Language Deborah Tannen Summary

In this article, Deborah Tannen predominantly focuses on the difference in the use of language by male and female students and how it impacts the classroom participation, equal opportunities and diversity amongst the students. Tannen believes that every class is distinct in nature and form: with people from both genders, separate backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities - as a result of which students have unique personalities and attitudes so there should be diverse methods to cater to different students in a way that elevates individuality instead of teachers painting the whole class with the same brush. There would most probably be no definitive audience segmentation or boundaries. This article could be of as much interest to teachers and parents as it would be to students. The passage mainly highlights the generic and ‘innate’ male and female
The writer proclaims one valid point but in order to support that particular argument, she uses a different argument in a different context. This is known as the red herring fallacy. For instance, in paragraph fourteen, the contention given is how women students speak less because they do not want to dominate the class or come in to the lime light and if they speak once, they tend to hold back for the rest of the time. So, instead of building upon this point and providing strong facts and research based evidence to support it, the audiences’ attention is diverted by another statement in a different context. Immediately after, the writer contends about how people who speak less are thought as ‘uninformed’ and people who speak more are labeled as ‘self-centered’. Although both of the points are relevant and accurate but they cannot be used together in order to pursue a singular argument. The attention diversion is almost like a subtle, false trail for the reader to follow and be taken in a vague