| Body | Stephanie Knight is the Language Technology Specialist at CASLS.
The purpose of this activity is to have advanced low students consider the inherent power of language. In order to engage in this analysis, they will analyze the lexis and grammar employed by the media in order to discern the persuasive effects of the words as they relate to gender roles.
Objectives: Learners will be able to:
- Analyze how word choice in media empowers or marginalizes people groups.
- Analyze how grammatical structures in media empower or marginalize people groups.
- Create print media with careful selection of language to satirize a conventional power dynamic.
Modes: Interpretive Reading, Interpersonal Communication, Presentational Writing
Resources: Thinking Handout (two copies), three print ads in the target language, an article about a female athlete in the target language, an article about a male athlete in the target language, and materials to create print ads
Procedure:
- In order to introduce learners to how word choice and grammar impact perceptions of power, provide them with a series of three print ads that reflect gender roles. It is important that teachers select ads with text when choosing what their classes will analyze. The ads can easily be found with a Google Images search in the target language.
- As the learners observe the visual texts, provide them with the Thinking Handout and direct them to consider how language influences the perception of relative power that exists among genders.
- After learners have had 5 minutes to make note of their thoughts, lead a class discussion regarding their observations in the Think, Pair, Share format.
- Next, provide learners with an article about a male athlete and an article about a female athlete. They will analyze these articles using a second copy of the Thinking Handout.
- After that, have learner teams of 2-3 members create one print ad in which they satirize traditional gender power dichotomies by representing one gender with the language that they have discovered to describe the other gender. Ensure that learners spend more time collaborating on the language that they are using than on the creation of visual imagery to include in the ad.
- Finally, learners will view their classmates’ work in a gallery walk/carousel format. After they view the work, lead a class discussion regarding the following questions:
- How did viewing the gender role reversal depicted by your classmates make you feel? Why?
- How does language empower some people groups? What are some specific examples that you saw?
- How does language marginalize some people groups? What are some specific examples that you saw?
This activity can be easily adapted to other proficiency levels through selection of targeted language to analyze. For example, novice learners are able to focus largely on the adjectives and length of sentences employed by the media. Conversely, advanced learners are able to explore rhetorical devices and figurative language.
Given the needs of the curriculum at hand, teachers may also choose to adapt this activity to explore the power dynamic as reflected by language that exists among other groups of people (e.g., members of different races or religious groups).
Finally, teachers may also wish to analyze audio texts throughout the activity. If this is the case, teachers are encouraged to use commercials in Step 1 in lieu of print ads and recorded interviews in Step 4 in lieu of printed articles.
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