How Linguistics Impacts Women in the Workplace

           There is no doubt that there is a difference between men and women in the workplace. I mean, we hear it all the time when people talk about the glass ceiling and how women are not receiving the same rights as men. However, what we don’t hear is how language is having a huge impact on the course of a woman’s work role. In my two previous blog posts (Let’s Talk and The Language) I have shared information about the overall concept of women in a meeting language and how women tend to use softening devices when speaking. However, in this specific post the focus is on what happens if women try to change their language.

            First of all, it is important to look at what exact language is different between men and women in the workplace. Scholarly writer, Xia Xiufang discusses how women and men have different pitches to their voices, which imply different confidence levels. For example, women’s voices tend to suggest positivity where as men’s voices command power and attention. Another scholar, Mary Barrett, adds to this concept in her article by discussing how women tend to take the back seat in conversations as men take on the lead voice. Barrett also suggests how women are “wary of crossing hierarchical lines” so they do not always take on the more aggressive roles and voice their opinions in the ways men do. Between the differences in voices and their comfort zone of speaking, it is clear that women are struggling to compete linguistically with men in conversations.

            Now knowing what you do on the language difference, you must know what would happen if women tried to change their language to be more like the men. This aspect is something that scholarly articles are not really touching on, so we turn to the popular stories. For example, Cosmopolitan writer, Jessica Bennett, discusses how when women try to be more assertive like men, they get labeled and people start name calling them. Women trying to rise to power begin to be called aggressive, bossy, and cold, which Bennett refers to as the ABC’s of the office. The image below shares additional adjectives that fall into this classification.

      From this name-calling problem, Bennett shares how studies are showing less and less women are running for higher positions in their workplace because they do not want to deal with the ABC’s. Not only that, but according to Bennett, even the women who do run are finding issues succeeding because while they can shrug the name calling off, others’ perceptions are changing due to the given names. The overall result is that women can’t seem to catch a break in the office, whether it is through the language they are using or that actions they are taking. This is a linguistically centered problem in which everyone should be aware of and working towards a solution.

Show Us More! A Search for Research on Chinese ELLs

Over my past couple of blog posts, it has been clear that there is not enough research and publicity on the struggles of elementary students whose native language is Chinese. Popular media consistently created a mental picture in the American populations mind that is the ESL program- a group of Spanish-speaking students talking in a corner looking confused with what is going on in class. Even the scholars, who study and research ESL programs, tend to focus in on Spanish natives.

            In the Huffington Post’s article from one of my earlier posts, “New Model for English Language Learners Needed in U.S. Schools,” the popular online site expressed its concerned for creating a more engaging environment so that ELLs are more likely to care about school instead of giving up and eventually dropping out due to lack of interest as well as discomfort in the classroom. Blogger Jane Smith explains, “Since economic achievement is directly connected to educational attainment, a national commitment to ELLs will result in more high school and college graduates, which in turn will create higher employment levels, higher income levels…” Basically, Smith is saying that keeping entire classrooms engaged in learning will ultimately help our country as a whole. So wouldn’t you think that more scholars would set focus on ALL types of ELL students so that this goal of an incoming, highly educated generation will be attainable?  Even some scholars that do focus on Chinese ELLs centralize the difference between English and Chinese language learning to be strongly based on how the large differences in the two languages affect the transition to English learning. That is, Chinese speakers are used to speaking in their language that typically uses symbols to mean different concepts rather than just letters to spell out a word and then a sentence. “Syntactic Skills in Sentence Reading Comprehension Among Chinese Elementary School Children,” studied the differences between the ELL students versus the native English speakers. What was concluded was that the English language demands more phonemic awareness than the Chinese. This makes it difficult for the Chinese ELLs to understand the English language more so because they have no development of how a single symbol or letter can represent a sound. In Ding’s scholarly article, “Rapid Automatized Naming and Immediate Memory Functions in Chinese Mandarin-Speaking Elementary Readers” it was expressed that Chinese ELLs comprehend reading for efficiently with verbal cues. This would be an important technique to have known to the public so that teachers who have these types of learners in their classroom can accommodate properly. But, because the research and studies are less prevalent for Chinese natives than Spanish natives, teachers are less prepared to have these ELLs in their class.

            The only fairly ‘popular’ site that focused precisely on Chinese native speakers, also mentioned in my previous blog posts, was found on colorincolorado.org. Xiao-lin Yin-Croft, author of “From the Classroom: Working with Chinese ELLs” speaks from first hand experience with Chinese ELLs who have gone through the American education system for multiple years. Because the blog site that this article was not half as popular as sites such as the Huffington Post who centralize their ELLs to be Spanish speakers, the mass population forgets that there is any other population of ELLs. If only the popular press would set focus on these other populations. Then perhaps the public eye would care more about these learners, which would in turn influence scholars to research and come up with solutions for this educational issue.

Picture courtesy of larryferlazzo.edublogs.org

Signifies that all language learners must remain fully committed to learning the language.

The same goes for the language teachers. 

Communication and Audience Design in Sociolinguistics

Previously, I have discussed how sociolinguistics in public speaking works and what it is. Now it is time to dig deeper and discover how communication and audience design affects the message that is being heard.

What is audience design? Audience design is a sociolinguistic model outlined by Allan Bell in 1984. It proposes that linguistics and style-shifting occurs when responding to a speaker's audience.
Basically, what Bell is saying each speaker goes into their speech prepared. However, there will come a time when the audience is not engaged to the speaker's style. It is then the speaker needs to adjust his style and shift it to better serve his audience.

The speaker is addressing his audience as they look on with interest. Notice how the speaker is making eye contact with his audience to prepare to respond (audience design).

In this article, the author is indicating two approaches to styles in sociolinguistics; first, how the speaker expresses him or herself. It is important to understand how the audience will react to your speech. If there is no conviction or passion in your tone while you are speaker, the audience will fail to hear your point. This is why communication and audience design is crucial. As you are failing to communicate with your audience, if you take a look at the listener's body language and see they are not interested, then it is time to shift gears and try a new style. Bell explains that the speakers needs to use the correct phonology, or sound system of a language. Also remember to include syntax and semantics. Taking all of these terms into account, the communication will be affective and therefore the speaker will receive a positive audience design.

The second approach Bell demonstrates that the setting of the speech matters. For example, he used research from interviews to determine that when the speaker discussed the message or topic with someone else, the audience did not pay attention or they were not interested. However, when the interviewer answered the questions of the audience to them personally, they felt more engaged in the conversation and were more likely to pay attention.

In this journal written by William S. Horton and Richard J. Gerrig, the authors explain the importance of audience design and why speakers of all ages need to practice and disguise their utterances for particular addresses. First, speakers must understand how influential audience design really is. Second, they must overcome their own speech tendencies and understand the audience in which they are speaking to. If a speaker approaches a room full of men and starts discussing shopping or a new clothing line, the speaker must find a way to make the address relevant to the audience.

This journal written by Hans J. Ladegaard, takes the roles of each person in a speech into account, by looking at the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT). Meaning, when speakers speak, their actions and voice change to resonate with the audience. If a speaker walks into a high school gymnasium to conduct a speech in front of the entire school, the speaker will adjust his or her gestures and vocal patterns to match the audience.

After doing research it makes me believe how important audience design is when discussing sociolinguistics in public speaking.

Inaccurate Blame Placed on Teens for the Use of Slang

            It is believed that teens are responsible for the incorporation of verbal filth, or slang, into the English language; however, these accusations are not completely valid. According to researchers in the article Teens Aren’t Ruining Language by Adrienne Lafrance, there is found to be no correlation between age and vernacular change, which means there are other influences that enhance or encourage slang usage. These consist of, but are not limited to, race, gender, sexual orientation, and other social factors that people come in contact with. The reason that teens are being falsely accused is because they are the ones mostly involved in social media, making them susceptible to most of these social factors.

Comic portraying the fact that teens are not the only one to use slang.

            However, according to researchers, social media is not the only breeding ground for slang terminology to come about; in fact, some believe that the environment that someone grows up in or is accustomed to may have an influence, as well. According to authors of the article ControversialIssues of Slang: Lexicography and Users written by Ildiko Zoltan, “Typical users of slang are the different peripheral subcultures and even counter-cultures, branded as ‘deviant’, e.g. homosexuals, drug users or criminals.” This accusation occurs because normally when there is a large group of people in a confined or close-knit group such as a gang, club, university, military prison, etc., there is a higher chance they will develop their own “code,” if you will, which can then spread outside of these groups, causing trends.

            Another influential factor besides peers or social groups is the subject of homosexuality. This subject has been controversial and very popular as of late with the high media focus on gay marriage. However, terms that were once politically correct to address someone that is homosexual such as fag, homo, queer, etc. are now being used as derogatory terms, making them offensive. Yanchun Zhou and Yanhong Fan state in their article, A Sociolinguistic Studyof American Slang, “Many of these are older terms from the gay society or from what used to be called "vulgar slang.” However, teens are not the only ones using these slang words; many adults of older generations do not accept gay marriages as openly as younger generations, which results in their naïve slang usage.

            Another influential factor other than age that contributes to the use of slang is gender. According to researchers, women use slang terminology less than men do. Many researchers believe it is because it is considered unlady-like language, but according to Zhou, “…men belong to more sub-groups than do women…in business, men have acquaintances that belong to many different sub-groups. Women, on the other hand, still tend to be restricted to family and neighborhood friends.” The article also references to men having slang terms for masculine conversational topics such as sex, women, work, money, whiskey, politics, etc. With support from Zoltan’s article, he states that the slang usage of women is becoming greater and greater, and this increase may be due to the feminist movement, which encourages men and women to be one of the same; therefore, if man can use slang, women can too.

            Other factors, especially social factors, contribute to the usage of slang, which takes some of the blame off of teens. In addition to teens not being the only ones to use this type of language, it is proven that these slang terms do not usually stick around very long, making them impossible to have any permanent effect on the English language, further proving these accusations to be false.

Text Messaging Can Improve Student's Writing Skills

Recent studies have shed new light on the positive impact of text messaging language between teenagers and young adults within the classroom, which previous studies had not addressed.  Individuals assume that abbreviations, lack of punctuation and leaving words out when text messaging, negatively impacts a student's writing abilities, but numerous studies have concluded that it is just the opposite that occurs and it can actually improve a student's writing.  According to author Magdeline Lum, teenagers and young adults understand and are fully aware of the different types of English needed to be used in different situations of communication.  They know that the method of using language when text messaging is more laid back and is associated with shortened words to fit in the character space box, while formal writing requires them to write in proper and appropriate English.  They can differentiate between the two different types of English language because everything they have been taught in school, regarding the rules of writing and spelling, goes against the slang within the text messaging language.  This correlates with my previous blog post because teenagers are familiar with the expectations associated with formal writing within a classroom and professional environment due to their previous years of attending school and learning about it. 

Not only are teenagers and young adults positively impacted from text messaging language, but younger children, around ages 10-12, are also benefiting in the classroom from sending text messages frequently which is what the author, Chantel N. Van Dijk, discovered in his article.  His article reveled that the more children that omitted words in their informal writing within text messaging, the better they performed in grammar activities and assignments while being assessed.  Grammar is a very important aspect in the education of younger students because it includes the basic rules for writing formally.  Students being to learn grammar when they enter school and it becomes a foundation behind how to write.  Grammar and writing are both talked about in relation to language use.  Younger student's meta-linguistic awareness is significantly improved with utilizing communication through text messaging as well. 

Ahmed Al Shlowiy's article was written and focused on many of the positive elements within the relationship between text messaging language that teenagers and young adults regularly engage in, and how it can be related to the classroom learning environment.  Students have the chance to enhance their literacy and communication skills through text messaging, but it is not only through the writing process.  They are able to strengthen these areas through the tool of editing their messages before they send them to the recipients.  Editing text messages includes improving their writing abilities because they are constantly formatting their messages to make sure they are precise and specific because text messaging is a shorten form of writing.  Individuals modify what they have to say because they do not want to send the receiver a long paragraph.  This helps students in the classroom by encouraging them to get straight to the point in their writing and not beat around the bush.     

Active text messaging students can improve their writing skills. 

Nonverbal Children with Autism Learn Language

           When researching about how nonverbal children with autism communicate, researchers have found that through the use of sign language or Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS) nonverbal children with autism are able to communicate with their peers. Although PECS do not require the children to necessarily known semantics and additional linguistic ideas, sign language does require knowledge of how language is formed and used.

            According to research done by Gordon et al., PECS are considered to be an effective device to increase communication in children with autism. The researchers tested the form and function of spontaneous communication in nonverbal children with autism to see what classroom-based interventions were successful when learning language (448).  Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS) were used to teach spontaneous and function communication to children with autism in a social context. PECS are used to communicate a request, thought, or anything else that can be displayed through a picture. This provides nonverbal children an opportunity to communicate and initiate conversation with peers or adults.

            It is known that one of the characteristics in children with autism is their limited language and communication skills. Their limited language skills affect their cognitive and social development as well. According to Onur Kurt, communication skills can be taught to nonverbal students with autism through visual means or representation; such as using sign language or gestures while communicating. Kurt found that using sign language while using spoken language is most effective when teaching expressive and receptive language skills to children with autism, compared to when using only spoken language. He also came to that conclusion that by using discrete trial training while incorporating the use of sign language in order to teach language is beneficial for the students and assists in the learning process.

            When I used to volunteer in a preschool autistic classroom while I was in high school, there were two students who were nonverbal. In order to teach them language, we used sign language to teach them the necessary signs first, then worked on colors, animals, etc.  While teaching the students the signs for each word, we would make sure we used spoken language along with the sign language. I witnessed students successfully learning their signs/words while using spoken language simultaneously. Children with autism may have difficulties with their auditory processing system which is also why using both spoken language and visuals, such as pictures or sign language is extremely helpful.  The interesting thing to witness was how students learned semantics while using sign language.  Since American Sign Language was not being taught to the students, it was much easier to teach them semantics since we taught the students Signed Exact English which uses the same grammar patterns as their peers are learning to speak.

            It is amazing to see the process in which children with autism learn language.  Through my own observations, I found it is easier for the students when learning Signed Exact English because it uses the same patterns as their peers when learning semantics, pragmatics, etc. 

Pictured is a child and an adult using assistive technology to help the child communicate.