Unit on Social Reproduction: Linguistic Cultural Capital Lesson Plan
Abstract:
Situated within a unit on social reproduction, this lesson plan on linguistic cultural capital is designed for an high school sociology course (grades 11-12), but the topic can also fit well in an ELA curriculum. My interactions with Dr. David Kirkland, the creator of the Chip Game, inspired this lesson, and my personal experiences with the Chip Game have illustrated its potential for fostering critical academic conversations on a multitude of different social inequities, including linguistic hierarchies. Moreover, once students play the game and experience its various injustices, the teacher uses it as a foundation to facilitate a whole class discussion, which will enable students to consider and critique the sociopolitical implications of linguistic cultural capital.
Language is not apolitical; in our society one's language has become a symbol of one's culture, social status, and life chances. Our students have been and will continue to be assessed on the basis of their linguistic capital, and they should understand how society's linguistic hierarchy privileges some dialects over others. However, language works to empower as well as to oppress, and this lesson encourages students to imagine and discuss the ways in which we may begin to deconstruct the hierarchy of languages.
Situated within a unit on social reproduction, this lesson plan on linguistic cultural capital is designed for an high school sociology course (grades 11-12), but the topic can also fit well in an ELA curriculum. My interactions with Dr. David Kirkland, the creator of the Chip Game, inspired this lesson, and my personal experiences with the Chip Game have illustrated its potential for fostering critical academic conversations on a multitude of different social inequities, including linguistic hierarchies. Moreover, once students play the game and experience its various injustices, the teacher uses it as a foundation to facilitate a whole class discussion, which will enable students to consider and critique the sociopolitical implications of linguistic cultural capital.
Language is not apolitical; in our society one's language has become a symbol of one's culture, social status, and life chances. Our students have been and will continue to be assessed on the basis of their linguistic capital, and they should understand how society's linguistic hierarchy privileges some dialects over others. However, language works to empower as well as to oppress, and this lesson encourages students to imagine and discuss the ways in which we may begin to deconstruct the hierarchy of languages.
kosinski_sociologylp.pdf | |
File Size: | 238 kb |
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sociologylp_appendix_the_chip_game.pdf | |
File Size: | 347 kb |
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