Recalling our first assignment I had come across an article speaking on how native and nonnative speakers’ interact and were perceived in the workplace. After reading this I found myself digging into a field of many more questions trying to understand how language, or linguistic diversity, affects the way we as humans interact (and in different applied environments). The obvious question, well what is linguistic diversity, was what I used to guide my initial research development.
My research interests quickly began to develop further as I’ve continued to read more on the topic and locate different sources. Questions such as how language could be used to explain the roots of many organizational cultures and explain where much of our implicit/ explicit bias comes from were areas that piqued my interest. I also connected this with many of the readings we’ve had in the past explaining why this form of diversity matters and how it could be used as a competitive advantage in the workplace.
Language ultimately pervades any form of communication whether that be through formal words, graphic symbols, or computer code (to name a few). When you think about it the applicability this has affects us daily. I’ve found myself so invested in this topic for that reason alone however I found it insightful for empathizing and better understanding others too. A lot of the work I do being an architecture major involves presenting and communicating ideas across a variety of audiences. Conducting this research, therefore, informs me of ways I can better engage with others at a more meaningful level.
Given the widespread applicability of language, I’ve been fortunate to find an array of sources. The material I’ve gathered thus far comes from linguistics databases (scholarly focus), online web-courses (educational context), and first-hand accounts such as personal interviews or surveyed responses (individual scale). What I’ve found matter most is learning how this information can be greater caught on by others. Much of the research out there today states that this is a relatively new field with a limited amount of investigation and that much of what there already is, is conducted in Western and English-speaking countries (limiting a more complete/global understanding). Therefore a lot of my inquiries over the coming weeks will be focusing on learning to better teach language diversity and the implications it has.