The Researched Critical Analysis Essay

The Researched Critical Analysis Essay

In Phase 1, we read about how folks from diverse backgrounds have learned and experienced language and literacy. We then reflected on and wrote about some of our own language and literacy experiences. In Phase 2, we learned about the ways standard language ideology works to maintain social and racial hierarchies. We examined language politics, put our course texts in conversation, and practiced developing and evolving our own ideas. In Phase 3, we will address this fundamental challenge: How might popular opinions on language and literacy—many of which are based heavily on myths, misinformation, and ignorance—be debunked and revised? Since it’s difficult to identify and then effectively challenge deeply held beliefs about language, we’ll practice doing just that for Phase 3.

 

Your project in Phase 3 will be to choose and critically analyze a single example/practice for how that example/practice is driven by language ideologies (i.e., attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, and/or myths about language). For instance, you may want to investigate a specific example when a person’s dialect or language was called “broken” or a specific example when a pundit declares that the English language will be ruined if ever changed. Alternatively, you may want to examine the common practice of judging someone based on their accent or the common practice of demanding only English in classroom settings. Imagine your audience as fellow college students who are not in our class and who are not aware of common language attitudes and how they lead to certain problematic actions and consequences. Your purpose is to uncover any language attitudes/beliefs/assumptions/myths that seem to be embedded within the example/practice you examine and whatever social consequences that follow.

 

You will critically analyze your example/practice and present your argument using your own knowledge and reasoning as well as concepts/examples from sources. You’ll need to be extensive in your analysis of select examples/concepts/quotes, providing appropriate description and interpretation to show your audience what you see. Your analysis should zoom in on the particular language example/practice and follow the “10 on 1” rule of thumb—that is, it is better to make ten observations or points about a single representative issue or example (10 on 1) than to make the same basic point about ten related issues or examples (1 on 10). Importantly, your analysis must also attend carefully to the “So what?” question—in other words, think about why the claims and inferences you are building might matter. What social consequences can be traced back to language ideologies and the example/practice you’re exploring? What’s at stake, and for whom? What might be gained by your analysis and what do we stand to lose if we continue to overlook the issue?

 

 

                

 

 

 

 

General Requirements

 

Your Critical Analysis Essay must be informed by 3-5 sources comprised of the following, in addition to the text or example you’ve selected to analyze:

  • 1-2 sources from our shared course readings (Lippi-Green is a great candidate).
  • 1-2 academic sources specific to your topic that you locate. This could be a chapter in a scholarly book, a scholarly website (.edu), reference work (e.g., encyclopedia), a peer-reviewed scholarly article, as well as public affairs, advocacy, government, or commercial sources, statistics, or websites.
  • 1-2 supplementary sources in the form of images, video clips, sound bites, links, lyrics, etc.

 

Your Critical Analysis Essay should be 3-4 pages (12-point font, 1-inch margins, double spaced) plus any images you choose to include. Please use MLA citation within the body of your essay and on a Works Cited page, and please compose a relative and inviting title for your essay. You are encouraged to personalize the delivery of your essay as you see fit. Thus, you decide the order, tone, style, and language you’ll craft in order to best reach your audience. You’re welcome to draw on your “native,” “home,” or “other” languages, literacies, and ways of being as you so choose.

 

A full draft of the essay is due for peer review on Wednesday, November 28 and your final draft is due Monday, December 3rd. This essay is worth 20% in both your Topic and Writing sections.

 

 

Evaluation Criteria for the Researched Critical Analysis Essay Points Possible
1. Is the focus of analysis appropriately narrowed? How focused, specific, and relative is the selected example/practice? How effectively is it described?  

2
2. How effectively does the essay reflect an understanding of the concept of (standard) language ideologies? Does the essay make explicit how certain language ideologies are connected to the example/practice? Are connections also made to the social consequences of language ideologies?  

2
3. How effective is the analysis in the essay? How effectively

·        is a particular stance (on language ideologies) analyzed and argued?

·        are claims presented and logically supported with extensive analysis and evidence from sources?

·        does the essay attend to the needs of the intended audience—e.g., anticipating their questions, creating context for the analysis, introducing and interacting with the secondary source/s?

·        does the analysis, especially the conclusion, address the “So what?” question?

  

10
4. Does the essay show evidence of thoughtful revision and editing? 1
5. Were all major requirements for length, source use, and due date met?  
TOTAL POINTS 15

 

 

IDEAS FOR WHAT TO ANALYZE IN YOUR CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY 

 

 

Public examples:

 

  1. “I won’t hire people who use poor grammar. Here’s why.”

https://hbr.org/2012/07/i-wont-hire-people-who-use-poo

 

  1. You should only speak English in the workplace. “Man Threatens Spanish-Speaking Workers: ‘My Next Call Will Be to ICE’”: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/nyregion/man-threatens-spanish-language-video.html

 

  1. “Rachel Jeantel was the leading prosecution witness when George Zimmerman was tried for killing Trayvon Martin, but she spoke in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and her crucial testimony was dismissed as incomprehensible and not credible” https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Rickford_92_4.pdf

 

  1. It’s acceptable to judge someone based on their language. Meme on judging people based on their grammar: https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi1mYzZkNGFiMzAyMThjN2Q2/?tagSlug=confession

 

  1. We speak “American” in America. Sarah Palin tells immigrants to “speak American”: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2015/sep/07/sarah-palin-tells-immigrants-to-the-us-to-speak-american-video

 

  1. Immigrants don’t want to learn English. Joke about E.T. versus immigrants (E.T. speaks English and wants to go home): https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/6mou47/whats_the_difference_between_an_illegal_immigrant/ and https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-immigration-learning-english_us_560315ace4b0fde8b0d124ea

 

  1. Why are so many Americans “concerned with preventing any changes to their national language?” The myth that English is an official language: https://psmag.com/education/the-myth-of-english-as-americas-national-language

 

  1. We should ban slang at school. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/24534663

 

  1. Accents are unacceptable, so nonnative English speakers should seek modification courses: https://www.csmonitor.com/1999/1103/p13s1.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtxQ15nTQAo

 

  1. It’s weird to pronounce white names as Black, but not Black names as white. A parody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7FixvoKBw

 

  1. Using slang makes you sound stupid. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11420737

 

  1. We should save the “Queen’s English”: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/god-save-the-queens-english-our-language-is-under-threat-from-ignorance-inverted-snobbery-and-2099825.html

 

  1. Using “aks” instead of “ask” is ignorant and confuses readers. (Lippi-Green 190-192; 205). See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbhPY06KrDg and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9F1LTO4e7Y

 

  1. Switch to Standard English if you want to be successful, says character on HBO show Insecure to fellow African American woman. https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/10/insecures-claps-back-at-code-switching-in-racist-a.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0uwDpKUl0g

 

  1. You must be confused or stupid if you don’t speak English, and imitating your accent is reasonable. A Parody of a Khmer woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2NcwrPZBLM&list=PLveUJcTYzTrtTKpGMzrih8B6W4ZJAhMjP

 

  1. Accents and errors make it too hard for many people to understand and should be eliminated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f1f13QEfQc . And the burden for clear communication rests solely/mostly on the one with the “accent” or “errors” (see Lippi-Green 71-74).

 

 

Examples from our course readings:

  • Tan’s anecdote about her mom not receiving the communication and respect she deserved at doctor’s office.
  • Saleem’s example of comments he received about his accent when posting a video online.
  • Smitherman’s anecdote about being put in a speech class because she spoke African American Vernacular English.

 

Examples from outside texts:

  1. MacNeil and Cran’s account of a “prescriptivists”—the beliefs of what MacNeil has called grammar “snobs” or grammar “police”
  2. You shouldn’t be a public voice if you don’t speak Standard English: The case of James Kahakua, native of Hawaii (Lippi-Green 47-50; 156-157).
  3. Study (Rubin 1992) showing reverse linguistic profiling: students rate same exact white speech as worse when they’re led to believe a brown woman was speaking (Lippi-Green 92-93).
  4. The argument that it’s just more “appropriate” to speak Standard English (Lippi-Green 81-84).
  5. How standard language ideology is perpetuated through
    1. Education (Lippi-Green 78-81)
    2. Children’s films (Lippi-Green (111-129, Lion King 122-123)
    3. The media (Lippi-Green 130-135)
    4. The 2008 Presidential Election (with Obama) (Lippi-Green 136-144)
    5. Building moral panic (Lippi-Green on Ebonics controversy 303-317)
    6. The assumption that “it is rude for people to speak Spanish in front of me, as I can’t understand them” (Lippi-Green 264-266) See also: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/multilingual-workplaces-etiquette
    7. The assumption that “it’s not white, it’s correct.” Assumptions held by some African Americans regarding African American Vernacular English (Lippi-Green
  6. Folks who can’t get housing due to their language/race, including Latinx, African Americans, and Muslims (Lippi-Green 324-330).
  7. The CUNY professor who faced criticism from her Chair for inviting students to draw on their language differences in academic writing. https://teacher-scholar-activist.org/2017/10/09/stank-2-0-and-the-counter-poetics-of-black-language-in-college-classrooms/
  8. When teachers claim “This is not your language” to multidialectical students, insinuating plagiarism: https://www.chronicle.com/article/Not-Your-Language-How-a/238239
  9. Labels matter! Taking issue with “English as second language” and “nonnative speaker” labels: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h6r0d1xyh0gufs9/2003TM13.4NNEST.pdf?dl=0 and maybe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeeBlXKkxeM&t=64s
  10. When heritage languages feel distant and overly politicized–My Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE-c4Bj_RT0
  11. Spanish dialects/accents stereotypes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlK-neOypDM&t=92s
  12. The power of Nuyorican accents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtOXiNx4jgQ
  13. Translation is hard, tricky, and (can be) humorous. When Spock sings “My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard” https://www.facebook.com/groups/834976033333570/permalink/1076126832551821/ and other (more serious) examples of the challenges and marvels of translation: https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/translation/

 

 

Of course, using a personal anecdote or even a hypothetical example is also more than welcome!

 

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.