Mini assignment 3 rubric
Assignment evaluation questions
In assessing submissions for mini assignment 3, the grader will ask themselves the following questions, answering each on the scale of:
0 = grossly incomplete/not addressed
1 = needs significant work
2 = minimally fulfills requirements
3 = good effort, but with room for improvement
4 = excellent and above expectations
A. Are the examples clear and creatively varied?: You should choose your examples from sources that we (the graders) have access to. That likely means giving us links to videos, audio recordings, or social media posts, but could also include things like attaching images of visual or textual signals if that is what you have decided to discuss. So, for each example, make sure to give us access to the original source you got it from. All examples should clearly illustrate the difference between signal meaning and speaker meaning; it’s alright (even encouraged) if there is some ’twist’ or complication in the relationship between these types of meaning. The three examples should be chosen to illustrate the wide variety of ways in which these two meaning types can diverge. Ideally, your examples should be chosen to explore a clear theme in signal-based communication of your choosing (e.g., exploring parallel differences in meaning types across multiple communicative modalities). Be creative in choosing these examples (and have some fun searching for them)!
B. Are the signal meanings thoughfully analyzed?: For each example, students should identify the signal meaning and explain in as much detail as is needed how one comes to understand this particular meaning as the signal meaning.
C. Are the producer meanings thoughfully analyzed?: For each example, students should identify the producer meaning and explain in as much detail as is needed how one comes to understand this meaning as the producer meaning. We specifically expect you to build a case around how recipients are intended to infer (e.g., given cues in the signal, something in the context) that the producer meaning diverges from the signal meaning. We encourage you to make clear and persuasive reference to other core course concepts in explaining how these intended producer meanings are “recovered”.
Note that it is up to YOU how to divide your (max) 2500 words between these different goals.
Translation of questions to grades
Submissions that score “excellent and above expectations” across the board will receive a perfect grade (A; 100/100). Submissions that score “needs significant work” across the board will receive a (C-; 70/100). We expect most submissions to fall between these two results. This translation from evaluation questions to grades is done by the particular grader (Dr. Casillas, Ben, or Jenny) who is assigned to each individual paper. However, our team will calibrate our assessments by first reviewing a random sample of papers together.
Grossly incomplete submissions or submissions that do not sufficiently follow the outlined task will maximally receive a grade of C-; please contact your TA if completing the assignment becomes insurmountable for some reason. Grades of D and lower will be discussed and verified by the entire grading team.