Why Linguistics? My story.

Les Alpes

Most people I encounter know what I am talking about when I tell them about my majors, but the ones who don’t know are still pretty common. “You’re studying… Linguistics? Thats languages, right? So you want to learn how to speak all the languages in the world or something?” Perhaps in my dream world, where I can Matrix-style download a new life-skill in the matter of seconds, the answer to that question would be yes.

In simple terms, Linguistics is the study of language science. It’s how language works in the brain, in society, in psychology, in culture, and so on. It diverges into many subfields, and those only diverge further. You could study psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, applied linguistics, language teaching, speech therapy.. the list is endless. And although I’m sure many Linguists would love to spend their lives studying ALL the aspects of the languages in the world, like most academics, we much choose a very niche subset of language science to focus on. For me, that was Applied Sociolinguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language.

So how did I arrive those sub-subfields when there are so many to choose from? Well, I’ll tell you; like many people in my field, it started with learning another language. My language learning journey was practically symbiotic with my language teaching journey; as I acquired my second languages, I grew more passionate about understanding English structure and teaching English to non- native speakers.

My language learning journey was practically symbiotic with my language teaching journey; as I acquired my second languages, I grew more passionate about understanding English structure and teaching English to non- native speakers. 

 I started taking my first classes at Johnson County Community College (JCCC), about six years ago, when I was eighteen. I was fresh out of high school, and the only thing I knew for certain about my future was that I excelled with English writing, at least according to my high school teachers (as much as one can “excel” in a 500-person high school, mind you.) I thought to myself that I should probably major in Literature or Creative Writing or something along those lines, but I didn’t have much planned long-term. Two years of foreign language was a requirement of any Liberal Arts Associate’s Degree, and I had previously taken French in high school- just barely enough to get through my midwestern high school requirements, anyway. So I enrolled in French, not knowing the difference in dedication I would need to have to stay on top of my grades and comprehension of the language.
Turns out, It was a big difference. My first two college-level French classes were five credit-hours each, but they should have been more like fifteen, the way I slaved over my homework every night. I had to live in French. Breathe in French. Dream in French to stay on top of my grades. Language learning, for whatever reason, is very difficult for me. Therefore to really get a grasp on the language, I needed to spend almost all of my available hours dedicated to practices for speaking, listening, reading, and writing. I hardly had time for anything else, therefore I became addicted, without even realizing.

Johnson County Community College Library

In my second year of college, I began working at JCCC’s Writing Center as a peer writing tutor, and ended up staying for four years because I loved it so much. I grew in my own writing ability, naturally, but also gained many life-long friends. As a naturally social and empathetic person, I was able to easily connect with students one-on-one, and learned how to assist students from all different backgrounds with their English writing. But when it came to those students who were learning English for the first time, I discovered that we had a particular chemistry. I loved to hear about their backgrounds, their cultures, and their stories. Why did they come here to learn English? What did they like about America? What did they miss about home

Despite being a native speaker of English and my writing background, I realized quickly that there were lots of things that I couldn’t explain to those students when it comes to the way that English actually works. I would hit a wall in my explanations, thinking, “well, why does English do that anyway? Why do we do this rule, if it doesn’t make any logical sense? It’s just… what we do, I guess.” I didn’t have a hardly any background in real grammar knowledge, so I would be useless to students who asked about prepositional phrases, or adverbials, agent pronouns, or the like.

Yet, I found that while continuing to study French, my knowledge grew; I learned more about the invisible structures of languages through practice, and becoming a language-learner myself. With every passing week, I realized that I became a better tutor for language-learning students. I was able to explain to my students not only the rules of English, but why and how they came to exist.

Cambridge, England

In 2016, after graduating from JCCC, I took a gap year (which turned into about two gap years, oops). I lived abroad in Australia, Germany, England, and Switzerland with an international Christian missionary non-profit called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). I could spend forever talking about these years and these classes and what I went through in learning about myself, my spirituality, and about the world- but the I think most important experience I had is what motivated me to come back to the United States.
Although I participated in an array of volunteering experiences with YWAM, the most personally influential experiences I had were while working with and living with refugees from all over the world. I talked with them, ate with them, learned of their struggles, and became life-long friends with some of them. Some escaped life threatening situations, others had left behind advanced professions, and others still hadn’t contacted their families for several years. These folks had been forced to completely start their lives over again in foreign lands with practically nothing to their names. They had to naturalize themselves, and quickly, which meant adopting new cultures and even completely new identities. Something that I found as a constant demand was the need to learn a new language in order to start a new life, especially English.  Even my friends in Germany and Switzerland who primarily learned German wanted to learn English as well. Thats when it hit me- if I really wanted to help people, why would I go into the world with no tangible assets or skills to offer? Sure, I was offering friendship and short-term basic services, cleaning, childcare even… but it wasn’t something that made a sustainable difference in anyone’s life

Thats when it hit me- if I really wanted to help people, why would I go into the world with no tangible assets or skills to offer? …Why would I not cultivate and grow the skills that God has already given me- teaching, tutoring, language aptitude- and bring a skillset of value to people who need it most?.

(T.W. Very religious for this next paragraph.)

As a Christian who grew up in a non -denomination, evangelical Christian church, I heard many perspectives about what it means to evangelize. There’s an ongoing debate in the fractured Christian church about the point of “evangelizing,” or even what the point is to being a Christian. After many experiences, through my walk, through YWAM, through secular and religious examinations of many religions, through many of my respected teacher’s interpretations and my own study of the word, I have come to the conclusion that the point is to build God’s Kingdom, which ultimately means we have been placed here to make this world a better place for all to live in, being an example of Christ’s unconditional love through all means. And although God can use anyone to build his Kingdom, I believe that our creator instills talents and passions in us so that we can give him glory and improve this world for everyone living in it, in every sphere of society. Why would I not cultivate and grow the skills that God has already given me- teaching, tutoring, language aptitude- and bring a skillset of value to people who need it most?

Bern, Switzerland.

These experiences were what first instilled a passion in me to look into TESOL- the official acronym for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (and yes there is also TEFL, TESL, and a slew of other acronyms with subtle differences.) As English is the global language of business and academic opportunity, even refugees living in non-English-speaking countries have a need to learn English as a means of SURVIVING and starting new lives in unfamiliar lands. Seeing the desperation for English and knowing my beginning aptitudes for teaching English, I decided to return to the United States to finish my degree, this time with a specific direction in mind. I knew that teaching isn’t necessarily a monetarily wealthy profession, but it was an opportunity for me to merge my passions for languages and helping others into one. 

Still…even if my goal was now clear in mind, I still had a ways to go and still didn’t know the exact steps to get there.

Since I was so close to getting my degree in English (and a slew of other complications that I will skip here,) I got my Bachelor’s both French and English Rhetoric at University of Missouri, Kansas City. And although I was unable to study Linguistics as a major specifically experience proved to be very intensive and focusing; I joined honors programs, did a year-long undergraduate thesis, I took every Linguistic-related class offered, I attended graduate conferences, and even graduated with a 4.0 G.P.A. I was fortunate enough to have professors who seriously encouraged me and sought to invest in me.

While studying English and French, I found myself absolutely fascinated by the world of Linguistics.

Undergraduate Research Symposium at University of Missouri Kansas-City, 2019

I took Phonetics in French with Dr. Lindsy Myers and learned that there are hundreds of tiny sound differences that you can’t register unless you practice hearing them, over and over. I took History of English Language with Dr. Virginia Blanton and Shakespeare with Dr. Joan Dean and learned how hectic the English language is- a Bastard of German and French. I learned that politics, war, trade, entertainment, propaganda, and a million other factors cause languages to divide and evolve and even die. I learned from Dr. Michael Turner that people sometimes claim that a language is the same, like the many “dialects” of Chinese, for example, for the sake of unity, whereas other nations may claim that their languages are nothing alike (when they are actually exactly alike) for the sake of division. I learned that we are entering an era of Language evolution that is uncharted, with unpredictable factors thrown in like the internet, globalization, and easier access to travel. And I could go on- I learned that there was a million more things I wanted to learn about.

All this to say: this is how I ended up where I am now. I decided to continue my studies at one of the closest universities that offered a dual program in TESOL and Applied Linguistics- University of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Eventually, I know that I would like to focus my research on computer assisted language learning (CALL) more specifically, I want to open up the conversation about how the internet continues to evolve our language use- Online multiplayer gaming (MMORPGs,) social media, fandoms- all of the online communities that have united us internationally, though not physically. I want to look into how the now globalized language of internet culture- memes, hip-hop/music, slang- influences our modern language learners, and maybe if it can even be harnessed as a teaching tool. And of course, as with all other language-obsessed people, I would like to continue to add other languages to my bank of knowledge, especially those differing the most from my native tongue. I want to continue to work with other people- students, teachers, co-workers- who will push my worldview about how language and culture intertwines.

So…Why make a Blog?

Paris, France.

In part, because it is sort of expected of grad students to make a website and start “getting out there in the real world.” Have an online presence, public access to your C.V., your teaching philosophy, etc. etc. The fun answer is because I wanted to.

I created this blog so that I can document my journey, from personal interests to subjects I have actually tackled (or I am currently tackling) in class. I’ll be making posts about… whatever I feel is relevant, really: linguistic discrimination, AAVE, (African American Vernacular English), quarantining during COVID-19 and globalization, internet language, and other topics.

Feel free to read, feel free to critique, feel free to ask questions- in fact, I encourage it. I may even answer your question in my next post!