Language in Use 251-252

This unit is concerned with the ways in which language acts as a vital means of integrating the life of large social institutions like factories or business firms. It focuses upon the experience of newcomers, who find that the way that they are expected to act is determined by underlying notions of what is appropriate to the job, even though these may not be explicitly stated.
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[1] For this session, the class need to write a story entitled 'Being a Newcomer' or 'Starting, a Job'. The aim of the session is to focus on all the ways in which a firm presents problems to the newcomer. Circulate the stories and, in discussion, build up on the board a picture of what the class believe to be the essential difficulties that a newcomer faces in any large organisation. Reference should be made to school experience and the class encouraged to contribute what they know of the experience of family and friends going into new jobs.

[2] The aim of this session is to carry the discussion further by considering, all the evidence brought out in session [1] in the light of the following questions:
(a) who can you speak to, formally or informally, about -what topics, and in what places?
(b) who gives orders and how?
(c) how do you find out what your job entails and where the limits of your responsibility lie?
(d) who can you go to for advice about doing the job and about pay and conditions?
(e) what rights to complain do you have, and how can you exercise them?

[3] The aim of this session is to focus on more specifically linguistic aspects of the problem. Ask the class to choose one or more of the following topics for detailed exploration:
(a) the contrast between the official and unofficial names for people above you
(b) the difference between written and unwritten rules
(c) the nature of any special language that has to be learnt
(d) how one 'learns the ropes'--how one finds out about any of the topics listed in session [ 1
(e) the kind of misunderstanding that can arise when work-mates assume you understand their verbal shorthand.

[4] The aim of this session is to show what might be done to help the newcomer over his initial difficulties. Divide the class into groups and ask each one to write a report which sets out what they would do to case the problems created by each of the points listed in session [2]. Circulate the reports and, through discussion, build up on the board a profile of what would be necessary if a firm were to minimise the hazards of being a newcomer.

For literary treatments, see My First Goose by Isaac Babel in his Collected Stories (Penguin), The Long and the Short and the Tall by Willis Hall and Naming of Parts and other poems in Henry Reed's Lessons of War.