempts to describe and explain
present situations by using many subjects. Subjects mean the respondents that
participated in the research. (Carroll, n.d)
In this
study, the researchers have selected asynchronous form of Computer-Mediated
Communication (CMC) as sampling. According to Rob Higgins (1991), CMC refers to
communication or interaction between people via computer. Meanwhile, asynchronous
CMC deals with non-real time communication. One of them is blog. Blog develops
human interaction since they can exchange their thoughts through comment
column. Hence, blog is used to collect data pertaining to ideologies in the
blog. The researchers used CNN’s Schools of Thought blog as a medium in
investigating the ideologies of both author and respondents. This blog is a
place where parents, educators and learners discuss what is happening in
education area.
The population of this study
offered various participants from all over the world. The participants
consisted of 10 participants. Their backgrounds were anonymous as they were
merely commented the post. All their responses and ideologies were observed by
the researchers. The participants commented the post throughout the month of January.
Another respondent that the researchers investigated is Michael Berube where he is the author of this blog. He is the Edwin Erle Sparks professor and Director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at Pennsylvania State University as stated in the blog. At his university, he teaches cultural studies and American literature. He is also known as a blogger where most of his ideologies are written down in the blog. (Wikipedia, 2013) .
Another respondent that the researchers investigated is Michael Berube where he is the author of this blog. He is the Edwin Erle Sparks professor and Director of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at Pennsylvania State University as stated in the blog. At his university, he teaches cultural studies and American literature. He is also known as a blogger where most of his ideologies are written down in the blog. (Wikipedia, 2013) .
HEGEMONY
WORDS IN THE ARTICLE
Two hegemony words found in
the article :-
-
Complex (6 times)
-
Critical thinking (2 times)
HEGEMONY
WORDS IN THE COMMENTS
Two
hegemony words found :-
-
Complex (2 times)
-
Critical thinking (2 times)
COERCIONS IN THE
ARTICLE
1) More
comprehensively, more imaginatively-than the business or
finance major who assumed that her degree was all she needed to earn a place in
your company.
2) The
more reading and writing they did-serious reading,
analytical writing-the more they learned.
COERCIONS IN THE COMMENTS
Positive
|
Negative
|
English studies is very important
all over the world.
|
The liberal arts degrees just need
to made more demanding, and they will earn more respect.
|
Enjoy your fancy vocabulary and
pretentiousness. I’ll take a degree with higher probability of helping
me start a career.
|
DISCUSSION
In
the article of the blog, what the blogger, Mr. Berube wants to tell the reader
is about the perceptions of others on English degree and what are exactly the
English graduates can do with the degree in their career life. Overall, the
main ideology that the blogger wants to stress upon is that the English degree
can be at the same level as the other field of knowledge.
Hence,
how to make sure that the above sentence is his ideology? It is quite simple,
to know his ideology, one must identify the other two close friends of ideology
which are hegemony and coercion. These three things are interrelated and cannot
be separated. They are indeed really close friends.
For
hegemony, the words are repeated many times to show its important in the
article. For example, the word ‘complex’ is repeated six times means that it is
the most important word and it has its own significance in the article where
will be touched upon later. Meanwhile, ‘critical thinking’ is the second word
which is repeated quite often by Berube.
The
word ‘complex’ is always written in the article as, “Complex material that
requires intense concentration”, for two times. Then, sentences like, “Complex
material that handles the challenge better”, “Complex material and write a
persuasive account of it” and another sentence which is repeated twice “Complex
reasoning and writing skills.”
From
those sentences, they are inclining with Berube’s main ideology where English
degree is also at the same level as any other knowledge or degree. This is
because, English language is not a simple subject either. It is not only
chemistry, mathematics, engineering and so forth are complex subjects but it is
also includes English language. To learn English language, it is not just like
learning ABC but the learners also need to learn pragmatics, grammar,
semantics, phonetics and many more. So, this is what Berube wants to argue
about and that is why he uses the word ‘complex’ for many times.
On
the other hand, the word ‘critical thinking’ is always paired with “Students
showed improvement in critical thinking” and “Something that requires critical
thinking.” Why he uses this word quite often also? Well, it is to state
implicitly that English studies is also uses our critical thinking. Moreover,
if one studies ‘forensic linguistics’, he or she needs to critically analyze the
letters and handwriting. It is not just by merely looking at it, the result
will be obtained. It is a matter of using a critical thinking and by it also, a
crime can be solved. So, what a contribution to the society! Therefore, the
words ‘complex’ and ‘critical thinking’ play significance as to show the
benefits of English language or studies to the readers.
Move
on to the comments, the ideologies found were either support and against the
ideology of Michael Berube. First, the main ideology among all the commentators
is English degree brings no advantages. Meanwhile, the sub ideology is that
English degree is a serious matter and it will give them benefit in their life
and career.
For the hegemony
word ‘complex’ was found twice and it is also the same with the word ‘critical
thinking’. The word ‘complex’ is always in sentences like “Complex reasoning
and writing skills” and “Mastery of complex material.” Sometimes, we need to
refer to the full paragraph of it to make sure what exactly is the meaning of ‘complex’
in the particular paragraph. So, for this word, the full paragraph is “I have an
English degree, and this is spot-on. I owe my professional life to the “critical
thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills” I gained in college
from my humanities education, as well as the humanities internship program that
placed me in a terrifying marketing internship in an industry I knew nothing
about.” Hence, the above
sentences do not support the ideology of the article of the blog because, the
speaker meant to say that English degree does not help her at all in her job
scope which is marketing.
Another
sentences for ‘complex’ is “I would hope that just about everything you study
in college requires deep concentration and mastery of complex material.
But concentrating deeply about Hawthorne and Hemingway and mastering the
complexities of Edgar Allen Poe just isn't quite as impressive as mastering the
complexities of engineering, science, medicine, law, economics or math is it?”
These sentences
also against the main ideology of Berube where the speaker believes that
English and literature are indeed complex but to focus on literature is not
impressive enough than to concentrate on the complexities of other knowledge
especially hard sciences.
Next, the word
‘critical thinking’ was mentioned in the comments as “There’s something to be
said about utilizing critical thinking skills in a praxis oriented atmosphere.”
It is quite unclear to decide whether it supports or against the main ideology.
Therefore, the full excerpt of it is, “I got a BA in English, then an
MA, then a PhD. So clearly I love to read and write and was/am to some degree
good at it. However, I have to honestly admit that I wish I had double-majored
with something in the sciences. There's something to be said about utilizing
critical thinking skills in a praxis oriented atmosphere.”
It is obvious
that the speaker has a belief that the English degree will not be benefited in
a praxis or practical atmosphere. However, little did she know that by
acquiring a critical thinking in English language also useful for some jobs
that acquire critical thinking a lot. One of them is ‘forensic linguistics’. ‘Forensic
linguistics’ also a practical job, it is not a job where you just sit back and
relax.
Overall, by all
the hegemony words found in the comments, the proof is there that many of the
people out there still believe that English degree is not compatible with the
globalisation world. Moreover, Hard Sciences degrees are more in demand because
everything in the world now depends on gadgets.
Done with
hegemony, now move on to coercion. Coercion is when the sentence contains a
word to show degree. Examples of words here are more, very, less, higher, lower
and etcetera. Thus, there are two sentences in the article that can be considered
as coercion sentences. First and foremost, “More comprehensively, more
imaginatively-than the business or finance major who assumed that her
degree was all she needed to earn a place in your company.” The second one is “The
more reading and writing they did-serious reading, analytical writing-the
more they learned.”
For Berube, from
the beginning of his article until the end, he is not waver from his own
ideology. Even in the coercion sentences, his ideology is clearly stated. He describes
English language has more in everything, more comprehensive, more imaginative
and before with the hegemony words, it is complex and acquire critical
thinking. So, in his eyes having a degree in English is worth it.
In contrast, if
look at the comments posted, only one positive coercion sentence that can be identified.
For a case in point, “English studies is very important all over the
world.” Another two coercion sentences are in line with the ideology “English
degree brings no advantages.” The first sentence is, “The liberal arts degrees
just need to made more demanding, and they will earn more respect”,
and also “Enjoy your fancy vocabulary and pretentiousness. I’ll take a degree
with higher probability of helping me start a career.”
Now, it becomes
clearer that society is divided into two. Some believe that English degree is
beneficial as for the coercion stated, “very important”. Unfortunately, many
are not because they argue that English language is so easy to learn and also
lack of demand so it receives less respect by the society and also it is not helping
at all for someone who wants to start a career.
In a nutshell,
the ideology comes within speakers’ or writers’ words. So, by looking in deep
their words and sentences, one can identify their hegemony and coercion first. Then,
lies their ideology.
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