Review

Author(s): CAMILLA VÁSQUEZ and DERYA KULAVUZONAL

Review by: CAMILLA VÁSQUEZ and DERYA KULAVUZONAL
Source: The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 96, No. 1 (Spring 2012), pp. 147-148
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers
Associations
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Reviews
progressive, reflexives, expressions of time, and
verbs that require complementary objects, among
others. The fourth unit presents the differences
between preterit and imperfect, time expressions,
future tense, and future subjunctive. The fifth unit
introduces more complex tenses, variable usage
of preterit and imperfect, as well as conditional
and future tenses. It also discusses the past par-
ticiples plus common prepositions. It introduces
the subjunctive mood and diminutives. The sixth
unit pertains to the individualized projects, which
can be used as a final assignment in a business
course.
One is struck by the detailed explanation of the
alphabet in the introductory chapter, which in-
cludes phonetic transcriptions. This feature is a
welcome addition to the field of Portuguese text-
books, since the variable pronunciation of Por-
tuguese consonants is a thorny issue for learn-
ers. The book presents grammar explanations in
Portuguese followed by English translations. This
approach may be confusing at times, but the au-
thors compensate with clearly organized charts
and sample dialogues that are very authentic. One
interesting feature of the book is that the partic-
ular grammar topic covered in each chapter is
highlighted with bold letters in the dialogues, so
the learners can focus on the form. That said,
a number of exercises require that learners fo-
cus on content by prompting learners to decide
if something is true or not, depending on their
experience or a previous text.
Nevertheless, some of the exercises in the book
could be improved, namely the ones that use in-
correct forms underlined in a sentence. Learners
are prompted to decide if the form is correct or
not. It is not that the form itself is wrong, but
rather its usage. Perhaps a multiple-choice for-
mat would be better, so that the incorrect combi-
nations of subject and verb were not reinforced
by the text. Overall, the exercises are content-
driven, communicative, and creative. The read-
ing sections in Portuguese include key words with
numbers in superscript, a traditional way of deal-
ing with new vocabulary. The text is followed by
the translations of these words and few questions
about the reading. In the later chapters, invariably
one of the questions asks learners to make com-
parisons between Brazil and the United States,
which is an excellent way to delve more deeply
into cultural similarities and differences.
Finally, the cultural topics throughout the
book are varied and complex: they include
Brazilian geography, family relations, the history
of Brazil's political system, religion and social is-
sues, food and social etiquette, popular music,
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147
and the Brazilian jeito. This last topic refers to
Brazilian creativity in social, political, and business
relations. There is also a section on culture shock,
which I found very useful, especially with the sub-
sequent self-reflective questions. In sum, this book
fulfills its intended goals and is an outstanding ad-
dition to the growing field of Portuguese language
pedagogy.
FERNANDA FERREIRA
Bridgewater State University
RESEARCH METHODS
KOZINETS, ROBERT V. Netnography: Doing
Ethnographic Research Online. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications, 2010. Pp. vii, 221. $42.95, pa-
per. ISBN 978-1-84860-645-6.
This book is a valuable resource for researchers
interested in investigating online communities.
Although there are a few other monographs on
the topic, this text is the most practical and
user-friendly. Throughout, Kozinets balances gen-
eral theoretical discussions with clear and specific
guidelines. Novice researchers will find his hands-
on approach and illustrations from his data partic-
ularly helpful; additionally, Kozinets' style of writ-
ing is lively and engaging.
Netnography bases its methodology on field-
work conducted online through participant ob-
servation. It was developed in marketing and
consumer research, disciplines that, as Kozinets
points out, are open to new research techniques.
However, he is quick to note that among some
traditional anthropologists, there remains a sense
of skepticism about, or outright rejection of, the
possibility of conducting ethnographic research
in online contexts. Kozinets does not shy away
from such controversies; rather, he engages with
them and takes a clear stand. Researchers study-
ing online communities who find themselves con-
fronted with similar skepticism or critiques of
their method are likely to find Kozinets 's rational
counter arguments useful and empowering.
Kozinets opens the book with an explanation
of netnography. He argues that netnography is
necessary because our lives are increasingly me-
diated by various technologies and also because
our online experiences and interactions are sig-
nificantly different from those that take place in
offline contexts. This section is followed by a thor-
ough discussion of the complex terms community
148
and culture ; an understanding of both is crucial to
the endeavor of netnography. Chapter 2 extends
this discussion by exploring the particularities of
online communities. The author draws attention
to how early understandings of online environ-
ments (e.g., lack of social cues, impersonal inter-
actions) have evolved into a realization of sophisti-
cated social interactions and community construc-
tion through diverse relationships, participation
styles, and membership patterns, some of which
are unique to online communities (e.g., lurking).
This reality serves as another justification for an
ethnographic approach to study online communi-
ties. Chapter 3 presents an overview of data collec-
tion methods, including surveys, interviews, and
focus groups, along with examples of strategies
for how to adapt them using online tools. This
chapter also explores the potential complemen-
tary relationship between social network analy-
sis and netnography. Although Kozinets acknowl-
edges that the former provides more concrete
information about the structure and flow of com-
munication among individuals, an ethnographic
approach is essential to gain an understanding of
how culture evolves and functions in these com-
munities.
Following the three opening chapters, which
provide important background information, the
next five chapters contain practical methodolog-
ical information. Chapter 4 is concerned with
participant observation, including a discussion
of some of the challenges specific to working
with online data (anonymity, archiving, etc.). The
methodological focus continues in the next chap-
ter, which is devoted to issues of planning and
entrée. This emphasis on preparation and enter-
ing the field is certainly justified: Without access
to and the cooperation of the community being
studied, data collection is impossible. However,
what the book is missing is a discussion of the
opposite side of the process; that is, how to exit
the field eventually. For the traditional ethnog-
rapher, an eventual physical separation from the
field is inevitable. In contrast, there is no clear
endpoint to a researcher's participation in an on-
line community, and in some instances access to
community archives or pages is maintained only
through continued membership. Yet some shift
in primary role (from participant to researcher)
seems necessary to proceed with the later stages of
data analysis. Similarly, a subsequent edition of the
book might include a discussion of the question of
what it means to go native in this type of research,
as well as the additional challenges that netnog-
raphers may face when studying the cultures of
distributed, multisite, global online communities.
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The Modern Language Journal 96 (2012)
Chapter 6 and 7 address the technical matters
of data collection (e.g., how to deal with potential
information overload, given the fact that every
single discussion of the organization is archived)
and data analysis, respectively. The latter chapter
provides a well-balanced discussion of the pros
and cons of both manual and computer-assisted
data analysis. Ethical issues in ethnography more
generally, and specific ethical issues related to on-
line research, are the topics of Chapter 8. Chap-
ter 9 provides ten criteria for evaluating netnogra-
phy, several of which are applicable to other forms
of qualitative research as well: verisimilitude, re-
flexivity, rigor, and so forth. The book concludes
with a discussion of future directions for netnog-
raphers, such as explorations of social networking
sites and virtual worlds.
Whether or not one is interested in studying
communities that exist primarily online, it is un-
deniable that in contemporary life, many peo-
ple around the world participate in some type of
online community. Social networking sites are per-
haps the most obvious, but others include on-
line professional, political, religious, special in-
terest, or consumer groups. Kozinets asserts that,
as the boundaries between our online and of-
fline affiliations become increasingly blurred, for
researchers interested in exploring the situated
meanings and social practices of specific groups
of people, some form of netnography will soon
become necessary, either as a complement to tra-
ditional ethnography, or as a standalone research
methodology.
CAMILLA VÁSQUEZ and DERYA KULAVUZ-
ONAL
University of South Florida
LITOSSELITI, LIA. (Ed.). Research methods in lin-
guistics. New York: Continuum, 2010. Pp. vii, 227.
$34.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-8264-8993-7.
Instructors looking for a comprehensive, cur-
rent, practical, and readable research methods
text for introductory courses in linguistics re-
search will relish this new volume. This text con-
cisely and deeply shares information about es-
sential approaches to diverse linguistics research
questions. The contents range from designing
studies (i.e., posing research questions, using
mixed methods, managing data, and conduct-
ing interviews) and the basics of quantitative and
qualitative methodologies to in-depth applica-
tions of corpus, discourse, conversation, linguistic