At the end of unit one I had come across an article speaking about the interactions between both native and nonspeakers when they communicate in the workplace. Amidst the research I was doing on office discrimination, I found myself very intrigued by this related topic. Here was where I first heard the term linguistic (or language) diversity being used. With a few quick google searches I began to wrap my head around larger issues that surrounded the subject. As I continued to read more sources and find articles that covered a wide range of perspectives, I slowly began to realize how significant these discussions became for understanding the development of how organizational cultures come to be. Moreover, I wanted to learn why this form of diversity isn’t as commonly discussed when compared to other types of diversity and inclusion efforts such as racial, ethnic, or gender motives.
The development of my research was founded on this groundwork which continued to evolve as we proceeded into unit two. While some sources reiterated similar findings to my first study, one notable article helped me understand these topics applied at a more global scale. This text, along with the others I annotated below, widened my position on the topic by looking at language diversity further in individual, community, and international levels (along with relating past articles we’ve read in the class). Additionally, in order to round out and complicate my work I decided to look at studies in specific environmental settings different from the workplace. This led me to uncover interesting and insightful perspectives from a classroom and governmental context. These sources were accessed off of Google Scholar, TED.com, and a number of Syracuse Library Databases that focused on Linguistic/ Applied Language collections.
To my discovery, I found most authors and professionals consensus that there was not much research on the impact of language diversity out there. Only in recent decades has the public increasingly been made aware of the potential issues and societal benefits language (particularly multilingualism) can have. Given our trends in globalization and increased mobility in transnational countries, however, it makes sense that some areas of research (such as figuring out why linguistic diversity isn’t as openly discussed) can be because of the limited discourse on a relatively new subject.
Despite the gaps within the overall body of research, I still managed to collect a substantial amount of knowledge to develop my portfolio. The oppositional research I did for example changed my one-way view of how I saw language. Instead of all the pubic acclaim language diversity typically receives, the article offered an alternative point of view looking at language diversity not only as a resource but also as a problem. It informed me of areas commonly overlooked thus making it critical for assessing this type of diversity. Overall I found many of our mini writing exercises reinforce my initial writing interests by staying on top of and coming back to main, central ideas. Eventually I’d like to find more potential sources on the oppositional claims I’ve found since it’s an area that is especially underrepresented.