Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Radio Lab Jigsaw


This was the first time that I had been exposed to radio lab and I plan on listening to it more in the future.

My first Bachelors degree was in Anthropology, and although it was not the most practical choice of study in terms of employment, I really enjoyed the subject matter.  As part of my course of study I took a couple of linguistics classes that I found fascinating.  Accordingly, this jigsaw/radio lab was very interesting to me.

Unanswered questions from my linguistics classes kept popping into my head, especially when I was listening to the third sound clip.  I found myself re-wondering…..
·      Is cognition limited by the boundaries of language? 
·      Is there a connection between the extent of our vocabulary and our cognitive understanding or is language simply a form of expression?
·      Is “thinking” as discussed in one radio lab interview, really defined solely through our inner monologue
·      When monks stop their inner dialogue through meditation what is happening cognitively?  What about when we sleep?
·      Does knowing multiple languages broaden a persons perspectives and cognitive ability?
·      If so, does increased cognitive processes and broader perspectives affect  reasoning? Do monolingual people make less informed decisions?
I am not expecting answers to any of these questions, I only bring them up because I find them interesting and thought provoking tangents.

Another aspect of this jigsaw that I thought was fascinating involves the evolution of language and how the progression of change does not occur at a constant rate.  It seems, and I believe that this backed by research, that language evolves differently in closed or isolated communities.  This was evident in the rapid changes in the small deaf community discussed in the third segment.

To bring it back to the realm of education, it is important to remember that linguistic patterns grow and change in ways that are functional for the given community or environment.  Linguistic dialects and accents are not in anyway indicative of cognitive ability.  This might seem like a silly point, but people are often judged negatively in light of how they sound. Ebonics, southern drawls, and different verb conjugations all carry a certain amount of cultural baggage in the form of certain stereotypes.  As teachers we need to recognize these differences for what they are (simply minor linguistic variations) and make sure that we (and others) do not attach any further meaning.


4 comments:

  1. I find my self wondering the same thing about cognition and language. All of your questions are blowing my mind right now. I think language can definitely expand some types of thinking, but what about non-thinking reasoning skills? Are they any less important, or am I putting too much value on the term "thinking?"
    Really dig Radio Lab. You should also check out This American Life. Great storytelling!
    Cheers,
    James
    http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

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    Replies
    1. I love this American life, my wife and I used to listen to it as we were remodelling our dive cabin in the states.
      Thanks for the feedback, it has been fun being in class with you and throwing the frisbee. I plan on looking up a few of the books that you have mentioned in class.

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  3. Jamie, thanks for the post. The questions you pose are definitely head-scratchers. I like that you tied it back to your thinking about education and classroom practice. I still find myself placing unwarranted stereotypes on groups of people in the United States because of their dialect. While I am conscience that I'm doing it and make efforts to know people as they are, my first instinct is often the stereotype until they "prove" otherwise through some sort of dialect. I have to have that inner dialog to remind myself that the dialect does not describe the cognition of the individual.

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