5.1: Module Explanation (reading) and TED talk (video)

Introduction to the project: Creating a Class Dictionary

Language is extremely diverse. You may have heard the term “linguistic community.” This refers to a community or group of people who share a way of speaking. This could be as broad as a language like Spanish or English, but it can also be much more specific, referring to particular words or phrases that one group uses that others don’t. (Even Spanish speakers from one country may use very different vocabulary than Spanish speakers from another country. That is because there are multiple Spanish-speaking linguistic communities. This is true for all languages.)

We are all part of many linguistic communities. These communities may be very big or they may be as small as just a few of our closest friends. For instance, consider how you speak to your friends. What words or phrases do you and your friends know and use that your parents don’t? What about your neighborhood? Are there specific words or phrases used by those in your neighborhood that aren’t used in other neighborhoods? Consider, even, the words you use with your closest friends or people you have dated. Do you use special words or phrases with them that only they understand? These words might be words you created together or words that have special meanings that only you share. In this way, you have created your own linguistic community.

In order to be able to communicate across linguistic communities, we tend to use what’s called Standard English or sometimes Academic English when writing papers in college or doing other kinds of formal writing where we need a broad audience to be able to understand us. But sometimes, Standard or Academic English might not allow us to express just what we want to express—there might not be the perfect one-word translation.

Much of college involves learning words from academic linguistic communities: vocabulary words in your English class, new terms in your science classes, and so on. This project allows you to flip the script and instead teach your instructor and your classmates a word that you use that they may not know. Together, we will be creating a document—a class dictionary—that illustrates the linguistic diversity and rich vocabulary we each bring to the class.

What you will make

For this assignment, you will be selecting a word from one of your linguistic communities to define and explain using Standard English with examples of how and when the word would be used appropriately within its proper context, that is, within your linguistic community. The word you choose to define could be a slang word or it could be a word from another language that doesn’t have a direct English translation.  In any case, you will do your best to help a Standard English speaker understand the denotation (direct or literal definition) and connotation (feelings and ideas invoked) of the word you select.

You will be sharing these words as a class and compiling them to make a class dictionary that represents the language diversity of your classroom community.

What you will learn

This project is an opportunity to:

·       Write a definition paragraph with specific attention to audience and purpose

·       Explain the meanings of words and use examples to illustrate how a specific word is used in different contexts

·       Review dictionary entries to determine if they meet the needs of the audience and purpose

·       Write and revise one or more dictionary entries to introduce a word you know to others who may not know that word

Steps for completing this project

1. After reading this module introduction, you will be ready to view the video below, which will introduce you to the concept of code-switching and help you brainstorm possible words you may want to contribute to the class dictionary. 

2. Next, you will review a sample class dictionary entry and perform a peer review on the entry. We will use this to discuss, together, the elements we want to be sure to include in our dictionary entries.

3. Then, you will write your dictionary entry: you will select a word that you use regularly that is not part of Standard English. You will define this word in Standard English and provide several examples of how the word is used in its appropriate context. You will make sure that your dictionary entry includes all of the elements that we, as a class, decided we would include in our dictionary entries.

4. (Optional challenge) Once you have completed one entry based on a word you know well, you are now ready for the next challenge! You must find and define a word from a linguistic community other than your own. In order to do this, you will engage in a mini ethnographic study. You will identify the speaker you would like to work with and ask to interview them. You may either first select the speaker and then work with the speaker to select the right word to use for your entry, or you may first select the word you want to explore and then find a speaker who regularly uses that word. After your interview, you will complete your dictionary entry, including information about the linguistic community that most frequently uses this word.

5. (Optional group activity) Your class may opt to spend time together designing, compiling, and editing the dictionary to get it ready for print. 

6. (Optional reflection activity) Your instructor may have you write a reflection to further explore and document your learning throughout the process.

 

VIDEO: “SAY LESS: A LESSON IN CODE-SWITCHING”

Background:

In this TED talk, Naya Stevens discusses how she has been expected to code-switch throughout her life. Code-switching is changing how one speaks to fit a particular linguistic community. In college, students are often asked or expected to code-switch from how they comfortably speak into a more formal or “standard” form of English.

Before watching this TED talk, consider how and where you code-switch. If you are watching the video with your class, you may want to share some examples with your classmates before watching.

As you watch, make a list of some of the vocabulary words she uses that those around her didn’t understand. If she were doing the class dictionary assignment, what might be a good word for her to choose to define?

After you watch, take some time to brainstorm the words that you use that you think others not in your linguistic community should learn. Make a list of these words.

TED talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/naya_stevens_say_less_a_lesson_in_code_switching?subtitle=en