Language, Gender, and Culture

1. Language, Gender, and Culture How does one’s gender and/or culture affect how language is communicated?

2. 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) Types • Passive • Assertive • Aggressive • (Passive-Aggressive)

3. Communication Styles

4. #2 Quickwrite Discussion Quickwrite 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?

5. Quickwrite Discussion • Quickwrite 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.

6. Marker Talk Discussion Each 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?

8. #3 Men, Women, & Communication • Dr. Linda Karges • Explain the reason she gives for why there is a difference in men and women’s communication. • Friends: Men vs. Women • Summarize the example that illustrates how men communicate with one another compared to women. • ` Differences Between Men and Women • State 5 ways in which men and women differ.

9. #4 [Tannen] Previewing Vocabulary • Linguistic • One-up/one-down • Ambiguity • Rapport • Subservience • Covert • Prerogative • pro forma • Sumptuous • Debase

10. What is communication? List what you consider to be effective means of communication and ineffective means of communication.

11. 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 CONVERSATION • Reading 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.

12. “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?

13. 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.

14. Annotation Rubric

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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

19. Considering the Structure of the Text • Using 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?

20. Responding • Look 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.

21. 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?

22. Purpose: Inform, persuade, entertain Rhetorical Methods & Strategies: Audience: Argument: • Ethical Appeals • Emotional Appeals • Logical Appeals • Stylistic Devices Intended readers Thesis/main idea Persona: Public image/tone Reading Rhetorically: PAPA □In groups, complete a Papa Square for Tannen’s text.

23. Reading Rhetorically: PAPA □In groups, complete a Papa Square for Tannen’s text. (1) Purpose: Rhetorical Methods & Strategies: Audience: Argument: • Ethical Appeals • Emotional Appeals • Logical Appeals • Stylistic Devices Intended readers Persona: Public image/tone Inform/explain; persuade Women’s speech is inferior to men’s

24. Reading Rhetorically: PAPA □In groups, complete a Papa Square for Tannen’s text. (4) Purpose: Inform/explain Rhetorical Methods & Strategies: Audience: Argument: • Japanese anthropologist • “crude, clumsy” polite • Specific cultural • examples Adult Women and men College students Women are weak/powerless Whether they are direct or indirect. Persona: Knowledgable, unbiased, intellectual

25. Writing Rhetorically: Précis • Now 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.

26. Précis: Sentence 1 • 1. ___________________________, ___________________________, (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.

27. 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.

28. Précis: Sentence 3 • 3. __________ 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.

29. Précis: Sentence 4 • 4. He/she adopts a(n)_____________________________ • tone for _________________________________________. • (intended audience) • She adopts an objective and academic tone for her audience of educated adults.

30. [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.

31. [Kingston] Quickwrite • Quickwrite 1: • Based on your own experience, how do quiet • students 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?

32. [Kingston] Making Predictions • 1. 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?

33. [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

34. [Kingston] First Draft Reading • Reading Strategy: • Read “WITH” the grain & Annotating • Reading Purpose/Focus: • -Look for the theme Kingston wants to convey as you read and write it down. • -In the RIGHT-hand margins, annotate questions and comments.

35. [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?

36. [Kingston] Postreading

37. [Ehrlich] Getting Ready to Read • When you think of the phrase “American cowboy,”what associations, personal traits, and images come to mind?

38. [Ehrlich] Looking Closely @ Language • Author’s Use of rhythm and repetition: • What contrastsdoes 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.

39. [Ehrlich] First & Second Reading • As you read, annotate the text for your thoughts/questions/comments • AND • Read for this purpose: • Consider the main point Ehrlich seems to be making.

40. 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

41. [Ehrlich] Analyzing Stylistic Choices • Mark 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?

42. [Ehrlich] Gender & Communication • Go 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?

43. [Ehrlich] Describing a Cowboy • Use Ehrlich’s text as a dictionary to collect words and phrases that fall into these two categories.

44. [Ehrlich] Describing a Cowboy • Discuss 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?