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The California State University Task Force on Expository Reading and Writing 12th GRADE EXPOSITORY READING AND WRITING COURSE LANGUAGE, GENDER, AND CULTURE Student Version Texts Used: An excerpt from You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, “His Politeness is Her Powerlessness,” by Deborah Tannen (1990) and an excerpt from The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Childhood Among Ghosts, by Maxine Hong Kingston (1976) Issues: The two authors in this unit consider what our language says about our culture and gender. -Deborah Tannen is a sociolinguist who has authored numerous books, including You Just Don’t Understand, That’s Not What I Meant!, and Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work. Maxine Hong Kingston is a novelist and non-fiction writer who, in addition to The Woman Warrior, has written Tripmaster Monkey and China Men. DAY ONE: Prereading Skills: Getting Ready to Read Making Predictions and Asking Questions Getting Ready to Read Tannen Quickwrite 1: Families have their own rules for how male and female members should talk and behave. Think back to the advice you have heard in your family, or to the rules you have noticed family members following. Describe the communication styles of talking and behaving in your family for men and women. Quickwrite 2: How do American women typically speak in their conversations? Consider volume and pitch of voice, choice of words, body posture, closeness of speakers, eye contact, use of hands while speaking, and so on. Now consider the way American men typically speak. Making Predictions and Asking Questions about Tannen Looking at Tannen’s title, “His Politeness is Her Powerlessness,” what do you think her writing will be about? Now read the first paragraph, looking closely at the last sentence: “Often, the labeling of ‘women’s language’ as ‘powerless language’ reflects the view of women’s behavior through the lens of men’s.” What do you think Tannen means? DAY T