A Critical Reader at Work

CRITICAL
READING

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Read the following piece. The notes in the margin show how one student applied the process of critical reading to an assigned reading.

Deborah Tannen

It Begins at the Beginning

Deborah Tannen is a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Linguistics — the study of human language — reveals much about people and their culture. Part of Tannen’s research in linguistics has focused on differences in how women and men use language and how those differences affect communication. The following excerpt, adapted from her book You Just Don’t Understand (1990), describes how girls’ and boys’ language and communication patterns differ from an early age.

GUIDING QUESTION

How do boys and girls differ in their play and the language they use in their play?

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