How We Say What We Think May Not Be All There is To Know!

Language and How You Think

All humans communicate through a language, either vocally or through sign. Over the past sixty to seventy years, researchers have been studying what our brains actually do with spoken words. A recent study found that the sounds of languages are identified in the brain in much smaller scale than features. Dr. Edward Chang and his peers at the University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley unraveled a bit of the mystery. “It’s about how small or microscopic neural responses can be recorded” Scientists Map Your Brain. In the process of watching the brain listen to sounds in English, they were able to measure in more finite terms how the superior temporal gyrus translates “auditory signals into something the brain ‘hears’” by putting electrodes directly onto the participants' brains Scientists Map Your Brain.

Learning what and how the brain hears may have tremendous effect on what and how we think the world over. Benjamin Lee Whorf's infamous notions in his 1940 article said "that talking is merely an incidental process concerned strictly with communication, not with formulation of ideas” Science and Linguistics. As we grow, humans become unconscious of what Whorf calls natural logic due to the confines of their language. Each language creates a parameter of sorts with how we think, not just how we hear. “Talking, or the use of language, is supposed only to “express” what is essentially already formulated nonlinguistically. Formulation is an independent process, called thought or thinking, and is supposed to be largely indifferent to the nature of particular languages” Science and Linguistics.

Language confines the natural space of a culture according to Whorf. If we were to really analyze the language of Native American tribes or African groups we would see that their form of communication and grammatical sense varies tremendously. This led Whorf to the idea that we do not all think alike. It is the language and the structure of sounds and words that formulate our thoughts. “The Hopi actually call insect, airplane, and aviator all by the same word, and feel no difficulty about it” Science and Linguistics.

Whorf was eventually debunked as there was no factual evidence to support his claims. The New York Times Magazine in 2010 revisited the ideas Whorf wrote about and stated that the question remains how we actually do view life with our separate languages. “The renowned linguist Roman Jakobson pointed out a crucial fact about differences between languages…‘Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey” Language and How You Think.

How we say what we think may influence us perhaps to pay attention to specific details in one language over another. For example, “When I speak English, I may say about a bed that ‘it’ is too soft, but as a native Hebrew speaker, I actually feel ‘she’ is too soft. ‘She stays feminine all the way from the lungs up to the glottis and is neutered only when she reaches the tip of the tongue” Language and How You Think. Perhaps one day soon we will be able to put it all together and be able to communicate no matter the language!

English Language Learners And Their Association With Media

         English Language Learners (ELLs) of all ages have enough trouble learning the language in school and one factor of their success in the language can be easily fixed.  Studies show that ELLs’ identities are either misrepresented or ignored throughout the school day, and educators can help ease some of the misconceptions.  Research shows that adding media literacy, pop culture, and critical media analysis to the curriculum appropriately, can help give ELL students a feeling of ‘belonging’ to the school environment.  

Nazo

         To start, Critical Media Analysis (CMA) is one way to “both maintain and disrupt dominant discourses that shape language learners’ identity” (Chamberlin-Quinlisk, 44).  For example, the popular comedy, “Big Daddy,” focuses on the character, Nazo, played by Rob Schnieder.  Nazo is portrayed as  “disheveled” with long, messy hair, and is always in the same restaurant delivery outfit. Throughout the film, Nazo is never seen in his own home and his culture or native language is never mentioned.  However, due to his accent and use of slang, Julian, the five-year-old boy in the film, “negatively judges Nazo’s worth as a communicator and person.” Nazo is reminded of his inability to read English three times and loses his temper four times throughout the movie (50). In the youtube video below you will find a popular scene from “Big Daddy” portraying Nazo’s role in the film. 

         Comedies like “Big Daddy” tend to show foreigners as the comic relief of the film.  Unfortunately, these popular movies do not help ELL students gain respect from their peers, which leads them to hide their individuality in the classroom.  Based on a study involving the critical media analysis of this movie, students were able to discuss their opinions about Nazo’s identity and how it holds true in the real world.  Some conclusions that were made by the students were that Nazo was accepted by Sonnie (Adam Sandler) because he does not threaten Sonnie’s power, and does not try to challenge his place in society.  Also, Nazo is not portrayed as an equal in this film. For example, his friendship with Sonnie is different than Sonnie’s friendships with other men because Nazo does not contribute equally to the friendship, and therefore Sonnie views him as different. Lastly, the students realized that “Nazo shows little desire, ambition, or ability to change his position” (52) in society throughout the film.  “The negative association between accented speech and incompetence that Nazo represents is unfortunately a reality for many speakers of varieties of English in our own and other professions where job competence may be judged by one’s native-language status” (52).

How Can Teachers Encourage Identity Within Their Classroom?

         In reality, some ELL students perceive themselves as media represents them.  English speaking students use the false representations from media to develop an opinion about the ELL students in their class as well.  At any grade level, students are usually fascinated with pop culture.  It becomes their topic of conversation and their fun on the playground. However, some ELL students are not familiar with these popular TV shows, symbols, and characters so this alone causes them to not fit in.  Studies show that when students are interested in the material or topic, they tend to learn better and have more motivation to learn. So, by bringing pop culture into the curriculum, teachers can build their rapport with students, and students will be more motivated in class (Duff, 482).  This will ultimately create the ideal learning environment.

         In order for ELL students to feel comfortable conversing in the classroom, they have to have a sense of familiarity of the topic, and be able to relate to other people in the class.  Teachers can show short clips of TV shows, or bring in magazine articles based on popular stars to have students study in class (Vize, 79).  This way, the students who do not have access to these “popular” topics at home, will be introduced to it during school, where they can build a relationship with their peers through discussion and classroom activities.  Understanding perspective is a key aspect of media literacy and “it is helpful to provide content in more than one format (film, text, online, etc.)” (Vize, 81). In the past, “silence protected them from humiliation but did not help them gain access to the valued cultural capital and practices of their English-speaking peers” (Duff, 484).  Now, ELL students can make their own sense of humor, talents, and wit accessible to their peers, which leads to them having and sharing their sense of identity.  

(Vize, 80)