Tasks for further investigation

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 554.

Task 4

Task 3

Task 2

Task 1

Warm-up activity

Tasks for teaching political correctness

TASKS FOR TEACHING PC LANGUAGE

The subject of politically correct English links historical, cultural, social, and linguistic issues. Since it also addresses current language usage, it appeals to language learners and teachers engaged in the study of English as it is actually used by native speakers today. Thus, politically correct English can be an interesting and useful subject of study for the ESL or EFL classroom. The tasks that follow can be used in the ELT classroom to help fairly advanced students explore this topic.

1. Ask your students to identify issues that people are especially sensitive to (they may name gender, age, ethnicity or nationality, religion, physical appearance).
2. Show your students pictures of different people and ask them what these people are sensitive to, what language strategies they can use to avoid offending these people. Present examples and suggestions on the board. Identify patterns, e.g. dropping -ess from authoress, manageress, actress, replacing -man/man with person/people, etc.

The following phrases use sexist language. Rewrite them to make them inclusive.
1. A teacher should be tolerant with his students.
2. A child needs the love of his parents.
3. An actress is usually nervous before the show.
4. Mary is a camerawoman.
5. The committee elected a chairman.
6. Man is destroying our planet.
7. Today man-made fibers are used for manufacturing stockings.
8. This substance is not known to man.

Although well known, the following proverbs are not politically correct. Try to change them.
1. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
2. He who cannot obey cannot command.
3. A man's home is his castle.
4. Every man has his hobbyhorse.
5. He is happy that thinks himself so.

Column A represents traditional names for different races and nationalities, and column B gives the politically correct version. Match the names from column A with column B.

Many people are sensitive about their abilities, age, culture, and appearance. Make the following phrases sound inoffensive to the persons being spoken about.
1. She is looking after her insane mother.
2. The program offers long-term care for the elderly and immediate care for the mentally retarded.
3. A new clinic for the care of geriatrics is being proposed.
4. He is as blind as a bat.
5. My neighbor is as deaf as a post.
6. Jane is an emotional cripple.
7. Fat people need to go on diets.

The movement for political correctness has both supporters and critics. This makes it a good topic for discussions, debates, and other exercises in critical thinking skills. Below are several topics for further investigation or discussion. They may not be familiar or appropriate for all settings, but they may help teachers think of politically correct issues that would be relevant to their students.

1. Terms referring to racial, ethnic, or indigenous groups of people. Sensitivity toward race and ethnicity is also reflected in language changes that have been motivated by political correctness. For example, in most common usage today Asian has replaced Oriental. However, there is not always universal agreement or understanding about which terms are favored, polite, or neutral in a particular setting. For example, some people prefer to use the term Native American while others prefer American Indian, and still others prefer First Americans.

Have your students design and conduct a survey of their classmates, neighbors, and friends who represent various racial and ethnic groups to collect information about this issue. Then, they can report their findings to the class.

2. Terms used to disguise unpleasantness. In an attempt to mask the truth or to hide unpleasant realities, governments or other special interest groups sometimes create euphemisms or expressions to put a more positive light on a situation. If blind sounds offensive, substitute visually challenged. Genocide may be referred to as ethnic cleansing. Sometimes, the new terms seem awkward, funny, or even offensive. Again, there is unlikely to be agreement on whether such terms are good or not. Consider this opinion from Dr. Kenneth Jernigan (1999), a leader for more than 40 years in the National Federation of the Blind in the United States:

The blind have had trouble with euphemisms for as long as anybody can remember…. The form has changed (in fact, everything is very "politically correct"), but the old notions of inferiority and second-class status still remain. The euphemisms and the political correctness don't help. If anything, they make matters worse since they claim modern thought and new enlightenment.

Jernigan (1999) quotes a resolution passed by the National Federation of the Blind that says that using politically correct euphemisms instead of "such straightforward, respectable words as blindness, blind, the blind, blind person, or blind persons…. implies shame instead of true equality, and portrays the blind as touchy and belligerent."

Ask your students: Do you agree or disagree with Dr. Jernigan? Explain why. Have students try to find other similar examples of euphemistic speech.

3. Political correctness in languages other than English. Politically correct changes are also occurring in languages other than English as a reflection of growing tolerance, inclusion, and other changes in modern societies.

Ask your students: What examples of politically correct speech can you identify in the native languages of your classmates or community? Have students create a list of examples.

4. PC point of view. Write the statements below on the blackboard.

a. PC speech is an important issue in modern society and reflects a growing respect for others.
b. PC speech is just a form of conformism and does not represent a meaningful change in attitudes.

Ask your students which of the two points of view most closely reflects their opinions? Ask them to explain, giving examples to support their opinions.

Gap-filling. Complete the newspaper article with the words from the list:

Pass away, companion animal, leisure garden, retirement pension, taking industrial action, low IQ, disadvantaged senior citizen, disabled, job seeker's allowance, have a dialogue, Ministry of Defence, working to rule, under the weather, lower income bracket

`STOP BEING A COY

`I will die – not pass away

I AM an old cripple, drawing an old-age pension, working hard to raise vast quantities of vegetables on an allotment, and well aware that one of these days, I shall die. All this is fact.

If, however, I listen to the voice of officialdom, it turns out that I am a (1) , registered as (2) , drawing a (3) , renting a (4) , and presumably immortal, because I shall never die – I shall merely (5) .

The euphemisms which pour from the lips of politicians and trade union leaders are endless. (6) equals going on strike, and (7) equals being bloody minded.

And let us do away with the following:

(8) (poor)

(9) (ill)

(10) (stupid)

(11) (unemployment benefit)

(12) (Ministry of War)

(13) (talk)

(14) (pet).

All this effort to avoid unpleasantness is certain to fail, because the euphemism quickly acquires the stigma of the word it replaced. I, and probably others, do not feel younger because I am called a senior citizen.

Bryan Heath

Retired vet

NOTES:

1. Taken from New Headway Advanced student's book, p, 116

2. a coy –not willing to give information about smth, especially in a way that is slightly annoying.

Allotment –a small piece of land in a town that you can rent and use for growing vegetables

Stigma-a feeling that smth is wrong or embarassing