IOER INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH JOURNAL, VOL. 5, NO.

1, MARCH 2023

PHENOMENOLOGY OF LANGUAGE SENSITIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM

ABIGAIL QUIMOSING-OCAY
0000-0001-6624-7928
[email protected]
Kalinga State University, Philippines, 3800

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54476/ioer-imrj/979372

ABSTRACT

The study examined the phenomenon of language sensitivity in the classroom. Specifically, it identified
students' lived experiences of their language interactions with peers and their teachers and developed a
language sensitivity model in the classroom. It made use of qualitative design, employing the
phenomenological approach by Moustakas (1994) which in this study, essentially focused on the
meanings of the experiences of the participants on language sensitivity in classroom context. The study’s
findings revealed positive and negative experiences of the students as to interactions with peers and
teachers in the classroom. Positive experiences are categorized into politeness, while negative
experiences are categorized into themes: bullying, profane language, culture-biased language, and
sexism. It was further revealed that language sensitivity cycles in the classroom in terms of language
interactions with peers and the teacher, and both teachers and students choose positive or negative
language interactions. Finally, the study concludes that the more negative language interactions occur in
the classroom, the lesser the language sensitivity that arises, while the more positive interactions occur,
the greater the language sensitivity that arises.

Keywords: Language interactions, Language sensitivity, Lived experiences, Phenomenology

INTRODUCTION complexity of human language. Its complexity left

researchers with many considerable factors that
Where there is language, there is a may affect the use of language, like age, gender,
phenomenon. Humans are social beings, who economic status, place of origin, religion, and
make use of language as means of communication culture.
– communicate one’s being, moral dispositions, Language is man’s potent tool because it is
capabilities and abilities, and one’s freedom of impossible to imagine our existence without
expression in all aspects of life. Indeed, it makes language. All our forms of expression, such as
every moment of language use count. For the past aspirations, personalities, emotions,
decades, research on language was consistently achievements, and relationships, are transmitted
conducted. They all described the complexity of through language. In the same situation in the
the human language – Cong & Liu (2014) on the school, language facilitates understanding and
complex multi-level system of human language, learning because it is the only means for teachers
Mufwene (2013) on the complexity of the evolution and learners to exchange information.
of language, and Nettle (2012) on the structural In a school, where teachers encounter
diverse learners, communication is a practice that

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OCAY, A.Q., Phenomenology of Language Sensitivity in the Classroom, pp. 139 – 148
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must be carried out with great sensitivity. Tejeda & Santos (2014) noted in their study,
Considerably, every means of teaching is “only teacher pronunciation instruction is
language; hence, there is a need for language to necessary when learning English as a foreign
be expressed appropriately to avoid language”; and (3) Language teacher is the
miscommunication. The school, which can be number one factor that must emulate sensitivity to
considered the second home for the learners, is language.
where they spend five days a week more than the Hence, in a school where language
days they spend with their families. Thus, facilitates learning, there is more reason to further
interacting with other learners of different cultures, inform the learners and the teachers about their
religions, economic statuses, and other aspects use of the language – verbally and nonverbally.
denoting differences is inevitable. Subsequently, Kalinga State University,
It was contended that all teachers are language Philippines, is concerned with the total
teachers (Fan, 2013; Crusan, 2017), whether development of students through quality
teachers of language subjects or content subjects. education. Hence, strategic decisions plan the
The moment he talks during classroom instruction, teacher talk and choose the most appropriate
he is not only facilitating learning but also the teaching-learning strategy. Teachers do mostly the
acquisition of the language. That is why the talking in class, being the number one source of
language teacher is the number one factor that information, and they have their approaches,
must emulate sensitivity to language. styles, and techniques of teaching. Hence,
Expounding on Stempleski (2003), students may emulate the teacher’s language use
sensitivity to language may fall into two groups: 1) unconsciously. That is why teachers need to be
words that may offend – to avoid using words that sensitive enough to the use of language in class.
might offend or upset other people; and 2) words Therefore, this study was conceptualized to further
that avoid giving offense – to use the appropriate disseminate awareness of language sensitivity,
words when talking or writing about a sensitive especially among students and teachers.
topic. She further identified common sensitive
topics such as racial and ethnic groups, gender, OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
age, illness and disability, sexual preference, and
tiles. This study aimed to analyze the lived
Further, in medicine, language sensitivity is experiences of the students of Kalinga State
also seen as vital in approaching patients. Aycock University on language sensitivity in the school
et al. (2017) developed the RESPECT model, a
context.
mnemonic for Rapport, Environment/Equipment,
Safety, Privacy, Encouragement, Specifically, it sought answers to the
Caring/Compassion, and Tact. This framework following:
was used to remind health workers about the 1. to identify the themes of the lived
importance of sensitivity in communicating with experiences of the participants in their interactions
patients because it was believed that insensitive
at school;
use of language could negatively affect patients’
outcomes and satisfaction. 2. to determine the essence of the meaning
The same situation is in the classroom; of the experiences of the participants relating to
students are like teachers’ patients needing language sensitivity; and
attention as they are involved in the teaching- 3. to develop a language sensitivity model
learning process. Here, teachers need to in the classroom.
contemplate the following pedagogical
considerations: (1) All teachers are language
METHODOLOGY
teachers (Fan, 2013; Crusan, 2017); (2) Every
means of teaching is the language which is why
there is a need for language is expressed The study made use of qualitative design,
appropriately to avoid miscommunication as employing the phenomenological approach by
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Moustakas (1994). The phenomenological willing. Even after the conduct of this study, the
approach aims at analyzing the lived experiences researcher nor the research assistants were
of the participants, with which in this study mandated to not use any information of the
essentially focused on the meanings of the participants nor the data gathered unless
experiences of the participants on language permitted.
sensitivity in a classroom context.
This study was conducted among Kalinga RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
State University students, using a purposive
selection of participants. Faculty contacts from the 1. Lived Experiences of Students as to
different colleges identified willing students to Phenomenon of Language Sensitivity
undertake the narrative essay writing activity. From
there, the researchers chose 4 from each college. It was found that there are 25 common lived
Those who willingly underwent the narration experiences of the students as to language
activity and who could express themselves well phenomena on language sensitivity with their
were 25 students, count: College of Liberal Arts peers and with their teachers; 15 with peers and
(5): College of Business, Entrepreneurship, and 10 with teachers, respectively. Language
Accountancy (4); College of Agriculture (4), phenomena may imply occurrences in the
College of Criminal Justice Education (4), College classroom as uncommonly experienced by
of Education (4), and the College of Engineering students. They may occur at minimal frequency;
and Information Technology (4). however, the impact may be greater than their
Moreover, the researchers used written occurrence that they are still lived by the
narrative essays to gather first-hand data on the participants up to the very present.
participants' lived experiences on the phenomenon Moreover, language phenomena can also be
of language sensitivity. After receiving repetitive categorized as to positive or negative phenomena.
responses and there was a high rate of duplication Under language phenomena with peers, 13 or 75%
or recurrence of data, the researchers called it are negative experiences while only 2 or 15% are
saturation and stopped. positive; and as to the language phenomena with
Data analysis was partly adapted from the teachers, 7 or 70% are negative experiences while
phenomenological research procedure by Clark & only 3 or 30% are positive (Figure 1).
Minami (2015) – recorded interviews, transcription,
reduction, regrouping, and coding. The only
difference with this study is the use of narrative
essays or written lived experiences of the
participants instead of pure interviews. This is the
reason that some students could share their
experiences better when it is written. In order not
to limit what the participants would be able to
share, the researchers gave them enough time to
write their experiences which lasted about 40 to 60
minutes.
With that, themes were extracted through
reduction and coding. Only the experiences related
to the study were extracted on reduction, while on Figure 1. Prevalence of Positive and Negative Language
coding, experiences were classified according to Phenomena
themes. Finally, the essence of each theme
identified was interpreted according to the The number of positive experiences under
questions posted in this study. the category with peers (15%) and teachers (30%)
Further, ethical considerations were implies that the students emphasize their negative
accentuated. Hence, the participants were not experiences more than the positive ones. Medical
forced to undertake in the study unless they were studies explain that experiences of extreme
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happiness, tragedy, or humiliation cause nor- manifested in classroom talk, such as making
epinephrine release into the brain (Tesh, 2020; effective communication, keeping friendly relations
Dahl, 2020). The chemical then causes the brain with students, and saving students’ faces.
to value such experiences so that an individual
Moreover, Monsefi & Hadidi (2015) revealed in
may re-live the memories over again. That is why
such questions as “What is your happiest moment their study that the use of more polite strategies by
or most embarrassing moment?” are commonly teachers positively affected the teacher-student
asked in slum books students. interaction and learning process. As revealed in
Further on the positive and negative lived this study, the teachers only make use of polite
experiences, we can label the positive experiences strategies (a) Calling someone by surname when
of students with peers and with teachers as to the in formal situations and (c) Integration of values
theme politeness.
through sayings or insights. Hence, the more polite
strategies are used in the classroom, the more
1.1. Politeness
positive effects in the interactions with the
Politeness is apparent among students and students. Teachers' polite and supportive
teachers as to the use of polite strategies a) language can also heighten students' language
“Calling someone by surname when in formal sensitivity levels (Banno-oy & Pannogan, 2016).
situations,” which is observed in experiences: (1) “I On the other hand, students’ negative
call my classmate by her name, or I say bes if we experiences fall on the themes: Bullying, Cultural-
are close; if not, I call her/him by her surname, or I biased language, profane language, and Sexism.
say Ms. or Mr” with peers and (2) “I like it when my
teacher calls me by my surname because it is 1.2. Bullying
formal and I feel like I am in the classroom” and (3)
“Our teachers usually call us by our surnames like As to Bullying, as follows are the negative
‘Mr. Santos’ or ‘Ms. Mendoza” with teachers; b) the experiences with peers: (1) “They have been
use of “courteous words” in experience (4) “I use
calling me ‘full moon’ because my surname is
courteous expressions like please, may I,
ma’am/sir” with peers; and c) the “integration of Bulan (meaning ‘moon’ in their vernacular). I often
values through sayings or insights” in experience laugh and smile but they do not know I get hurt too”
(5) “I am motivated to study when my teacher and (2) “When I pass by a group of guys saying
shares beautiful sayings. I also learn many life “papansin lang dayta ta crush naka gamin.” I just
lessons from her” with teachers. felt so small when I heard it that I wanted to shout
The above-cited experiences draw insights at them. (Quoted phrase: she is just trying to show
from Yule (2010) that politeness has to do with off because she has a crush on you)” while as
being tactful, modest, and nice to other people. It follows are negative experiences with teachers: (3)
implies that the most relevant concept is “face” “Being called by our teacher “kala kayo lang
(Brown & Levinson, 1987). He made mentioned naglalaing” (you seem you are all smart) is
that the face is the public self-image. This is the insulting, especially when you hear it often” and (4)
emotional and social sense of self that everyone “One time, our teacher scolded one of my
has and expects everyone else to recognize. Like classmates in front of us, and I was the one who
the teacher and the students, they eventually use felt embarrassed for my classmate. My teacher
politeness strategies to save their faces or public told her that she is beautiful but cannot answer
self-image, as previously mentioned. Thus, simple question.”
politeness can be defined as showing awareness Bullying is generally defined as intimidating a
and consideration of one’s face. On the other weaker person to do something, especially such
hand, Xi et al. (2015) concluded that politeness is repeated coercion. Here, we can tell how crucial
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the situation in the school is with regards to we have been branded by our classmates as
language usage, knowing that bullying is “annacha-faku;” (2) “I feel hurt sometimes when
punishable by law. How much more when the they ask me “Apay madama pelang tribal war yu?”
(Quoted words: “Is your tribal conflict still on-
students are outside the school? Outside the
going?”); (3) “One time, my classmate jokes over
school, students are no longer students but free the god of the Muslims. He said ‘Ala ni Allah’ (O,
individuals not bound by the rules and policies of Allah). My Muslim classmate shouted at him using
the school. That is a factor to be considered. This their language, which I think she was really hurt;”
negative act of bullying implies that there is a big and (4) “Sometimes, it is unfair when others are
tendency that bullied students will perform less in saying ‘dakayo man nga taga upper, isardeng yun
the classroom because they would become afraid ti tribal wars yu. Mairamraman kami ti gulo yu.’
(Translation: You, people from the Upper [Kalinga],
to speak out their ideas. Studies prove that bullied
stop already your tribal conflicts. You are just
students perform low in their academics – bullying disturbing us with your conflicts.) Though it was
decreases students’ scores (Werf, 2014); bullying jokingly said, it still hurts.” While on the other hand,
negatively impacts students' performances there is no negative experience encountered about
(Oliveira et al., 2018; Kibriya et al., 2015). this with their teachers. This just implies that
teachers are aware enough of the need of cultural
On the other hand, the above-mentioned sensitivity in the classroom. However, students
experiences of the students revealed that even need to be educated with cultural sensitivity,
especially in the classroom, where they encounter
teachers bully them. In the study of Sanapo (2017),
diverse people five days a week.
When Kids Hurt Other Kids: Bullying in Philippine It is always true that the classroom is a
Schools, it was revealed that the most common composition of diverse students and teachers.
type of bullying among schools in the Philippines is Consequently, teachers' cultural background
verbal bullying. The same among Kalinga State knowledge provides a valuable contribution in how
University students, they too experience verbal they run their classrooms (Garcia & Pantao, 2021).
bullying not only from their classmates but also According to Rosenfeld & Rosenfeld (2004), the
single most powerful lever for getting all students
from their teachers, sometimes unconsciously.
to learn is teachers who are attentive to individual
Inside the classroom, the teacher is considered to learning variations and use effective,
be the second parent for he facilitates and interventionist language, beliefs, and practice with
manages the teaching-learning process, and he students. Thus, for effective intercultural
inevitably teaches the language. As a fact, all communication in the classroom, there is a need
teachers are language teachers. The moment he for teachers to make students understand each
other’s culture first, and acceptance will follow;
talks during classroom instruction, he does not
because it is in understanding and acceptance that
only facilitate learning but also the acquisition of respect comes in.
the language. Hence, students must be verbally In the blog Communication Strategies,
bullied by their teachers because they are Cultural Sensitivity by DeVito (2011), cultural
expected to play a critical part in handling sensitivity is an attitude and way of behaving in
classroom bullying (Yoon and Bauman, 2014) which you are aware of and acknowledge cultural
instead of initiating the act. differences. Nevertheless, this is crucial in the
classroom because students and teachers may
come from different cultures, family orientations,
1.3. Culture-biased Language
economic statuses, religions, and the like. The
As follows are experiences of students with experience of one of the participants, her
peers denoting cultural-biased language: (1) classmate, was mocking their god “Allah” for
“Because of our accent from Ibaloi, Mt. Province, saying “Alla ni Allah.” This alone is a form of verbal
bullying mentioned in the previous page, which
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results in lower academic performances of bullied choosing what is acceptable in social setting.
students. School is a social setting, for it is where diverse
Finally, Silinkman (2017) suggested five ways students and teachers inevitably interact. That is
to create a culturally sensitive classroom: 1) Get to
why, the more that teachers and students should
know all your students as individuals; 2) Make sure
your curriculum is culturally varied and relevant; 3) carry sensitivity to language.
Be aware of your own cultural biases; 4) Seek input Moreover, language values are also
and support from community members; and 5) influenced by social and economic forces (Jay,
Make sure students have the choice to create 2008). He further posted those parents in religious
authentic work. With all these suggestions, communities may want more restrictions on
teachers play a vital role in developing and profane language than parents from non-religious
sustaining a culturally sensitive classroom as
communities. Every day, people interact and may
facilitators and managers.
influence others in terms of how they speak and
1.4. Profane Language the words or expressions they use. Indeed, the
environment is one of the biggest factors that may
This theme is apparent in following affect language because it is observed that most of
experiences of students with peers: (1) “I am a girl. the young ones today go out with their friends more
It just hurts that most of my female classmates are often than they stay with their families. Because of
using ‘ukinnana’ and ‘osiang/osiang mo’ as the adventurous mind and curiosity of the young
expression (Quoted words are swear words in their ones, they try new trends and fads, including new
vernacular);” (2) “I feel insulted when my expressions, in order to gain the attention of their
classmates call me ‘uy’ or ‘sika (impolitely saying friends or barkadas. Wherein these expressions
“you!”);” (3) “It irritates my ears when my are maybe vulgar or swear words that are
classmates say ‘I don’t care!’ ‘So what!’ ‘In Your unconsciously learned. Moreover, the aid of
face;” (4) “Other students are still using bad words technology brought demands for social sites like
like ‘bull shit/shet,’ ‘okens,’ ‘fuck,’ ‘in your face,’ etc. Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Twitter.
even inside the classroom;” and (5) “Sometimes, I Consequently, the language used is what people
feel like I am the one being talked about by tend to emulate, which most students bring to
students when they are using gay language, school.
especially when they look at me. I really do not
understand all the words in gay language like 1.5. Sexism
‘chararat’ or ‘murata.” On the other hand, they also Another identified theme category of the
experience profane language with their teacher, as students’ negative experiences is Sexism in
narrated by one of the students: “There were times language. Sexist language is apparent in the
when my teacher comes to class saying ‘Apay following experiences with peers: (1) “I feel
dambel?’ Sometimes, I feel like it is directing to us.” embarrassed when my classmates talk about
(Quoted phrase: “You think I am dumb?”). This green jokes like when they are talking about
implies that even teachers, sometimes, tend to reproductive organs but using terms like “talong”
speak profane language in the classroom. (eggplant) and “parya” (bitter gourd); (2) “My
As explicated by Zhang (2016) on his blog, classmates are so green-minded. They were
The Dissolution of Language Sensitivity, that the saying “birdy” (connotatively means the male
use of obscene language is a consequence of pop genitalia), “utong mo” (string beans in Ilocano;
culture that deprives students of sensitivity. He, nipple in Tagalog). On the other hand, students
then, emphasized that choice of words means also experience sexism in language with their
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teachers, as what narrated by one of the students: The model of language sensitivity is
(1) “There was actually a time when I feel shy to illustrated in Figure 2.
talk in class because they are all girls, including my
teacher. That is why attention is on me sometimes.
My teacher always mentions ‘Mr. *****, the thorn
among the roses,’ when calling for me.”
The above-narrated lengthy statements from the
students lead to the definition of sexist language
by Lei (2006) as a language that expresses bias in
favor of one sex and thus treats the other sex in a
discriminatory manner. In most cases, the bias is
in favor of men and against women. Rahman
(2013) posited that our words, our sayings, our
songs, our jokes, our stories, and poetry all carry
the values which construct gender. Hence, Gender
must be considered in all language expressions, Figure 2. Language Sensitivity Model
especially in schools where language facilitates
learning. Just like a wheel, language sensitivity cycles in
With all the above-mentioned experiences the classroom regarding language interactions
of the students and corresponding insights from with peers and the teacher. Both teachers and
students choose positive language interactions
experts, the study then foregrounds the general
(politeness or values integration) or negative
essence of their experiences that language language interactions (bullying, profane language,
sensitivity should be taken seriously in school. It culture-biased, or sexism). The more positive
should be alleviated, if not eradicated, because language interactions occur, the greater the
bullying, profane language, sexism, and cultural- language sensitivity is developed, while the more
biased language may affect relationships between negative language interactions occur, the lesser
and among students and teachers and the the developed language sensitivity.
Moreover, developing language sensitivity is a
teaching-learning process.
matter of choice on the part of the learner and the
If students are insensitive to their use of teacher. Language sensitivity does not demand an
language, they tend to bully. They may consciously individual to choose positive interactions because
or unconsciously use cultural-biased or gender- it is laden with other factors such as age,
insensitive, and they may see profane language as environment, family orientation, or beliefs. Thus,
just expressions. In that case, more there is a great tendency that language sensitivity
misunderstandings may exist between and among will increase or decrease depending on the
frequency of choice by the teacher or the students
students and teachers. The students’ negative
to entertain negative or positive language
experiences may lead to a lack of concentration, interactions.
shyness, and timidity, which may result in poor
academic performance. That is why the very CONCLUSIONS
essence of this study is to instill in the mind and
hearts of the students and the teachers why Language sensitivity is a language
language is needed to be sensitive. phenomenon in the classroom as interactions
occur between and among students and teachers.
2. The Language Sensitivity Model Positive and negative interactions may shape

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these language phenomena. Positive language The authors are very grateful to the KSU
interactions arise when teachers and learners students who willingly participated in the study and
make use of politeness and integrate values into shared about their valuable experiences.
language use. On the other hand, negative
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AUTHOR’S PROFILE

Dr. Abigail Quimosing-Ocay is a

faculty of Kalinga State University and
is teaching under the Department of
Languages and the College of Liberal
Arts and Social Sciences. She
finished Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric and
Linguistics at St. Paul University Philippines and is
mainly interested in language and social science
studies.

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IIMRJ. This is an open-access article distributed
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commons.org/licenses/by/4).

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148