Sample FOA Idea: Language in Cultural Context

Language & Identity

- How do people vary the language they use based on their audience/social
groups?
THESIS: Identity is constantly constructed through language, and is flexible
based on our contexts
ROOTED IN TEXT (SECONDARY SOURCE): Chapter 2, Language and
Identity Sample Quotes:
P 31 Identity is a socially constituted, a reflexive, dynamic product of the social,
historical, and political contexts of an individuals lived experiences
P 35 Identity is constantly interactively constructed on a microlevel, where an
individuals identity is claimed, contested, and re-constructed in interaction and
in relation to the other participants.
Presentation:
- Hand out extracts from the chapter read some quotations out loud
- Discuss identity and language how do people change their language and
why?
- Examples: show facebook messages/tweets/texts from one person talking
to different audiences. Discuss the language used and how it varies based
on the social groups of the language user (texting to friend vs. to
grandmother, etc.) PRIMARY SOURCES
Expand:
** Create a live textual/typed up conversation on the screen between 2 group
members using etherpad --- PRIMARY SOURCE
-discuss language uses based on identities
** Have the group members dressed up as different personas, use different
language, vocabulary, register and discuss why (cultural factors, socio-economic
status, career, age, gender, education)
Learning Outcomes:
- Analyze how audience and purpose affect the structure and content of texts.
- Analyze the impact of language changes.
- Demonstrate an awareness of how language and meaning are shaped by culture and context