Communication 215: The Hidden Curriculum of Classroom Discourse

Dr. Lisbeth Lipari
A Service Learning Course, Cross-Listed with Education.
Tuesdays 8:30-12:20

Course Learning Goals:

The objective of this course is to study the relationship between classroom communication and structures of inequity in public education. Building on work in communication, sociolinguistics and education studies, Denison students will explore how hidden assumptions about classroom language and literacy practices construct and maintain dominant cultural formations, social identities, and power relations. Possible case studies may include Afrocentric education and the Ebonics debates, invisible cultures on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, Athabaskan discourse systems, Appalachian culture & literacy, and bilingual education and the English-only debates.

In the service-learning component, Denison students will explore the ways in which tacit assumptions and understandings about everyday communication and instructional discourse manifest in the academic experiences of high school students in both Columbus and Newark, Ohio. Each Denison student will be paired with a Columbus or Newark High School student who may be at risk for not achieving his or her academic, personal and/or interpersonal potential, who will then work together for one-on-one tutoring and mentoring. Most service learning activities will take place during the regularly scheduled class period.