Trachtenberg Jordan, Lee Hwa Young, Anderson Cheryl, Chang Shine, Cameron Carrie
Cancer Prevention Research Training Program, Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
UI J. 2018;9(1). Epub 2018 Jun 28.
Mastery of communication skills is critical to success in research careers. In this article we report on a study that focuses on a potential barrier to research career success that is virtually unstudied in academic interventions in higher education, specifically the possible effects of using a non-standard variety of English spoken by the student or trainee, often known as 'dialect'. The term 'dialect' is often used as a blanket term denoting of a given language that is associated with a specific region, ethnicity, or social status. More specific terms used in sociolinguistics are 'dialect' for regional varieties (Southern, Midwestern, Appalachian) and 'sociolect' for ethnic, cultural, and class-based varieties. Here, we examine how these varieties influence scientific communication (SciComm) in the academic research training environment as well as the related perceptions of both trainees and their mentors. As part of a larger study, we surveyed 124 mentor/trainee dyads over 4 time points; for the present analysis, we included only those dyads where trainees reported a language variety (n = 139 English speakers or bilingual, (n=16)) and related to perceived comfort within the research environment as reported by respondents endorsing a non-standard home variety of English compared to their counterparts. We found that those trainees raised speaking non-standard dialects or sociolects ('home dialect') were more likely to report discomfort in the research environment compared to their counterparts who were raised speaking Standard Academic English (SAE) (regardless of ethnicity or social class). The speakers of non-standard varieties were not necessarily using those varieties in the research environment. The number of trainees reporting discomfort was higher than the number of trainees identifying as belonging to a minority ethnic group or first-generation status. In the same study, we evaluated matched mentors' perceptions of trainee performance and motivation in SciComm activities and found that mentors (without knowing the trainee's self-reported dialect or sociolect) perceived higher barriers to mentoring non-standard variety speakers on 3 items. Given these preliminary findings, we suggest that language variety may play an important role in mentor-mentee interactions in the research environment and speculate that it could be a more sensitive indicator of trainee's perceived and actual discomfort in academia than race-ethnicity or first-generation status. We discuss implications for both mentors and trainees, as well as potential interventions.
掌握沟通技巧对于科研职业的成功至关重要。在本文中，我们报告了一项研究，该研究聚焦于科研职业成功的一个潜在障碍，而这个障碍在高等教育的学术干预中几乎未被研究过，具体来说，就是学生或受训者使用非标准英语变体（通常称为“方言”）可能产生的影响。“方言”一词常被用作一个统称，指代与特定地区、种族或社会地位相关的某一给定语言的变体。社会语言学中使用的更具体的术语是，用“方言”指代地区变体（南部、中西部、阿巴拉契亚），用“社会方言”指代基于种族、文化和阶层的变体。在这里，我们研究这些变体如何在学术研究培训环境中影响科学交流（SciComm），以及受训者及其导师的相关看法。作为一项更大规模研究的一部分，我们在4个时间点对124对导师/受训者进行了调查；在本次分析中，我们只纳入了那些受训者报告使用某种语言变体的二元组（n = 139名说英语者或双语者，(n = 16)），并将认可非标准英语家庭变体的受访者报告的研究环境中的舒适感与他们的同行进行了比较。我们发现，与那些以标准学术英语（SAE）为母语的同行相比，那些以非标准方言或社会方言（“家乡方言”）为母语的受训者更有可能报告在研究环境中感到不适（无论种族或社会阶层如何）。说非标准变体的人在研究环境中不一定会使用这些变体。报告感到不适的受训者数量高于被认定为少数族裔或第一代身份的受训者数量。在同一项研究中，我们评估了配对导师对受训者在科学交流活动中的表现和积极性的看法，发现导师（在不知道受训者自我报告的方言或社会方言的情况下）在三个项目上认为指导说非标准变体的人存在更高的障碍。基于这些初步发现，我们认为语言变体可能在研究环境中的师徒互动中发挥重要作用，并推测与种族或第一代身份相比，它可能是受训者在学术界感知到的和实际的不适的一个更敏感指标。我们讨论了对导师和受训者的影响以及潜在的干预措施。
