Choose either Topic A, B, or C
TOPIC APick a trope from the subject area of another class, student life (e.g. organizations, student government, athletics, dorm or residential life, etc.), or this class. Describe the trope you've chosen by telling us when/where/how you remember hearing/seeing it used. Then analyze it by answering questions like (but not limited to): Why do you suppose the trope is used that way? What are its powers and what are its limitations? What does it say about the group of people who use it? Do people outside the group you most closely associate it with ever use it, and if so, does that alter it in any way?
TOPIC B
Describe a place at Oberlin College where you felt "inadequate" at one time but now feel "adequate," in other words, where you now feel you know the rules of conversation. Discuss how your experience is explained by Wardhaugh's ideas, or if you think he's completely wrong, use your experience to discuss exactly why you find his ideas unsatisfactory.
TOPIC C
Compare and contrast the ways Amy Tan and Fan Shen describe the differences between English and Chinese. What ideas about the relationship between language and national cultural tradition does each writer attempt to address in his or her essay? Do they share any tropes in trying to discuss those ideas? Illustrate what you say by discussing particular passages in each essay.
I would imagine that it will take you at least 5 pages of typed, doubled spaced writing to do this assignment well. Be sure to properly document any quotations, paraphrases, or other uses of outside information that you use in your paper (consult me if you're unsure how to do so). Email me the first draft this paper as an attachment in Word by 6 PM on Tuesday, April 11, 2000.