Tuning Learners to Linguistic Diversity using the “Your Words” Activity

Abstract

The “Your Words” activity invites students to explore how they vary the ways that they communicate in their various speech communities (Morgan, 2014; Rampton, 2020). Students may consider their speech communities in only general terms, such as “I am a speaker of English and Cantonese because I am a resident of Hong Kong.” Or “I am from Miami, so I speak English and Spanish at home. Or “I like to skateboard, and I share some jargon with my skate mates that I don’t use in other situations.” To help them reflect more deeply on communities for which they may not have names, the “Your Words” activity invites them to reflect on and share a word or phrase that they only use in specific social groups that form part of their lives. The discussion that follows encourages students to consider how they modify the way they communicate as they move through the different speech communities that are part of their daily lives. The activity is useful for raising awareness of speech communities before introducing discussions about language attitudes and beliefs that can help prepare pre-service teachers for working with students whose linguistic and cultural diversity is unfamiliar to them.