Language, Gender, and Culture

Language, Gender, and Culture

How does one’s gender and/or culture affect how language is communicated?

Communication Styles

#1 Communication Survey On the back of your survey, reflect on the results

and describe what you think your style is.Share your results with your group

Three (Four) TypesPassiveAssertiveAggressive(Passive-Aggressive)

Communication Styles

#2 Quickwrite DiscussionQuickwrite 1:

One or two generations ago, men and women seemed to have firmer codes for how to behave: men could be loud and assertive, while women were expected to dress modestly and to use a feminine voice. Do you think these traditional “rules” for male and female behavior still hold true today? What can you point to as support for your position?

Quickwrite DiscussionQuickwrite 2:

Families have their own rules for how male and female members should talk and behave. Think back to the advice you have heard in your family or to the rules you have noticed family members following. Describe the communication styles of talking and behaving for men and women in your family.

Marker Talk DiscussionEach of you will have the opportunity to give

your thoughts about the following questions.

This is not a verbal discussion. It is a marker discussion.

We will then discuss the responses as a class.What characteristics describe how females

communicate?What characteristics describe how males

communicate?

#3 Men, Women, & Communication

Dr. Linda KargesExplain the reason she gives for why there is a

difference in men and women’s communication.

Friends: Men vs. WomenSummarize the example that illustrates how men

communicate with one another compared to women.

` Differences Between Men and WomenState 5 ways in which men and women differ.

#4 [Tannen] Previewing Vocabulary•Linguistic

•One-up/one-down

•Ambiguity

•Rapport

•Subservience

•Covert

•Prerogative

•pro forma

•Sumptuous

•Debase

What is communication?

Effective Means of Communication

Ineffective Means of Communication

List what you consider to be effective means of communication and ineffective means of communication.

Review of Reading Strategies

•What reading strategies have you learned?

•What other strategies do good or experienced readers do to help them understand their texts?

Reading is a CONVERSATIONReading and Writing go hand in hand

Just as you would do several drafts of writing, you need to do several drafts of reading to become

an expert of a given text.

“His Politeness is Her Powerlessness”

[Deborah Tannen]#5 Making Predictions and Asking Questions

•Look at the title. What do you think her writing will be about?

•Now read the 1st ¶, looking closely at the last sentence: “Often the labeling of ‘women’s language’ as ‘powerless language’ reflects the view of women’s behavior through the lens of men’s.”

What do you think Tannen means?

First Draft Reading: [Tannen]

•Reading Strategy: Read “WITH” the grain & Annotating

•Reading Purpose/Focus:-Look for Tannen’s thesis as you read and

write it down. -In the RIGHT-hand margins, annotate

questions and comments.

Annotation Rubric

First Draft Reading: [Tannen]


•Reading Purpose/Focus:-Look for Tannen’s thesis as you read and

write it down. -In the RIGHT-hand margins, annotate


Looking Closely at Language: [Tannen]

#6 Vocabulary Trees•Tree 1: INDIRECT Communication

Find some of Tannen’s vocabulary expressing this concept. Put each of the words on a branch of the tree, one word per branch.

Think of some words from your own experience that can relate to the idea of “indirectness” and add those to the tree.

Finally, can you think of film characters that embody these characteristics?

Discuss the different connotations of some of these words.

Looking Closely at Language: [Tannen]

Vocabulary Trees•Tree 2: DIRECT Communication

Find some of Tannen’s vocabulary expressing this concept. Put each of the words on a branch of the three, one word per branch.

Think of some words from your own experience that can relate to the idea of “directness” and add those to the tree.

Finally, can you think of film characters that embody these characteristics?

Discuss the different connotations of some of these words.

Second Draft Reading: [Tannen]

•Reading Strategy: Rereading & Annotation

•Reading Focus: Write down the answers to these questions in the margins:

1. In ¶ 3 & 4, how does Tannen explain women’s tendencies to use “covert” communication strategies? Write down at least 2 reasons that the author provides.

2. Annotate the following in the LEFT-hand margin:-the issue or problem Tannen is writing about-Tannen’s main arguments-Examples Tannen gives-Her conclusion

Considering the Structure of the TextUsing your annotations of the text, outline

the organization of Tannen’s text on the board.

Discuss with a partner your ideas of why Tannen devotes the majority of her article to analyzing women’s speech. Does this rhetorical choice strengthen or undermine the persuasiveness of her argument?

RespondingLook over your previous notes and

quickwrites. Have your ideas about language use and gender shifted in any way as result of reading Tannen’s text? Why or why not?

Write a one-page response to one of the prompts given.

Third Draft Reading: [Tannen]

•Reading Strategy: Read “AGAINST” the grain

•Reading Focus: Find textual support for your answers to these questions.

•Is Tannen assuming that only women are seeking to build rapport?

•Is Tannen subtly valuing women’s speech as superior to that of men’s?

Reading Rhetorically: PAPA □In groups, complete a Papa Square for Tannen’s text.

Audience:

Purpose:

Argument:

Persona:

Rhetorical Methods & Strategies:

Inform, persuade, entertain

Intended readers Thesis/main idea

Public image/tone

•Ethical Appeals•Emotional Appeals•Logical Appeals•Stylistic Devices

Reading Rhetorically: PAPA □In groups, complete a Papa Square for Tannen’s text. (1)

Audience:

Purpose:

Argument:

Persona:


Intended readers

Public image/tone

•Ethical Appeals•Emotional Appeals•Logical Appeals•Stylistic Devices

Women’s speech is inferior to men’s

Inform/explain; persuade

Reading Rhetorically: PAPA □In groups, complete a Papa Square for Tannen’s text. (4)

Audience:

Purpose:

Argument:

Persona:


Inform/explain

Adult Women and menCollege students

Women are weak/powerlessWhether they are direct or indirect.

Knowledgable, unbiased, intellectual

•Japanese anthropologist•“crude, clumsy” polite•Specific cultural examples

Writing Rhetorically: PrécisNow that you have completed a PAPA square, you

can use the PAPA to now write a

Rhetorical Précis :A concise summary of essential points

A precís is a 4 sentence paragraph that states the essential points of a spoken or written text.

On the back of your PAPA Square, in groups complete a rhetorical precis using the frame provided.

Précis: Sentence 11. ___________________________, ___________________________,

(author’s credentials) (author’s first and last name)

in his/her ______________________________ , _______________

(type of text/)(title) (Power Verb)

THAT _____________________________________________.

Deborah Tannen, in her article “His Politeness is Her Powerlessness,” argues that women’s language, whether direct or indirect, is perceived as powerless language compared to that of men’s.

Précis: Sentence 2

2. He/she supports this (claim) by first _________________.

He then __________________________________, then

_______________________________________________

and finally_____________________________________.

She supports this argument by first explaining the reasons for women’s covert communication, then providing cultural examples of women’s indirectness, and finally concluding with a direct example to illustrate her point.

Précis: Sentence 33. __________ purpose is to

___________________

(author’s last name) (what the author does in the text)

_________________________________________________________

IN ORDER TO _____________________________________________

(what the author wants the audience to do after reading the text)

_________________________________________________________.

Tannen’s purpose is to explain the difference in men and women’s communication style in order to make readers aware of how gender affects the power of language.

Tannen’s purpose is to stress that women are deemed as less powerful in their use of language in order to make readers aware of this inequality in gender communication.

Précis: Sentence 44. He/she adopts a(n)_____________________________

tone for _________________________________________.

(intended audience)

She adopts an objective and academic tone for her audience of educated adults.

[Kingston] Getting Ready to Read

In The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hoang Kingston recounts scenes from her upbringing ina Chinese American family. Kingston weaves together myths, dreams, and reminisces to give voice to what has been silenced in her family and culture. The particular excerpt chosen focuses on Kingston’s attempts to make sense of the acculturation process she experienced growing up and highlights the many dimensions of her identity as a Chinese American women.

[Kingston] QuickwriteQuickwrite 1:

Based on your own experience, how do quietstudents get treated in school? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being quiet?

Quickwrite 2:Silence can also be seen as a form of power. Under what circumstances might that be the case?

[Kingston] Making Predictions1. What can you infer from the title of the

chapter of this text, “Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe”? Spend some minutes predicting what this chapter is likely to be about.

2. Read the first sentence: “When I went to Kindergarten and had to speak English for the first time, I became silent.” Why do you suspect she became silent?

[Kingston] Understanding Historical References

•Japanese Internment Camps-Concentration camps for Japanese in America during

WWII

•Chiang Kai-shek-Fought against the Communists

•Sun Yat-Sen-Symbol and leader of Chinese nationalist revolution

•Korean War-N. Korea (Soviet Union) invaded S. Korea (U.S.)

•Ghosts-those seen as ostracized or inferior

[Kingston] First Draft Reading


•Reading Purpose/Focus:-Look for the theme Kingston wants to

convey as you read and write it down. -In the RIGHT-hand margins, annotate


[Kingston] Second Draft Reading•Reading Strategy: Rereading & Annotation

•Reading Focus: Mark passages that answer the Qs:

1. According to Kingston, what characterizes traditional Chinese speech, and what kind of talking is valued?

2. In the 1st three pages, she describes the differences between American and Chinese schools. How were rules different in the two schools? Why do you think it was easier for her at a Chinese school than an American one?

3. What did she learn regarding the American idea of feminine speech? How did she alter her speech in order to be accepted in the classroom and by her peers?

[Kingston] Postreading

[Ehrlich] Getting Ready to ReadWhen you think of the phrase “American

cowboy,” what associations, personal traits, and images come to mind?

[Ehrlich] Looking Closely @ LanguageAuthor’s Use of rhythm and repetition:

What contrasts does Ehrlich build throughout the first paragraph? How does Ehrlich’s sentence rhythms support the point she is making in this paragraph?

Ehrlich puts some phrases in quotations in the first

paragraph (e.g., “strong and silent,” “rides away into the sunset,” “rugged individualist.”) Discuss what or whom she seems to be quoting.

[Ehrlich] First & Second ReadingAs you read, annotate the text for your

thoughts/questions/comments

AND

Read for this purpose:Consider the main point Ehrlich seems to be

making.

How do authors build Ethos in a text?

•state credentials, history, life experiences

•mention where they have traveled

•present evidence of having interviewed key individuals, those "in the know"

•use various rhetorical devices (parallelism, sentence and paragraph rhythm, debunking common assumptions, addressing counterarguments)

•reveal details that only the writer could have experienced

[Ehrlich] Analyzing Stylistic ChoicesMark passages to indicate what kinds of evidence

and strategies Ehrlich uses to define herself as an insider in the cowboy world.

1. Why might she talk about being in NY but missing WY?

2. How does Ehrlich seem to want to represent herself to readers? What evidence in the text supports this view?

3. Who are her sources? (Whom does she quote?) 4. How does she use these sources to build authority

and gain credibility?

[Ehrlich] Gender & CommunicationGo back through the essay to locate places

where Ehrlich characterizes cowboys’ communicative style.

How does she explain what she has observed? How does her point about cowboys’ communicative style relate to her main idea in this essay?

[Ehrlich] Describing a CowboyUse Ehrlich’s text as a dictionary to collect

words and phrases that fall into these two categories.

Traditional Words to describe Cowboys

Untraditional Words to describe Cowboys

[Ehrlich] Describing a CowboyDiscuss the kind of portrait each list paints of

the American cowboy.

What happens when you put the two lists together as Ehrlich has done throughout her piece? How is this reflective of Ehrlich’s larger rhetorical goals?

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Language, Gender, and Culture