May 2017 - Health Literacy Lab

I’ve been teaching language and communication for over 40 years.
I started as a teacher of deaf children and went on to teach at community colleges, an Ivy League school, a prestigious Medical School and now at one of the world’s best city universities.

And although I do look back from my “seasoned” professor vantage point wondering what little legacy will I be leaving, I have never questioned that, if nothing else, I have contaminated my students with the love of the power of language.

Using its form and structures for accuracy, truth and, yes sometime for poetic beauty. That’s what I have taught. That’s what I was taught. A reverence and respect for words. Used well they will not fail you.

But today the leader of the free world, in a tweet – one of the least contemplative forms of communication we use these days – has declared that accuracy of the spoken word is no longer a requirement for his staff.

We can’t assume Mr. Trump really understands the profound import of his words – what he tweeted – about speech and accuracy. In fact there’s really no evidence that he respects the english language much at all. To him, it certainly isn’t very useful for communicating facts – in his world there are facts and there are fact – there’s news and there’s fake news. So when he says that fluent speakers of the language – his staff – can’t be counted upon to be accurate, does he realize he give license for them to stand there and simply make things up.

A basic maxim of linguistics and speech act theory is that for communication to work there must be the tacit agreement between speakers to be truthful and accurate (Grice, Logic and Conversation, 1975).

So if we could imagine a language where accuracy were up for grabs, just how would that language work.

If it were raining out I could say “It’s sunny.” If the train wasn’t running on time at Penn Station, the station master could announce “All trains are on time”? If ships were being deployed to the Korean Peninsula, the Defense Director could announce that they were being deployed to Hawaii”?

Now, imagine a society with a language that had no way to mark things that were accurate…or inaccurate.

What would that society look like?

April showers bring May flowers.

Allergy relief medication Ads spring up everywhere.

Relief is in our grasp – it’s as easy as a song.

In fact this particular Ad harkens back to a lovely little ditty straight out of the American songbook.

But this is the Health Literacy Lab after all. So instead of focusing on the efficacy of the medicine, let’s use this Ad to demonstrate a very common way people deal with unfamiliar words and acquire new ones.

Let’s pretend we’re behind the reader’s eye and let’s follow along as they read the Ad.

The copywriters, as they so often do, are playing with two meanings of “stem” – the noun- the main body or stalk of the tulip.

And, “stem” – the verb – to block, to reduce.

In fact, these plays on words engage our mind more, thus making the Ad more memorable. (Copy writing 101)

Tiptoe through the tulips

If you’re of a certain age and remember Tiny Tim – well you can hum the rest of the line.

Stem the sniffling.

Now here’s the hiccup.

I know sniffle, but “stem”?

Here’s a teased apart description of the stages that many readers/listeners go through naturally when they encounter a new word. These stages can all occur at once, or over time.

#1 Exposure

“I don’t know the word. I just skip over it for now.”

If this skipping really leaves me lost I can try and guess.

Engaged readers may not have the nuance of “stem” (verb) but the guess that the medicine won’t make their sniffles worse. And that is good enough for now.

Skip and Guess: This is a universal strategy that serves us just fine – thank you. When we come across a word we don’t recognize or know, we skip and we guess.

That is, unless we’re in school or doing a reading comprehension task for somebody.

#2 Recognition

The next time we see the new word (stem), we recognize that we’ve seen it before. This step can happen repeatedly.

We see the Ad again, we hear the Ad on TV, or we hear “stem” being used for something else entirely:

The President wants to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the US.
Health officials say they have not been able to stem the tide of Zika-carrying mosquito into Texas and Florida.

#3 Comprehension

At some point we refine our guess about what the word means. Sometimes we do this by simple deduction.

We use context:

“Well, the medicine is for my allergies. So “stem”= something like “stop” or “make my allergies better”.

Now that we’ve seen or heard different messages that use the new word, we have a better sense of what the word might mean.

“I’m pretty sure ‘Stem’ means ‘to block’ or ‘to stop’ something.

#4 Production

VOILA!

At some point in the future, we use the new word.

Sometimes we’re right on the mark:

“This medicine did stem my allergies. You should try it.”

And sometimes, not so much.

“This summer I want you kids to stem the amount of sand you track into this house.”

But that’s OK. Our language is always changing.

Exposure

Recognition

Comprehension

Production

Another cool thing brought to you by our human capacity for language.

Alert the MLA: Trump drops accuracy from English language requirement

Month: May 2017

Alert the MLA: Trump drops accuracy from English language requirement

April Showers, Tiny Tim and Learning New Words