Introduction
A biased language is a language that discriminates against people based on their sex, physical condition, race, ethnicity, age, and other such attributes. A biased language is therefore unfair and hostile and fails to comply with the law. It excludes certain groups of readers and fails to maintain goodwill (Rozakis 63).
Biased language has long been used in the wider society and dates back to the creation of the universe. In the Bible, for instance, the pronoun ‘he’ and the noun ‘man’ are used extensively to refer to both genders. The terms ‘he’ and ‘man’ are the most commonly used forms of biased language. However, biased language extends to almost all sectors of society including the healthcare sector, the education sector, and the business world. The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of biased language in different spheres of life such as in schools, professions, and business circles. The paper will also discuss how biased language affects different people both positively and negatively.
Biased language and children’s imagery
During the last twenty years, a substantial number of research studies have been conducted to examine the effect of biased language on imagery development. The results from these studies have supported the notion that utilization of masculine terms (such as he and man) to denote both genders contributes to a bias towards the male in imagery development. The majority of these studies however use samples of adults rather than children. Hyde (697-706) was among the first scholars to examine the effect of biased language on children’s imagery development.
The researcher used a sample of children in grades 1, 2, and 5. The young participants were requested to rate how well women and men could execute a number of traditional jobs as well as a pretentious, gender-impartial occupation (“wudgemaker”). The pronouns used by Hyde to describe the occupations varied from one participant to another. Hyde (699) found that when the pronoun ‘he’ was used to refer to the “wudgemaker”, the children’s rating of how well women can perform the job was low. On the other hand, the children’s ratings of how well men can do the job were much higher. The reverse was also true in the case where the pronoun ‘she’ was used to refer to the occupation.
From these results, Hyde concluded that the use of gender-related pronouns has a great impact on the perceptions that children develop about occupation, and especially their concepts of how successful women could perform the job. In addition, the researcher found out that the understanding of the use of the pronoun ‘he’ to refer to unknown persons of either gender increased with age. This is because as children progress to higher grades, they encounter the use of gender-biased terms more frequently and are therefore able to understand their meanings (Walsh-Bowers and O’Connor 106).
Biased language and English as a Second Language students
Substantial attention has been given in the last few years to the least biased language evaluation of culturally and linguistically diverse students who study English as a second language. The general agreement is that the administration of language examinations in English using contemporary norms is unsuitable for students whose principal language is non-English. A number of reasons help to explain this agreement.
First, students who are studying English as a second language have a lower chance of excelling in the language than monolingual counterparts on uniform tests that involve academic language skills, even in cases where the bilingual students are fluent in conversational contexts (Saenz and Huer 185). Examinations that are standardized in English may comprise members of diverse ethnic and racial groups.
However, the proportion of culturally and linguistically diverse students incorporated in the norming groups naturally is less than that included in the population of the United States in general. In such situations, for the majority of the English standardized tests, the scores of ethnically minority students such as Asian and Latino students are still measured up to those of the middle class, ethnically predominant, and monolingual Euro-American students.
A second issue concerning the least biased examinations in the public schools is the complication that arises from the fact that state or local administrative systems can spell out eligibility standards for speech-language services that involve “minimum standard scores, percentiles, or minimum standard deviations below the mean on standardized testing,” (Saenz and Huer 187) even though the utilization of standardized tests is voluntary.
Due to the substantial numbers of English language learners in the public schools in many states, the diversity of the languages spoken by the English language learners, and the complications associated with obtaining interpreters for assessment, the majority of the speech-language pathologists keep on using and depending on, standardized tests and their norms in English as a vital feature of their test. Possibly not inadvertently, states and communities that have greater numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students also have an excessively high number of students who are registered in special education programs.
In effect, students who are referred for special education examinations are also subject to assessments using similar series of tests, despite the fact that they have different characteristics hence different needs and abilities. In order to address the problems that English as a Second Language students encounter as a result of biased language in schools, a number of measures should be taken.
First and foremost, norms in standardized language examinations should be used with utmost care for bilingual children. Even bilingual students who have close to normal capabilities in reading, writing, and mathematics done in English have a lower chance of scoring above average on speech-language examinations that are normalized for the general population. The addition of test adjustments may not totally get rid of this dissimilarity, rendering test results suspicious for the majority of students who are currently supposed to be proficient in English and are being evaluated using standardized tests.
A second measure involves the analysis of students’ scores on standardized academic examinations in school subjects. Even though such testing may not tackle the assessor’s matters of concern, it provides facts concerning the students’ capabilities of performing in standardized tests and particularly in areas that are associated with oral language. In addition, the testing provides information concerning students’ abilities to grasp information taught in the classroom.
Biased language in professions
Biased language is widely used in various professions such as interior design and architecture. It is a widely held belief that interior design is a feminine profession whereas architecture is a masculine profession. The femininity of interior design is evident in the type of language that is used in the field particularly in interior design books, magazines, and television shows.
In a study conducted to examine the language used in interior design, Hill and Matthews found that “design-related magazines targeting the general public used the coded adjectives-generally identified as more characteristic of feminine linguistic patterns-almost 11 times more than the architectural magazines and academic journals, and HGTV shows used feminine linguistic forms almost three times as often as the architectural and academic periodicals,” (51).
In addition, the Home and Garden television show (HGTV) made use of an array of sensitive words that are identified more with the feminine nature than masculine nature. Such words include, precious, darling, pretty, beautiful, and cute among others. On the other hand, the word handsome is commonly found in architectural materials. This is because the ‘empty adjectives’ used in interior design are associated with females while the word handsome is associated with males.
Amusingly, the feminine words are often offensive to designers and scholars when used to illustrate interior design solutions. However, when interior designers dissociate themselves from pretty and such-like words, they also are also dissociating themselves from the feminine side and, most importantly, the real meaning of the profession.
Ironically, the general public seems to be more at ease with a language of interior design that supports the profession’s feminine reinforcement than interior designers are. In spite of that, supporting the feminine nature of the profession can have constructive financial repercussions. The general public desires and is attracted to pretty things, a fact that is validated by the $160 billion-a-year global beauty industry. Even if it is not practically assessed, personal testimonies and understanding show that interior designers are originally drawn to the profession owing to a need to construct “pretty” spaces.
Interior designers are touched by beautiful textiles, craftsmanship, colors, surfaces, and spaces, and successful interior designers have an intrinsic capability to produce spaces that stir up positive sentimental reactions from people who pay a visit to or dwell in the spaces. However, studies show that as people progress in the interior design profession through advanced education and expertise, their linguistic paradigm shifts away from terms that tie the designer to initial feminine and emotional urges and substitute them with more realistic and masculine ones (Hill and Matthews 52-54).
Biased language in the business world
Today’s business world is more dynamic than a decade ago. This is due to the ever-growing information technology that has made it possible for people to conduct businesses with others across the globe. Indeed, information technology has eliminated geographical boundaries that used to be one of the greatest barriers facing business people. Business people find themselves interacting and conducting businesses with people from all walks of life and from all racial, ethnic, and language backgrounds. Businesses both great and small are carrying out huge volumes of sales and other transactions with clients from different continents via the Internet on a daily basis.
As a result of this, the need for effective communication skills is greater today than it was a few years ago. How a person communicates and the words a person uses with fellow businessmen and clients greatly determine whether or not they will be successful in their endeavors (Rozakis 37).
In order to survive in the increasingly diverse, multicultural, and pluralistic world, it is crucial for business managers to recognize the significance of communication as a skill prerequisite for business success. This recognition should be extended to the employees working in various business organizations because the employees are the representatives of the organizations and anything they do affects the overall performance of the organization.
Besides using bias-free language when dealing with external stakeholders and clients, employees should also use bias-free language when dealing with their fellow employees. This entails paying attention to the titles used, the references made to employees with physical conditions, the references made to employees of different gender and employees of different age groups.
The most effective way of avoiding biased language in the business world is to be aware of the different meanings attached to different words by different cultural, gender, and age groups. The use of bias-free language in the business helps to maintain good relations among the employees, between the employers and employees, and between the organization and its external stakeholders and clients. Good relations in turn increase productivity and enhance the overall performance of the organization.
Conclusion
Biased language is common in many sectors of the sector, from the government to the business, education, and healthcare sectors among others. The existence of biased language is a result of people’s socialization and conditioning processes which most often create ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own culture is superior to the cultures of others. The same can be applied to gender, age groups, and physical abilities.
As a result, people of different gender, race, ethnicity, age, and physical abilities use a language – sometimes unconsciously – that may be demeaning to others. Biased language can create misunderstandings between people and may cause a business organization to fail due to the loss of clients. However, biased language can be eliminated through education and training programs. Such programs can help to create awareness among people about the appropriate language that should be used when dealing with people from different backgrounds.
References
Hill, Caroline, and Carl Matthews. “Language of Interior Design: Sexism and Femininity.” Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences 99.2 (2007): 50-54.
Hyde, Janet. “Children’s Understanding of Sexist Language.” Developmental Psychology 20 (1984): 697-706.
Rozakis, Laurie. The Literate Executive: How to Write Like a Leader. New York: McGraw Hill, 2000.
Saenz, Terry Irvine, and Mary Blake Huer. “Testing Strategies Involving Least Biased Language Assessment of Bilingual Children.” Communication Disorders Quarterly 24.4 (2003): 184.
Walsh-Bowers, Richard, and Barbara O’Connor. “A Preliminary Examination of the Effects of Gender-Biased Language on Children’s Imagery.” Journal of Educational Research 44.1 (1998): 103.