View Content #25519

From https://www.cultofpedagogy.com

Jennifer Gonzalez writes, "Name mispronunciation – especially the kind committed by the arrogant manglers—actually falls into a larger category of behaviors called microaggressions, defined by researchers at Columbia University’s Teachers College as 'brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color' (Sue et al., 2007).

"In other words, mutilating someone’s name is a tiny act of bigotry. Whether you intend to or not, what you’re communicating is this: Your name is different. Foreign. Weird. It’s not worth my time to get it right. Although most of your students may not know the word microaggression, they’re probably familiar with that vague feeling of marginalization, the message that everyone else is 'normal,' and they are not."

Read her full blog post for a taxonomy of name mispronouncers, why it matters to students to hear their names pronounced correctly, and suggestions and resources to help you learn to pronounce each student's name correctly: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/gift-of-pronunciation/