Language, Gender, and Culture: You Are What You Speak



ERWC Unit: Language, Gender, and Culture: You Are What You Speak

ESSAY FINAL DRAFT DUE: Fri 12/6

WRITING

Activity 1: Getting Ready to Write in class: Mo 11/18

AS A CLASS: start by making a list in your journal of questions the activities for the various readings brought up. As you listen to the discussion, gather your answers to the questions we have considered up to this point.

SOME Key Questions to get you started:

(Reading 1 Activity 1): What may these statements suggest about the person responding?

How do American women/men typically speak in their conversations? How do the conversations differ according to the speaker?

What does the term “communication” mean?

What is “powerless” speech? How does it affect the speaker? The listener?

What does Tannen mean when she says, “Only modern Western societies place a priority on direct communication, and even for us it is more a value than a practice” (paragraph 8)? What does it mean to say that direct communication is more valued than it is practiced? Do you agree that we claim to value direct speech but often act otherwise?

Continue looking for questions in all the Activities from all the Readings.

WITH YOUR GROUP: Discuss your answers; compare notes. Look for differences in understanding, point of view, opinion.

ALONE: Review your journal entries and read over your marginal annotations as you think about your responses to the various questions.

Activity 2: Connecting reading to writing: in class: We 11/20

In your groups of 4:

1. Look at the numerous references in all the articles to modes of communication. Choose examples from the texts that represent each of the following ways in which one communicates: passive, polite, indirect, aggressive, powerful, powerless, and insecure. You may highlight the words or phrases in the texts. After you identify words or phrases from the articles that fit with each style of communication listed, write them in the appropriate box on the table provided (last page), together with the paragraph number referenced in the text. Note that space is available if you would like to create another category of communication patterns.

2. Make connections between the vocabulary in the readings and your own vocabulary:

a) Write all the “communication” words your authors used onto a sheet of poster paper—use a separate column for each author.

b) Draw lines or color-code by highlighting matching language and opposing language (for ex., if one author says “women speak softly” and another author says “cowboys speak quietly”, that’s matching language).

c) Add a column of “communication” words of your own. Draw lines/highlight connections and differences between your words and the authors’.

3. Review the structure of each essay. How did each author build his/her argument? Outline it paragraph by paragraph, considering these questions as you go:

a) What is the author’s main claim (thesis)? Where did the author put it? Why?

b) What were the author’s other claims (i.e., topics for each paragraph)?

c) What kinds of proof (examples, data, warrants) did each author use to back up his/her claims?

d) Which claims were provable with data? Which were actually warrants?

e) What did each author say about him/herself to make us want to believe and ultimately agree with him/her?

f) How did the author use opposition to help prove his/her claims?

Activity 3: Organizing the Essay and Developing the Content: in class: Fr 11/22

Consider the following before you write: and HW: Mo 11/25

Introduction

• Will you use a question, a surprising statement, or some other “hook” to get the reader’s attention?

• Does your introduction provide a context for understanding what will follow?

• Have you given the reader some idea of how you are going to develop the essay?

Body

• Do you have topic sentences that present each main point?

• Are the main points supported with evidence (e.g., facts, arguments, quotations, or paraphrases from the texts studied)?

Conclusion

• In your final paragraph, step back and show why your ideas matter. What’s at stake? Consider what you’d like your reader to take away from your paper.

REVISING AND EDITING in class: Mo 12/2

Before you turn it in, look over your essay for the following: HW: FINAL DRAFT: Fr 12/6

1. Have I responded to the assignment?

2. What is my purpose for this essay?

3. What should I keep? What is most effective?

4. What should I add? Where do I need more details, examples, and other evidence to support my point?

5. What could I omit? Where have I been repetitive?

6. What should I change? Are parts of my essay confusing or contradictory?

7. What should I rethink? Is my position clear?

8. How is my tone? Do I need qualifiers?

9. Have I addressed differing points of view?

10. Does my conclusion show the significance of my essay?

Activity 4: Reflecting on the Writing

Writing often helps us focus our thinking so that we learn about things that we might not have noticed otherwise. Think about the following questions:

1. What did you learn from writing this paper?

2. What do you think you did particularly well in writing this paper?

Write your answers IN YOUR JOURNAL.

ERWC: Language, Gender, and Culture

PROMPT

How does language “inform” the individual? In a well-organized essay of two to three pages and using examples from at least three of the texts you read and from personal experience and observation, argue ONE of the following:

1. To what extent does the language we use define who we are? Consider all the languages an individual might speak (slang, dialect, foreign languages, formal/informal, etc).

2. What is the difference in the way men and women communicate, and what purpose might it serve?

Name:______________________

Ms. Swanson

English 12, Per. 1

Fall 2013

ERWC: Language, Gender, and Culture

ESSAY GRADING SHEET

_____/ 5 Establishes a clear thesis.

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

_____/ 8 Begins body paragraphs with clear claims (topic sentences). (minimum 3 body pars., 2pts. each)

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

_____/ 12 Provides ample specific supporting evidence (facts, expert opinion, experience) from at least 3

texts being studied. (minimum 3 body pars., 3 pts. each)

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

_____/ 3 Provides at least one supporting example from personal experience/observations —Be specific.

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

_____/ 9 Thoroughly develops ideas with ample analysis/explanation and clear progression from one point to the next.

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

_____/ 6 Concludes the essay with a review of your thesis/argument and a meaningful reflection on what we should do or think now that you’ve proven your thesis (universal statement, call to action).

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

_____/ 2 Tops the essay with a provocative title

Advanced Proficient Basic Missing

_____/ 10 Is relatively free of careless errors.

Advanced Proficient Basic Below Basic

TOTAL: /55

• Advanced: This level represents a superior performance. Students demonstrate a comprehensive and complex understanding of the knowledge and skills measured by this assessment, at this grade, in this content area.

• Proficient: This level represents a solid performance. Students demonstrate a competent and adequate understanding of the knowledge and skills measured by this assessment, at this grade, in this content area.

• Basic: This level represents a limited performance. Students demonstrate a partial and rudimentary understanding of the knowledge and skills measured by this assessment, at this grade, in this content area.

• Below Basic: This level represents a serious lack of performance. Students demonstrate little or a flawed understanding of the knowledge and skills measured by this assessment, at this grade, in this content area.

ERWC Language, Gender, Culture Writing Activity 2: Connecting Reading to Writing

|Ways to Communicate |Reading #1 |Reading #2 |Reading #3 |Reading #4 |Reading #5 |Reading #6 |

|Passive | | | | | | |

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|Direct | | | | | | |

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|Indirect | | | | | | |

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|Polite | | | | | | |

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|Aggressive | | | | | | |

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|Powerful/ Confident | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | |

|Powerless/ Insecure | | | | | | |

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