Jrgona Flashcards
Plain English Campaign remember. Colleen Glenney
plays a role in enhancing talks- colleen, enhances our understanding, brings people within occupation together (discourse of community) gives sense of identity, collective community. motivates, gives breakthroughs and incites.
P1
Everyone in the workplace will generally be part of the discourse community that all share common knowledge of their occupational language. Therefore, using this language allows for clear and effective communication, making for a good working environment. it facilitates achieving of certain goals e.g. doctors, relevant to discussions, helps make new scientific breakthroughs, make diagnosis, ensure they are working together helping people and improving lives.
P1 part2
working together helping people and improving lives.
Jargon assists swifter communication. Since employees are part of a group who share a common purpose and goal (communities of practise John Swales), their language allows them to reach objectives. Herrgard Argues that in time constrained situations like a kitchen efficiency is key and so jargon works well here. June heritage’s research suggests that knowing the relevant jargon allows us to make the job run more efficiently. drew heritage inferential framework knowledge is built up overtime and used in order to understand meaning that is implicit. . E.g. 10-4 radio jargon, meaning ‘I understand’. Or the acronym ‘AWOL’ ‘absent without leave’ military jargon for a person whose whereabouts unknown.
John Swales Discourse Communities
Members who:
Share a set of common goals
Communicate internally, using and owning one or more genres of communication
Use specialist lexis and discourse
Possess a required level of knowledge and skill to be considered eligible to participate in the community
Discourse Communities: professional communities who use specialist vocabulary (professional lexis) to impact information efficiently in the workplace
Drew and Heritage 1983
Members of a discourse community share inferential frameworks with each other, consisting of implicit ways of thinking, communicating and behaving.
Inferential framework- Knowledge built up over time and used in order to understand meanings that are implicit
Lave and Wenger 1991
Communities of Practice: groups engaged with common tasks and goals who interact regularly, developing shared language use and thought processes
P1 supporting theorists
Herrgard argues that in time-constrained situations (e.g. a kitchen), efficiency is key and jargon works well here.
Crystal believes that jargon leads to efficiency and optimal communication.
Colleen Glenney argues that “jargon condenses meaning and allows us to share information effectively… it is deeply meaningful to the people who use it… jargon can aid rather than hinder the expression of meaning.’
Could use Janet Holmes and George Major’s theory to support this – they found that nurses use mitigated imperatives to get the job done.
P1 However,
However,
With occupations that require interacting with the general public such as doctors and dentists, it can be hard sometimes for laymen to understand what is meant. Giles Accomodation
-Although the general public has the opportunity to ask for a simpler explanation, it can leave them then feeling inferior and unintelligent. This can lead to a very hesitant rapport which can hinder efficiency in reaching the end goal.
-This lack of understanding can be a further problem when there’s no one around to ask for help. In situations where laymen encounter occupational lexis, it can leave them feeling confused and frustrated. This could happen when having to read and fill out any legal documents which may have confusing wording, or even when following a recipe.
P2
-It also enables individuals to use occupational language to reflect status and role. -If someone uses a lot of occupational lexis, they are being represented as knowing lots. Similarly, occupational language can be used to differentiate people within a social hierarchy. For example, the boss may use the most occupational language and they have the most/widest knowledge, demonstrating that they can provide knowledge and answers to others who might need it. Sports commentator
P2- Waring and power
Political, personal, social group, instrumental, influential
Political and personal
Political Power > Power held by
those with the backing of the law. Personal Power > Power held by
individuals as a result of their roles in
organisation
Social group power and instrumental
Social Group Power> Power
held as a result of being a member of
a dominant social group. Instrumental Power > Power used to
maintain and enforce authority- police, teachers, lawyers.
Influential power
Influential Power > Power used to influence or persuade others > Family > Friends > The media
P2- Asymmetrical encounters are formed when one participant in an exchange has more status or specialist knowledge than another participant
Habermas (1994)
P2- Drew and Heritage 1983
Drew and Heritage 1983- There are strong hierarchies of power within organisations with many asymmetrical relationships marked by language use
P2- however
However, - Workers are more direct to subordinates than to superiors. Wellington Study (1996)
P2- French and Raven
French and Raven- There are five bases of power which a person may have: 1. Coercive (the power to force someone to do something, form of punishment if they refuse), 2. Expert (knowledge which marks them as someone with power), 3. Legitimate (genuine power because of position), 4. Reward (the ability to reward a subordinate for complying), 5. Referent (a good rapport or a mutual respect with someone makes them want to comply).
P3
A problem faced in the workplace is sometimes encountered when there is a new hire. In this instance, the new member of a team may be either new to the occupation or just unfamiliar with how the new team functions and communicates.
-This means they won’t be familiar with all of the occupational language that goes with it, which can cause someone to feel excluded and unmotivated at work
P3- Milroy
Milroy open and closed networks- hard to understand, need to pick up quick to get integrated into business, challenge for their understanding of what’s going on.
P3- Norman Fairclough
He believed that social situations are shaped by power dynamics. ‘Unequal encounters’- in these encounters, normal conventions of turn-taking do not operate. Instead, the powerful participant places constraints on the less powerful participants
P3- Althusser
Althusser argues that it disturbs our thoughts if we don’t know/ use the jargon.
Spolsky also says that you can stand out in a bad way if you do not know/ use jargon.
Observations made in a hospital setting:
- Those “in the know” with restricted lexis are closer socially with each other than with those who are not
P3- Language in the National Curriculum [LINC] Study (1989-92)
P3- Spolsky
Spolsky also says that you can stand out in a bad way if you do not know/ use jargon.
P3 However
However, Spolsky also says that jargon helps you to become indoctrinated into the group.
threshhold level of expertise in discourse communtieis. you have qualifications, so you have a common level of understanding of what is being discussed.
P4- -
Kim and Elder 2009
the language of occupational groups can be culturally specific and Kim and Elder found that this can cause miscommunications.
Studied the language of American pilots and Korean air traffic controllers using English as a lingua franca. Found that communication difficulties were not due to a language barrier, but to the American pilots not observing predetermined communication patterns, abbreviating, elaborating, or employing idiomatic expressions
P4- Jenny Chapman
believes that jargon hinders understanding and says it is a pointless and unnecessary irritation. She conducted a survey, where 64% of people agreed that jargon or cliches like “thinking outside the box” are pointless. “Jargon masks real meaning” “people use it as a substitute for thinking hard and clearly about their goals and direction that they want to give others”.
