Исследовательская работа на тему "The English inscriptions on the clothes of schoolchildren of our school "
проект по английскому языку (7 класс)

Municipal Budgetary Educational Institution Secondary School No. 2 Usman, Lipetsk region

Named after the Hero of the Soviet Union M. P. Konstantinov

Section name: English

Name of the work: The English inscriptions on the clothes of schoolchildren  of our school

Ekaterina Sergeevna Pleshchakova,

Student of 7 «А» grade

Elena Vladimirovna Shipitko

English teacher

Usman,2023

Contents

Introduction        3

1.1. The functions of inscriptions on teenagers’ clothes        4

1.2 Types of inscriptions.        4

2. Practical part        6

2.1 Recommendations        6

Conclusion        8

Bibliographic list        9

Appendix 1        10

Appendix 2        11

Appendix 3        13

Introduction

Probably every person in the world wants to dress fashionably and stylishly. There are a lot of proverbs and sayings about how much clothes can express. One of the most famous are «Clothes make the man», «They meet in clothes, but they see off in the mind».

Every day  we meet our  friends and classmates at school or in the street. They wear different styles of clothes. But most of them have one thing in common. It is the inscriptions in English on their  jackets, T-shirts, jeans, caps. Nowadays every teenager has got some clothes with the inscriptions.  So  we  ask questions: «Do  teenagers understand the meaning of the inscriptions in  English  on  their clothes? « or «Do they wear clothes with the inscriptions in English because these clothes are nice and fashionable?», «Does the meaning of the inscriptions really affect the choice of clothes?» the inscriptions in English are completely different: cute, funny, vulgar, stupid. However, modern youth wears and marks them quite fashionable and unusual.

We decided to investigate the English inscriptions on the clothes of schoolchildren and invite teenagers to think before getting seemingly cool clothes. We believe that English should be studied not only in order to read texts in textbooks, but also in order to understand the world around us, which is often saturated with screaming advertisements in English, inscriptions on clothes.

The aim of our study  is to  establish  the  inscriptions’ meaning of the level of the English language proficiency.

The object of our study is the inscriptions on the teenagers’ clothes.

The subject of our study is the information of the inscriptions on the teenagers’ clothes.

The tasks of our study are:

• To make a survey of inscriptions on teenagers’ clothes;
• To translate the inscriptions from English into Russian;
• To ask teenagers about the reasons of choice of the inscriptions
• To come to a conclusion.

The practical value of our investigation is to use the materials in the process of studying English.

This work will be useful and interesting for students. It will allow students to pay attention to the translation of inscriptions, strengthen the motivation of learning English and correctly use information that should reflect the real interests of its owner.

Research methods:

Study of literature on the topic;

Search method;

Survey and interview of students of 6-11 grades;

Analysis of the results.

1.1. The functions of inscriptions on teenagers’ clothes

The inscriptions on clothes are different. They can tell us a lot about the person, for instance, if this person understands the meaning of the inscriptions on his/her clothes.

The inscriptions change according to the age. A child has got some funny phrases and colorful pictures on his clothes. An adult tries to choose clothes without any inscriptions taking into consideration that something vulgar, not suitable for his/ her age can be written on the clothes.

Teenagers choose stylish clothes with bright inscriptions.[2] These inscriptions can be seen on every article of clothes: T-shirts, jeans, shirts, pullovers, jackets and so on. Labels and inscriptions catch your eyes. These are letters, phrases, formula, abbreviations. It’s some kind of invasion of pictures and topographical signs. Is it advertising? Most likely psychological impact. The power of text’s psychological impact is not only a meaning of the inscription but graphics too. That is style, print, colour, letters’ decoration. Words should be written nicely in order to read or to memorize them willingly.[1]

According to psychology colour plays a great role. Red is the color of leadership and energy. It is eye-stopper and PR- element. Brown and burgundy persuade customers about the effectiveness of company. Pink generates things’ aura. [4]

1.2 Types of inscriptions.

Inscriptions on clothes are divided into several groups:

1) romance «Call me!», «I love you», «Listen to your heart»

2) sports «Nike», «Adidas», «Puma», «Reebok»

3) life credo «Forever Young», «Legendary», «People like people but I am the Queen»

4) appeal «Peace and love», «Don`t worry! Be happy!» 

5) music Metallica», «Linkin Park», «GreenDay», «Rock-n-roll», «Manchester United» 

6) cities «London is calling you», «New York Paris London Tokyo»

7) designers «Gucci», «Zara»

8) ecology «Stop pollution», «Save the Earth!»

Some inscriptions are shaped like the abbreviations «D&G» from «DolceGabbana», by shortening «Ecogirl» from «Ecological girl». Often in English inscriptions can be found proper names: personal «only Frankie Morella can judge me»; geographical «London is calling you», «New York Paris London Tokyo».

The inscriptions on the clothes are very different, and their choice depends on the age of the person. Children prefer clothes with an inscription about the cartoons they watch, or such cool and funny phrases as «Princess» («Princess»), «King» («King»), «I love my dad» («I love my dad»), etc. Teenagers have some cool and funny phrases (I'm strong – I'm strong, Good Luck – Good Luck, I'm super hero – I'm a super hero) or just a T-shirt with the brand name (Adidas, Celine, Gucci, Puma, Zara). [3] The inscription can also be the name of some team, for example, the Real Madrid football team, or even just the name of the country, city, street. Adults also wear clothes with inscriptions, but due to a lack of understanding of words, many of them avoid clothes with inscriptions. And most people don't even care what is written on their clothes.

2. Practical part

The place of our study is Usman secondary School № 2

We studied the teenagers’ clothes with English inscriptions

In practical part of our research we want to show the results of investigation that we have done. We asked about 100 schoolchildren of the 6 - 11 grades the questions (Аppendix1)

According to our study most  teenagers  have clothes with inscriptions. Every 2 of 100 are aware of the meaning of the inscriptions. 46 confess that they don’t  understand  the  translation and the rest 10 can’t translate. (Appendix 2, Picture 1)  

22 students mark that the inscriptions are of great  importance for them when  they buy clothes.78 teenagers admit that the meaning of inscriptions is not important for them. But now they will be interested  in  the sense  of the writing and they will consider when buying it. (Appendix2, Picture 2)

In the course of study we found out a few inscriptions with spelling mistakes and the owners did not know about them.

Most of questioned teenagers say that the reason for buying these articles of clothes is its being comfortable. Having studied the reasons for buying clothes we got the following data: 22 students bought them because of the curious interesting inscription, that is they understood the meaning of the inscription and they liked the translation; 38 students acquired the clothes because they seem very comfortable; 32 called their article of clothing stylish and bright; the rest 8 simply liked the thing. (Appendix 2, Picture 3)

In addition the study showed that the difference in age  influences  the choice of the inscriptions on the clothes. It turned out some students wore the clothes with rude words. (Appendix 2, Picture 4)

We translated the inscriptions into Russian and put the translation into the table. We got 30 popular  teenagers’  answers which can be seen in the table (see Appendix 3)

We came to the conclusion that the younger teenagers are the less they understand what is written on their clothes. The colour and the attractiveness are more important for them. It is the parents who buy clothes.  The parents who do not study English at all or simply  forgot it. However our study managed to bring this problem on the surface and suggest teenagers to think before buying next fashionable article of clothing with unclear text.

2.1 Recommendations

After conducting this research, we decided to make recommendations for choosing comfortable clothes with English-language inscriptions.

If you consider yourself a cultured and educated person, then when choosing clothes with an English inscription, consider the following:

1. Translate the English-language inscription before you purchase it. Use your cell phone that has an Internet connection, translate a word or phrase using an online translator.
2. Remember! A cultured person cannot be immoral. Do not use inscriptions that may humiliate or offend anyone.
3. Do not choose clothes with spelling mistakes, so as not to seem illiterate.
4. Do not wear clothes with brand names. You are not a billboard!

And do not hope that everyone around does not know a foreign language and does not understand what is written on your clothes. Do not forget that judge not of men and things at first sight «is met by clothes, and escorted by the mind».

Conclusion

It’s  one’ s own business to dress in what he/she likes. But still a lack of knowledge of English upsets, because people are not aware what information is on their clothes.

Most teenagers do not consider the inscriptions significant. But the inscriptions may be indecent and offensive with grammar and spelling mistakes. They can be just  a set of senseless words and phrases, offensive and tabu words. But  sometimes a phrase with good humour and a good sense.

It’s actual and important that we’re responsible for the information that carry on our clothes. In some sense we agree with it to some extent, we show it to people and we can not hope that anybody does know the language.

Data results showed that the level of the English language knowledge is determined by the age of the teenager and it helps to make out the inscriptions and to use the written information properly.

We can conclude that there’s linkage between the level of language knowledge and the culture of a very person and the meaning of English inscriptions on the clothes and understanding it.

The aim of our study is achieved.

Bibliographic list

1. Головушкина М.В., Воячек О.С. Англоязычные надписи на одежде как элемент молодежной субкультуры// В сборнике: Язык. Право, Общество III Международная научно-практическая конференция под редакцией О.В. Барабаш, Т.В. Дубровской, Н.А. Павловой. 2015
2. Ивус О.Н. Слоган на одежде: история, сущность и функционирование / Филологические науки. Вопросы теории и практики. – Тамбов: Грамота, 2012.
3. Сребранец В.О. Стилистические и лексические особенности надписей на английском и немецком языках на одежде современных подростков// Международный научно-исследовательский журнал-2013 №5
4. Урядникова Н.И. «А ваша одежда разговаривает?» // Дизайн-студия "Понимание" 2007
5. http://katalog-futbolki.ru/nadpisi-na-futbolkax-na-anglijskom/
6. https://slovar-vocab.com/english/longman-vocab.html

Appendix 1

Survey «The teenagers’ clothes with English inscriptions»

a) How old are you?

b) Do you pay attention on the inscription when you buy clothes?

c) What are the reasons of buying clothes with English inscriptions?

d) What is the translation of the inscription on your clothes?

Appendix 2

Results of the survey «The English inscriptions on the clothes of schoolchildren  of our school»

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Appendix 3

«30 popular  teenagers’ English inscriptions»