COM/WS 211 Women, Language and CommunicationDr. Katy WissOffice Hours: MW 1-2 p.m. & F 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.Office: Berkshire 020 Mailbox in the COM
Office: Berkshire 120b (open 8 a.m. – 4
p.m.)
Telephone/Voice Mail: 203-837-8260 Spring 2003 Required Reading §
Coates,
J., (Ed.). (1998). Language
and gender: A reader. Malden,
MA: Blackwell Publishers. §
Thorne,
B. (1993). Gender play: Girls and
boys in school. New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University Press. §
A
“teen” magazine. §
Various
photocopies, handouts and reserve readings as needed. Some might only be available online. It is your responsibility to
acquire and read the assignments.
Please ask during class or my office hours if you have questions about
the readings. If the bookstore is out
of stock of the textbook, it is your responsibility to place an order with a
bookstore employee.
Focus: This course examines and questions the
nature of women's interaction with men and with each other. We will explore the theories that account
for variations, similarities, and differences of women communicators. Interaction in a variety of contexts in both
public and private settings will be explored. Goals. To expand and deepen your
understanding of the following: 1) the
structure of language as it relates to gender; 2) the nature of sex and gender,
3) the organization of interaction as it relates to men and women; 4) the
theories and methods for studying language and observing interaction especially
as they relate to women. Grading. If you ever have any questions regarding what is expected of you
or desire to discuss your work or a specific grade, please come see me during
my office hours. If you are experiencing
trouble, please let me know as soon as you become aware of a problem. You must earn your grades, but I have every
confidence that you can and will do excellent work. Please observe the university deadline for withdrawing from
courses. Out of fairness to other students and consideration for my time, written
and take-home assignments lose one whole letter
grade for each weekday they are late. Assignments
not turned within one week of their due date receive a zero. Assignments are due at the beginning of
class. If you must miss an exam,
arrange ahead of time to make-up the work.
Any missed exam, for which you have not made prior arrangements, loses
one letter grade for each workday missed before taking a make-up exam. All make-up exams are harder than ones given
in class. Late work goes to the
"bottom of the grading pile," and may not be returned as promptly as
on-time assignments. Exercises. The exercises are designed
to give you a chance to see what the challenges of doing gender analysis in
language and interaction are. For some
of the exercises you will duplicate the research that other scholars have
done. These exercises will push you to
sharpen your observational skills and to reflect on what you have observed, as
well as to push you to question the work of other scholars. They must be typed and are to be no more
than 2 pages in length. We may not do
all of the ones listed. There is a
remote chance that we will do more. A tape recorder and tape is required to complete
these exercises. Exams. The exams are designed to
encourage you to apply the material we have been learning to new contexts and
examples. Discussion/Writing. Occasional in and out of
class writing. Classroom discussion and
participation. If I notice that
students are not doing the readings for class, I will assign summaries of each
article. Class Rules. Your active attendance and participation in class is required. Please do not come to class late or leave
early. I expect you to remain in the
room during class. If you miss class,
for any reason, please get the notes or assignments from another student. I will then be happy to discuss the notes or
assignments with you if you have questions.
If your cell phone or pager goes off in class, I will ask you to leave
and not come back to that class. Please
keep your cell-phone stored during class. More detailed course guidelines are
available at
..\OH.HTM Office Hours: I set aside time every week to meet with students. If you know you will be stopping by, please
sign up on the sheet on my office door for an appointment or give me a
call. Students with appointments have
priority over walk-ins. I encourage you
and your group members to stop in and to talk about your work for this class.
Unit 1: Conceptual
Foundations Orientation
and Assumptions §
What is Gender? §
Sex and Gender as Categores of Analysis §
Feminist Analysis Unit 2: Language and
Gender
Understanding Levels of Language and Standard
English
Syntax
Bradley, Yanyuwa:
‘Men speak one way, women another’ (Coates p. 13) Phonology Trudgill, Sex and
covert prestige (Coates p. 21) Eckert, Gender
and sociolinguistic variation, (Coates p. 64) SemanticsSutton, Bitches
and skankly hobags (handout) Unit 3: Nonverbal Communication and Gender Unit 4: Gender in Interaction Theoretical
Perspectives · Muted Group · Psychoanalytic · Speech Styles Malz & Borker, A cultural approach to
male-female miscommunication (Coates p. 417) · Speech Strategies Holmes, Complementing – A positive
politeness strategy (Coates p. 100) Goodwin, Cooperation and competition
across girls’ play activities (Coates p. 121) § Gender or Power? Sattel, Men
,Inexpressiveness, and power (Handout) O’Barr & Atkins, ‘Women’s language’ of
‘powerless language’? (Coates p. 377) Unit 5: Gender in
Context
Communication in Private Settings§
Interaction with and among Children Gender PlayCheshire, Linguistic
variation and social function (Coates p. 29) Eiskovits,
Girl-talk/boy-talk (Coates p. 42) ·
Family West & Zimmerman, Women’s
place in everyday talk (Coates p. 165) §
Friendship Johnson & Aries, The
talk of women friends (Coates p. 215) §
Gossip Coates, Gossip revisited
(Coates p. 226) Pilkington, ‘Don’t try
and make out that I’m nice!’ (Coates p. 254) §
Intimate Relationships Pamela Fishman, Interaction: The work that women do (Handout) DeFransisco, The sounds
of silence (Coates p. 176) Tannen, Talk in the
intimate relationship (Coates p. 435) Communication in Public Settings
§
Health Care West, ‘Not just doctors’
orders’ (Coates p. 328) West, When the doctor is
a ‘lady’ (Coates p. 396) §
Work Haring, Johnson &
DeBenedetto, Participation in electronic discourse in a ‘feminist’ field
(Coates p. 197) Nelson, Women’s ways:
Interactive patterns in predominantly female research teams (Coates p. 354) §
Education Swann, Talk control
(Coates p. 185) Treichler & Kramarae, Women's
talk in the ivory tower (Handout) Unit 6: Looking to the future Bing & Bergvall, The question of questions (Coates p. 495)
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