Role of Language

Reading, interpreting and responding to texts: language. One of the key aspects of teacher expectations for students as readers, interpreters and responders of assigned texts is the role(s) of language in the classroom, particularly the metaphors teachers use. Lakoff & Johnson (200x) describe how the metaphors we use provide insight into how we view particular phenomena, e.g., argument is warlike, based on metaphors used to describe it, e.g., he was right on target; he shot down my arguments, etc. So, how do teachers refer to reading, interpreting or responding to texts? Some teachers may state, "Well, let's get through this," implying a text is a maze, or a journey, or muck that must be waded through. Or, this part of the text is "deep," as in depth of water, an area that suggests danger or a challenge; or, it could be that deep suggests further in the brain, a place that demands more thought. The referent is the key, i.e., to what is x being compared to? And for what reasons?

Studies on the role of language, or discourse, in classrooms and how it becomes a tool for learning suggest that language is the prominent tool that mediates between student and teacher, student and curricula or content. However, language is not a tool like a hammer is a tool: with a hammer you can bang on a nail, or any physical object to presumably build or control something. A hammer has an intended use, although it could be used for other purposes. Similarly with language, we have words that are selected for particular purposes, although the words could be used for other purposes. However, a word is abstract, has potentially multiple denotative and connotative meanings, and may be recruited for thinking, communicating, describing, etc. Here is a key: as students strive to achieve some understanding of x through the use of particular words, those words and the tropes that may accompany them are part of what is available for understanding.

Let's take an example. I am reading The Tragedy of Hamlet and a professor asks me, "Shakespeare is working on three levels here, can you explain what they are?" So, I must negotiate what he means by "levels," already understanding its denotation and recalling past experiences with the word. However, I have not heard the term with an author working on different levels (levels of what? what are the options?). Therefore, my lack of knowledge about "levels" in terms of how a writer constructs a text precludes me from supplying an answer, other than, "um, well, hmm."

Therefore, if language is a crucial aspect of learning in classrooms, and for our example of reading and interpreting a fictional text, teachers must make visible to students denotations and connotations of key words. This is not new, but a beginning of examining the role of language in reading, interpreting and responding to texts.