Communication Choices Lecture



Intro- ActivityTeacher should draw a graphic organizer on the board with input from students on styles. Use this to intro communication styles…What is Style?Style can be thought of as a collection of features that suggest to others who we are, how we are perceived by others, or who we wish to be—from what type of house we live in, to what we eat and drink, to what we read, to how we speak. Speech can reveal a great deal. Through the words we use, the way we pronounce them, and (to a certain extent) how we arrange our words in sentences, we reveal what groups we belong to—for instance, where we are from, our ethnicity, our gender, our age. But each individual selects uniquely from among the linguistic resources associated with the various groups to which she or he belongs. Style is LearnedSpeaking in a certain way—or ways—is a learned ability. A particularly salient aspect of speech style is tied to?geography?—where speakers grew up. However, geography does not?determine?speech style. Someone may, for instance, forego a regional way of speaking or dialect, perhaps for professional reasons, and adopt other ways. Similarly, being biologically male or female does not completely determine speech characteristics. Even vocal pitch is partly learned: Long before their voices change, little boys learn that lower-pitched voices are associated with masculinity, and they can manipulate their vocal folds so that their voices sound lower than little girls’. Nor do race and ethnicity cause a person to speak a certain way. For instance, babies born in Asia and raised in the U.S. by middle-class English-speaking parents in a mainstream community will speak mainstream English (and will encounter the same stylistic choices as other mainstream speakers). Finally, people in different jobs—newscasters, radio DJs, plumbers, physicists, doctors—learn specialized ways of talking.?Speaking?like a newscaster or a doctor, for instance is, in fact, part of?being one.Individual style, then, is in large part a personal version of the behavior typical of a group. Children acquire style as they acquire language and culture.Speakers and Writers Shift Their StylesNo one speaks or writes the same way all the time. They adjust constantly to the audience, situation, and topic. Over the course of a lifetime, as they take on new personal and professional roles, speakers and writers modify their communication. Everyone is, of course, a member of multiple groups—age groups (children or teenagers or middle-aged people), professional groups (lawyers or electricians or bus drivers), and gender groups (men or women)—and one’s styles can emphasize one aspect of identity over another. People who speak more than one language choose the one that seems more appropriate at any particular moment (linguists call this?codeswitching). People who speak more than one dialect of a language shift between them—for instance, using African American English on some occasions and Standard English on others, and shifting within an occasion to signal meaning subtly. This is referred to as Style shifting. It is?adjusting or changing from one style of speech to another. Style shifts are largely automatic or unconscious reactions to a situation, an audience, or a topic, but they may be deliberate. Style shifting always occurs within the same language, as opposed to?codeswitching, which involves changing between different languages. Using the dialect of a group indicates affiliation with the group. So, what is dialect? Dialect:Encourage students to form a definition for dialect… Write ideas on the board. Use these to transition back into lecture…Dialect is a term which refers to?any language variety associated with a particular region or social group. As used by linguists, the term?dialect?involves no judgment of the value of a particular language variety. No variety is superior to any other. Some people control only one dialect of their language, but they, too, shift among different styles of speaking, often depending on whether the situation is more formal or less formal.Stylistic Choices Have ConsequencesCommunicative style may provide some insight into personality—how caring or how domineering, —but it is dangerous to assume a direct link between communication style and psychology. People learn in childhood, in their families and peer groups, the sounds, grammar, and vocabulary associated with their language variety. At the same time, they learn how to use language: how fast to talk, how loud, whether and when to talk at the same time as others, what rhythm to use, how often to tell personal stories and how to structure them. When speakers share expectations about these sorts of things, their conversations proceed smoothly; even if they disagree, they are likely to understand each other. When conversationalists have different styles, however, misunderstanding may ensue. I f one person usually chimes in to signal enthusiasm as others talk (because that’s what her family and friends and the people she grew up with do), it may be interpreted as a rude interruption by?someone from another background who is used to people talking one at a time . Or a teacher working in the North who retains her native Southern pronunciation and grammatical patterns might be seen as less intellectual by Northerners who do not know her. Using a style with others who share it can promote conversational harmony, while using it with people who do not know it can have unfortunate repercussions.Adopting a style can have benefits, such as closer rapport with a group and presentation of self in a desired light, and research demonstrates that during interaction, speakers who are feeling positive about each other tend to converge their speaking styles. But there can also be negative consequences to not sounding as expected. If a male is thought to sound feminine, he may be subjected to ridicule. Also people may think twice before accepting the professional services of someone with a strong regional accent different from?their own.What is Tone?Tone defines attitudes. In spoken communication, tone refers to the way the sound of a person’s voice communicates emotion. In writing, tone identifies the author’s mood for the subject and the audience. Reflective- ActivityTeacher should draw a graphic organizer on the board with input from students on communication styles. Be sure to include written, verbal, and body language. (Need some help getting started---word usage- slang, proper, formal, informal, pauses, dialect, vocabulary, etc.). Also be sure to talk about the influence of purpose, task, and audience on communication styles. When do we style shift when writing? When speaking? Why do we need to style shift? How is it helpful? ***ALMOST COMPLETELY BORROWED FROM ****** ................
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