A peer teaching exercise conducted at the Monterey Institute where I, along with another group member, highlight the Kumarvadivelu (2003) macrostrategy of fostering critical language awareness. We did this by examining the notion of doublespeak, and how we encounter, interpret, and decipher doublespeak in our daily lives.
We began by asking students to explain the quote on the second slide, and to ask them how and when language becomes distorted or manipulated. In the presentation, we have them interpret a doublespeak video, state its purpose, audience, and measure its effectiveness and outcome. With the remainder of the time, after highlighting main concepts, we had students create their own doublespeak examples, and share them with the class. The winner received dubiously named “Double Stuff” Oreos as a reward for their creativity.
Adam Garnica 