Coach Anthony on why it is important to use inclusive language when communicating in class forums. Suggest how he could have avoided his mistakes. Offer three pointers for how he may prevent these mistakes in the future. Language is important in portraying ones thoughts and feeling and in our diverse world. It is important to use inclusive language when communication in class forums so that all people feel full and valued in their participation of the class. The most basic reason for using inclusive language is that it is more precise.
When you speak and write inclusively you are communicating with a greater degree of accuracy, which provides a more effective means for conveying your thoughts. Here are some suggestions and pointers on how to prevent future mistakes. First off, you should never single out a person’s race, gender, sex ethnicity, or other personal traits or characteristics (such as sexual orientation, age, or a disability) when it has no direct bearing on the topic at hand. In other words, don’t create or promote stereotype based on unavoidable human characteristics.
For instance, in the story the use of the word “business woman” was not relevant to the story at all. Anthony could have easily said the “speaker”. Secondly, be consistent in your description of members of a group: Don’t single out men or woman. For instance, you should have not started the story out as “Hi Guys” your audience is not made up of only men. It is true that some people may realize that your references to guys/men could refer to either males and/or females, but the clearest meaning of guys/men refers specifically to the male gender.
So, in order to avoid the possibility of confusion and communicate with a greater degree of accuracy, references to both women and men should be done with generic terms such as people or humanity Lastly, when confronted by a fellow classmate about how they feel about what you wrote don’t get upset. You have to try to see their point of view as to what they felt after reading your story. Your response to your fellow classmate was generic and just encouraged her thought of you as being sexist. Our thoughts have consequences, so we should be concerned about bringing all of our ideas into conformity with inclusive ways of thinking.
