Language, Culture, and Society

Project 2: Linguistic Autobiography

The second project in this class is a linguistic autobiography. Whether you've thought about it or not, language plays a major role in each person's life. This assignment is a unique opportunity for you to explore the many ways that your language is connected to who you are as a person. Thinking back to your childhood, this project will give you the chance to consider the different linguistic influences that have shaped how you talk and the way you use language today. You can reflect on identities that are important to you, as well as ways that others categorize you.

This project is broken down into several smaller pieces which build on one another. If each component of the project is completed in a timely fashion, completing the final project will be fairly straightforward. However, falling behind in your work will make it much harder to complete a successful final project. So it is important to finish each piece of the project on time.

During class, you will be learning the skills necessary to complete the pieces of the project, so don’t worry if you don’t know how to do things now. We will also spend time in class working on the different pieces of the project. So it is essential that you come to class every day.

Part 2.1 – Visual Linguistic Autobiography – DUE: Monday 3/10 (start of class) ___/33

In this piece of the project, you will start to develop your creative ideas in a visual format. We will hand out one possible form in class, but feel free to do something different, as long as you turn in at least one full page for this visual component. You may use some sort of symbolic representation or a literal representation, through pictures, icons, symbols, words, etc. Be creative and have fun!

Part 2.2 – Written Linguistic Autobiography – DUE: Monday 3/10 (start of class) ___/33

In this piece of the project, you will bring together the ideas you developed in component 2.1 in a written essay that is at least 2 pages long.

Final Project – Present Linguistic Autobiography – IN CLASS Monday 3/10 ___/34

Everyone will share their linguistic autobiography with small groups of 10 to 12 other students. You will have about 2-3 minutes to present some of your linguistic autobiography, so think ahead about what highlights you want to present and how you would like to incorporate your visual autobiography into your presentation.

Remember, identity can be made up of the following concepts and more! Be creative! :)

  • Culture
  • Language
  • Diversity
  • Ownership
  • Choices
  • Background
  • Family
  • Personal
  • Heritage
  • Emotions
  • Nationality
  • Location (Region)
  • Appearance
  • Attitude
  • Lifestyle (Behavior/Routines)
  • Tradition
  • Names (Nicknames)
  • Talents
  • Hobbies
  • Religion/Spirituality
  • Where have you been?
  • Where you want to go?
  • Anything you consider important to you!