Are You a Social Justice Warrior Joan Macphail

Are You a Social Justice Warrior? Joan Macphail

Question: Is it our job as language educators to bring issues of social justice into the classroom? Are You a Social Justice Warrior? • How do we create lessons to…. . ? • What activities can we do to…. . ? • How do we develop our own approaches? Is the question rhetorical or redundant? Presupposition

Headlines: Language THREATENING FEMINISM. a. Ambiguity San Jose cops kill man with a knife. Milk drinkers are turning to powder. Can you see different interpretations for each one?

Language b. Implicature Not said, but…understood!

Language c. Connotations Associations

Definition of terms Perception: how we understand information received from our senses.

Definition of terms Perspective: cognitive framework through which we see the world around us

Definition of terms Attitude: mental & emotional construct; Jung: “The readiness of the psyche to re/act in a certain way”

Definition of terms Cognitive Dissonance: psychological stress felt when holding simultaneously contradictory ideas, values, etc

Definition of terms Polarisation: the movement in individuals’ views towards the opposite extremes

Issues: a) How does something become an issue for us? b) Emotions can easily cloud an issue

What to do? • Raise awareness – research issues for student presentations • Extend knowledge – current affair quizzes • Develop analytical skills – contrasting opinions • Humour – jokes, cartoons

Thank you for attending! Sources: Aronson, E. , Social Psychology Brown, R. , Social Psychology Festinger, L. , A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Myers, DG, Lamm H. , The Polarising Effect of Group Discussion. Ross, L. , &Ward, A. , Psychological Barriers to Dispute Resolution Humour contributed by: Stephen Colbert; Neil de. Grasse Tyson; Toles - The Washington Post and Joel Pett, US Today Films referred to: Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth 2006 Bjorn Lomborg’s Cool It 2010