Everyday Writer - Bedford, Freeman & Worth College Publishing ...

198
CHAPTER 20 Language That Builds Common Ground
It is also worth noting that style sheets for most organizations recom -
mend using the term gay only as an adjective; homosexual and lesbian are
used as both adjectives and nouns.
FOR COLLABORATION: Language That Builds Common
Ground
Because campus speech codes often ban slurs and epithets, they are most
usually referred to as “Hate Speech Codes.” And when these speech codes
are enforced, they usually fire up controversies about what exactly constitutes
“hate speech” as well as what kinds of speech violate First Amendment
rights.
Form students into groups to investigate the campus speech codes at
your college, reporting to the rest of the class on their content as well as
instances of when — if ever — they have been enforced. How have the
codes been applied in the past? What were the results? How were viola -
tions of the codes addressed? Are there situations on your campus now
that merit application of the campus speech codes?
FOR COLLABORATION: Language That Builds Common
Ground
To reinforce the learning in this chapter, share the following message with
your students:
Like you, generations of college students have found themselves in classes
filled with people both like them and different from them. Take time now to
examine where you’ve come from — your age, ethnicity, hometown, religion,
and so on.
Ask students to write a short response to the message. Then ask them to
examine one or more of their classmates. Have them write a paragraph
about the differences and the common ground they see, and then study
their paragraph for any assumptions their language reveals. Finally, ask
students to meet with two other classmates to read their paragraphs and
share what they have learned about finding common ground.
USEFUL READINGS
Ball, Arnetha, and Ted Lardner. “Dispositions toward Language: Teacher Construction
of Knowledge and the Ann Arbor Black English Case.” CCC 48
(1997): 469–99. Ball and Lardner explore the effects of language-based
stereotypes and offer important ways to teach beyond these stereotypes
for all instructors interested in inclusive writing instruction.