Language is the process with which people communicate, encoding and decoding information to connect, understand, and create meaning of one’s environment (DeVito, 2009). Language is never devoid of cultural or social influences and behaviours (Caruso, 1997; Green, 2006; Emmitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff & Pollock 2010; Gee & Hayes, 2011; NativLang, 2013), it is a “cognitive phenomenon…a set of rules in our mind that tell us how to speak”, (Clark, 1996, as cited in Gee & Hayes, 2011, p.6), and a material object, that can be oral, audio or written that is always socially and culturally constructed (Gee & Hayes, 2011; Emmitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff & Pollock 2010). Language is a powerful tool with which to assert control over one’s own existence, conversely,
…show more content…
Here, Discourse refers to the shared understanding, or implicit knowledge, of a situation understood within one’s social and cultural group. It is paramount to realise that Discourse does not define cognitive skills, but merely the shared social construct that may exclude a child from comprehending new environments, that is, if their cultural construct differs to that of the current common language of a particular social setting (Green, 2006; Emmitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff & Pollock 2010). Children who do not have Australian English as their first language, or who have not been raised in the white, middle class culture of Australia may come to school with a distinct educational and language disadvantage, with little or no prior knowledge of the social construct that exists in this foundation and has naturally transferred from home to school (Green, …show more content…
Though one may honestly believe that they do not hold any negative predispositions, society is bombarded with both direct and mixed messages regarding many stereotypes in contemporary culture, “with gays, and women and Aboriginals, and other groups…” at the forefront of innuendoes or slurs (Levy, 2012). This unconscious processing of negative stereotyping begins very early in life from being immersed in everyday social interactions (Elliot, 2015; Levy,
Here, Discourse refers to the shared understanding, or implicit knowledge, of a situation understood within one’s social and cultural group. It is paramount to realise that Discourse does not define cognitive skills, but merely the shared social construct that may exclude a child from comprehending new environments, that is, if their cultural construct differs to that of the current common language of a particular social setting (Green, 2006; Emmitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff & Pollock 2010). Children who do not have Australian English as their first language, or who have not been raised in the white, middle class culture of Australia may come to school with a distinct educational and language disadvantage, with little or no prior knowledge of the social construct that exists in this foundation and has naturally transferred from home to school (Green, …show more content…
Though one may honestly believe that they do not hold any negative predispositions, society is bombarded with both direct and mixed messages regarding many stereotypes in contemporary culture, “with gays, and women and Aboriginals, and other groups…” at the forefront of innuendoes or slurs (Levy, 2012). This unconscious processing of negative stereotyping begins very early in life from being immersed in everyday social interactions (Elliot, 2015; Levy,