Page 182 - Beyond Methods

170 Fostering language awareness
Microstrategy 7.2: Language Use and Doublespeak
7.2.0 This microstrategy aims at fostering critical language aware- ness in learners by drawing their attention to doublespeak, that is, deceptive language that is widely used to mislead people—whether in a democratic society or in a totalitarian regime. For illustrative pur- poses, I will be using the first paragraph from a book that was devoted to doublespeak. It was written by William Lutz in 1989 and titled Doublespeak: From “Revenue Enhancement” to “Terminal Living”: How Government, Business, Advertisers, and Others Use Language to Deceive You. Here’s a possible classroom activity:
7.2.1 Write the full title of Lutz’s book on the board. Ask your stu- dents to focus on the key words in the title and give them some time to think about how (a) government, (b) business, and (c) advertisers use language to deceive the general public. Let them share their thoughts and examples with the class.
Write the following paragraph on the board or, if you have prepared a transparency, project it on the OHP screen. Ask your students to read it carefully.
There are no potholes in the streets of Tucson, Arizona, just “pave- ment deficiencies.” The Reagan Administration didn’t propose any new taxes, just “revenue enhancement” through new “user’s fees.” Those aren’t bums on the street, just “non-goal oriented members of society.” There was no robbery of an automatic teller machine, just an “unauthorized withdrawal.” The patient didn’t die of medi- cal malpractice, it was just a “diagnostic misadventure of a high magnitude.” The U.S. Army doesn’t kill the enemy anymore, it just “services the target.” (Lutz, 1989, p. 1)
7.2.2 If there are any difficult vocabulary items, deal with them first, so that the students fully understand the text before proceeding further. If necessary, make a two-column table highlighting only the juxtaposed lexical items (potholes/pavement deficiencies, etc.).
7.2.3 Form small groups and allot one or two sentences to each group for a detailed analysis. Ask them to think about critical questions such as: What is achieved by the use of such doublespeak? At what cost? At whose cost? Who benefits from such doublespeak and how?
7.2.4 Ask a representative from each group to present a brief report, followed by class discussion.