Author: Bryan Cordova

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Final Reflection

From my unit 2 research, I found a lot of overlapping themes particularly on the lacking level of awareness language diversity has amongst other diversity competencies. Leading into unit 3 I wanted to focus on why this subject isn’t as openly discussed and how I could convince more of the public to listen to what was being said. I wrestled with what I wanted to use in my project in the end because of the vast research there was written on the topic. Eventually what it came down to was reflecting on the sources I’ve looked at from when I first began up until the end. For me that included revisiting the work I did from our unit 1 assignment, note-taking exercises, and some of the last discussion posts we shared as a class. From there the sources I focused on were those that initially caught my line of interest and kept the horizon open (without getting to specific or technical). The exercises we did throughout unit 2 really helped me organize my thoughts on the page which became very useful when it came to applying this to my own writing style. I found it easier to get words on the page because of the direct connections I made prior. The course also enlightened me on genres and specifically different writing styles.  Some of the skills I learned we’re being able to critically analyze the sources and either pick out the content I wanted to use for my research or rhetorically understand the author’s purpose, target audience, and writing strategies.

For one, the work I did enlightened my knowledge of diversity and inclusion. Prior to taking this class I hadn’t fully appreciated the degree and significance conversations on this subject had. I learned ways I could directly take what I learned and apply it in everyday realities. Furthermore learning about language helped reflect on my own experiences inspiring to want and engage in more meaningful conversations with others. It also helped explain the thought process that goes behind communication and dig a bit deeper into how the brain works. What this course helped me do is practice my writing skills and find ways in which I could get more comfortable in doing so. The templates we learned from TSIS and familiar/ friendly style of writing in our blog posts eased the anxiety I would often get before writing. Also because I was writing a lot more than usual, I found myself get into the swing of things (flow) instead of dreading and waiting last minute to submit writing assignments as I did in the past. It felt easier to engage and enter other conversations which I found myself do a lot through the comments and feedbacks we would give to our peers and later help reflect on my own work. It made me excited to see other people’s posts and compare/ see where their lines of interest fell similar or different. Likewise, it reassured me I was on the right path and understanding of what was being said and why we were saying things in return. Regarding audience, the rhetorical argumentative analysis we did throughout the course exposed me to a lot of different writing strategies for targeting interest groups. It served me as inspiration for my later research having seen many examples and analyze their success. Similarily understanding my audience helped shape what I was eventually going to include in my final project. I did this by imagining myself with no knowledge of the subject prior and trying to capture their attention through the text style, visual media, and overall structure of my project.

Just as understanding target audiences helped shaped my research, it equally guided what I wanted to deliver and say in my final assignment.  I was able to pick up different strategies for how to incorporate mixed media sources and use them to not only strengthen my argument but retain the reader’s attention and give them the freedom to look closer or further into subtopics. Finally, the greatest value I gained was becoming more confident in my abilities as a writer and public speaker because of the strategies I learned to communicate my thoughts across more effectively.

 

 

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Final Project

For my final project, I created a magazine graphic to fit into an academic setting. The purpose behind this delivery is to inform university audiences of the significance behind recognizing language diversity. Above is a link to open the issue and read more on my research/ presentation.

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Unit 3 Draft

For my project I decided to create an editorial ‘magazine’ that I’d imagine being published in an academic/ university setting. What I have currently is a very rough draft basically ‘free-designing’ where my main text, key headlines, and graphic content would go. The idea here is to create a hierarchy of information for my audience to quickly visualize and understand the message I’m trying to deliver (seen in the title of my project). I’m also aiming to follow the same narrative voice both news articles I found last week (see last discussion post below) by hybridizing the two and including mixed-media sources. The purpose of me posting on ISSUU (web platform) is so that this piece is available to the public which is generally catered for students and creative publications. As such, those interested in learning about getting a bigger idea of language, diversity, and the value it can bring to organizational settings (like the benefit of students familiarizing themselves with this as a means to increase employment opportunities in the workplace) would read on under these circumstances.

 

Week of 7/27 – Discussion

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Week of 7/27 – Discussion

For my research I came across two news articles that I found capture the genre of writing I’m aiming for. The first from the University of Colorado Denver articulates a very academic friendly text crediting many of its sources through in-cite citations. The article does a very effective job of including many voices referencing academic researchers and highlighting direct quotes from first-hand accounts. It presents a wholesome narrative keeping the reader engaged and able to jump to related or more detailed issues through hyperlinks. What I like especially is the way it breaks down the text in big headline topics that are controversial or straight to the point. The first headline, for example, called “What We Talk About When We Talk About Diversity” serves as an introductory starting point for the authors and gives a clear picture of what the subject (and later paragraphs) will be about. Other ones such as “BIPOC – Never Heard of It?” and “Forget Minority and Underserved” shift focus to critical areas that need to be addressed and reevaluated for modern discussions.

Overall I find the way the article is written works particularly well keeping in mind the reader’s attention span with hierarchical takeaways (like italicizing text, increasing font size, inserting block quotes). What I think the article could improve in, however, is by increasing the variety/ type of breaks. In the second article I found from CNN, I liked the way it includes key images with captions and related videos. In this example, it varies by adding historical, geographical, and audio information to round out the reader’s understanding. Though longer to read and less effective in being direct with the audience, the strategies I liked of the two will be helpful in crafting my final project.

 

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Project Proposal, Bryan

For my final project I’m looking to create a graphic and media news article. Similar to how magazines present the content they hold in an easy-to-read fashion, I’m wanting my media project to be ‘picked up’ and clearly layout relevant background, ongoing research, significant case-studies, and direct quotes from first-hand accounts. The main objective I’m looking to examine here is to inform audiences of a form of diversity (language/ linguistic) typically not addressed or made aware of to the public. Overall while my intent is to appeal to a ‘broad audience’, my main focus would be tailoring the project to university students and professors. I recall a former classmate’s post who was interested in researching generational diversity because she knew that upon graduation and entering the workforce, she would be exposed to a widely diverse age-population. With trends in globalization and transnational mobility continuing to increase, I find it critical for those in an academic setting to realize the impact the consequences, advantages, and skills this can have on their developing career. Similarly, sharing this information amongst colleagues and professors I think would be an effective way in encouraging discussions whether that be in a classroom, organizational meeting, or informal gathering (it also makes sense in Syracuse since we have a large international student population coming from very diverse language backgrounds). I’m happy to have found valuable sources throughout my research ranging from TEDTalks and academic studies to teacher-based web platforms. It’ll be useful in creating the visual narrative I’m looking to create.

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Week of 7/20 – Discussion

  1. One reading I’m choosing to focus on is on Mollie West’s “How To Create a Culture Manifesto (And Why It’s a Good Idea).” As the title already begins to suggest, the author is giving the reader/ audience a direction of where her blog post will lead. It’s an effective way of attracting an audience that may be skeptical or may just want simple and direct answers. Throughout the entire reading, I see West realize this and use it so that her message can easily reach large audiences in a short amount of time. From the beginning paragraph, which defines and explains the context of the article, to the end, which offers a do it yourself (DIY) template to approaching a manifesto, West is strategically tailoring an audience platform in mind.  Its a very linear reading structured with a brief general intro, main headlines, and bullet-listed points. She strengthens her position on “Why It’s a Good Idea” by giving real-world examples of companies (she lists a diverse pool of companies too) who have applied this approach and succeeded. Similarly, she’s choosing to highlight these companies’ evolution with time (i.e. Warby Parker) which aligns with the trends we see in today’s workforce “to increasingly value meaning work.” All this considered, West’s article serves to push/ employ an audience that can take direct actions for creating organizations that have a good workplace culture and environment.
  2. The second reading we were assigned this week on ethical culture really inspired me to want to include clean/ graphics-oriented supporting evidence. Given this text was lengthier and intended more for a different audience (i.e. a HR manager looking at detailed case studies or alternative data methods for improving their workplace culture), I still liked the way the authors structured the text having easy to read diagrams (like the Pyramid figure chart) followed up with statistics and discussions on the latter end. With respect to what I’d like to discuss on language diversity in the workplace, I could see myself readopting this kind of approach but in a sort of reduced magazine format. It wouldn’t be as long of a written publication/ research issue as the article we were given presents, but rather a platform that introduces users to a field they may not be aware of. My reasoning behind this would be to quickly engage a reader with the topic, reflect on their own experiences, and channel them to open a conversation with friends, family, colleagues, etc. Since most researchers and authors on studying language diversity stress that there is not enough attention on the issues it can potentially create, including short-read text blurbs summarized with graphic diagrams would be a good place to start. It’d look to have the same purpose Mollie West does in her article for raising awareness and pushing her audience to look further into a specified subject.
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Research Portfolio, Bryan

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.

Annotations

Focusing Flowchart

Complicating Research

Conversation Worksheet

Research Plan, Bryan

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Week of 7/13 – Discussion

  1. The article ”Is Redemption Possible In The Aftermath Of #MeToo?” by Matt Chinworth is about the men accused and charged with sexual misconduct during the #MeToo movement and the possibilities for them to come back into the society without ignoring the feelings and wishes of their victims. It is structured in such a way that both sides are heard—one side that supports open reintegration in addition to the main focus on the victims as a step towards sustainability in the movement and one that emphazises more the side and fair dealing with the pain of the victims instead of giving space to the perpetrators. The lighting of both opposing sides and the integration of concrete case studies as examples and expert speeches make up the value of this article, since it enables the most objective opinion formation possible. It is integrated into Wynn’s article that talks about the effort organizations of the tech industry have to take in order to create gender equality within their structures instead of focusing on small individual changes. The tech industry is also strongly criticized for the disrespectful treatment of women and since the #MeToo movement has earned a wide range of medial attention showing the dangerous conditions of women in different work spaces, the article is well integrated into Alison Wynn’s for giving a deeper look into the topics and providing background informations.
  2. Alison Wynn in her article “Individual Change Won’t Create Gender Equality in Organizations” points out how small individual changes won’t be capable to reduce or eliminate inequality between genders in organizations although they are often used as a main attempt to fight inequality, which her research reveals. Her article not only talks on a meta level about the efforts that have to be made by those responsible, but reduces biases in addressing them directly in her six stage strategy to combat inequality. She claims that the problem has to be identified to take action on it, so she seems to speak straight to decision-holders of the industry to increase the chances that those people in charge feel addressed. By using the imperative in the following excerpt, “When determining employee rewards, such as pay and promotion, hold decision-makers accountable for basing such rewards on demonstrated employee performance, rather than subjective factors such as favoritism”, the author guarantees that in the right places executives are appealed. Her next excerpt, “Take steps to make sure employees’ voices are heard in meetings that they feel included and safe at work, and that they can be successful“ speaks about how to eliminate microaggressions in the workplace. To make sure employees’ voices are heard in meetings as she suggests, you have to be in charge of leading them, therefore her main group of readers are as well those who are interested as employers and the leaders of a company. Nevertheless, she encounters them on an informing but neutral level which supports her appeals to be heard and hopefully even acted upon.

 

 

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Week of 7/6 – Discussion

  1. One article I’m looking to add to my research portfolio is called “Linguistic Diversity in the International Workplace.” In his article academic researcher Dorte Lonsmann explains what language ideologies are and the dangers it can develop into such as leading to issues of exclusion and language competence. He goes onto describe this in six written sections that draw varying forms of attention to a type of diversity that is underrepresented and should become more characteristically addressed in the workplace. Adopting an ethnographic approach for research, Lonsmann evaluates a modern international company in the context of Denmark observing and surveying employee’s language differences.

The article is useful in reinforcing the research I’ve previously done given its findings apply in a different international environment (in short that there is an essential connection between language and individuals and failure in recognizing this can inadvertently have consequential effects on performance). Similarly, Lonsmann’s ideologies explain individual behaviors through insider-outsider group relations, status perceptions, and social identity which overlap with many of the articles we’ve read in the past. Lonsmann also identifies the gaps of research there are which his current study is designed to better address by revisiting initially perceived diversity conceptions. Lastly, the article’s best strength is in the extent/intent of inclusivity by surveying the companies employees at all organizational levels (adding more voice to support the perspective of why we should care on the issue).

3. Being an architecture student this week’s readings fell right in my line of interest. There were a lot of illuminating points made between the news article and reader responses which quite frankly are seldomly touched on in school. Sexism being a product of design, particularly in the layout of a floor plan, caught me by surprise however after reading the numerous sources I began to empathize with the given perspectives.

To add a bit of background to this discussion, I’d like to share that the architectural industry has increasingly expressed the inequalities and gender gap between men and women architects. The career path and work to obtain an architectural license is especially difficult and significantly lower for women. When you consider gender roles, wage differences, power structures, award recognition, etc. it becomes more evidently clear why the system is unjust. Architect Denise Scott Brown probably best sums up this in this short video clip which can add more scale to the issue. Its also been the reason more organizations have come together to support practices led by women and host forums to openly discuss this.

The reason I share this is that the article noted all the floor plans from the study were designed by men.  While this a credible facet, I don’t think the article accurately represents the issues at large (which might suggest placing all responsibility on men i.e. one-group fits all). One reader added,

“I should also mention that a woman designed our office, and I think she did a wonderful job. I don’t think this issue is a product of open office plans, I think it’s an issue of entitled, sexist men being unwilling to evaluate their own behavior and how it impacts their women colleagues, and an issue of companies not challenging this problem beyond just sticking a page in the HR manual about sexual harassment”

I found this response from Lauren best describe the nuanced reality of the situation. The problem is when people don’t hold accountability for their behaviors and when those in management positions don’t use their power to enforce anything about it. This is an issue of communication and a lack of better understanding others points of view. Being more conscious of our actions is a place to start, but that can only begin with a conversation on the subject matter.

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Research Plan, Bryan

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.