Maria Campbell

Rounsaville
ENC3521
February 23, 2015
Language Policy: Reflection through a Kairotic Lens
The University of Central Florida encompasses students, faculty, and staff that are
international and diverse. Our ways of communicating are ever-changing, shaped by these
differences among the community that allow room for more discourse and thought. The necessity
for a language policy is, in turn, kairotic: it is an issue that is responsive to changes among the
academic and cultural environment as well as current situations. Bringing awareness to a schoolwide language policy allows for a conversation of how and why being aware of our diversity is
so important at this current time and situation.
Crowley and Hawhee describe kairos as a rhetorical concept shaped by an opportune
situation in which it can be utilized, where the rhetor must be aware of the issues relevance to
the time, the place, and the community in which it arises. (4) Current events provide a platform
for kairos to be utilized, which in turn often fuel movements: for example, some college
campuses have come to the media spotlight regarding rape allegations among their football
players. These incidents in turn spark discussions regarding awareness of rape culture and the
importance of consent. Feminist movements themselves are described in waves sparked by
certain events and situations, from the suffrage movement to the womens rights movement of
the 60s and 70s. These movements inspired kairotic arguments because they were relevant to

the issue: there was no reason for women not having the right to vote, and women were grossly
underrepresented in Americas workforce.
Our awareness group concluded that our main goal for a language policy was to place
value on tolerance and understanding of language backgrounds, to promote openness, and to
challenge current biases and perceptions in order to unify the UCF community. Our awareness
group sought to illuminate the differences within the student body by creating a short video
displaying the diversity even within our own group: we were all students of different races and
different upbringings, and we are only a small sample of a much larger campus. We had also
expressed our desired goal of making a video involving student interviews asking what a
language policy would mean to them to gain and even larger perspective. Language diversity, to
us, is a process and practice for culturally and socially progressive language practices that are
instrumental not just for the academic career of students, but for their everyday life.
Awareness of a language policy in itself is kairotic, as it is a response to the current
standing of our student demographic and interests. Crowley and Hawhee present five questions
in their discussion of kairos, the first of which deals with whether or not the issue is urgent right
now or it needs to be made relevant to the present (7). UCF is expanding each year and the
community is establishing organizations to include an even wider range of student groups, and
our message is applicable to all UCF students. Our awareness strategies make relevant our
growing demographic as a diverse campus as we keep the conversation of diversity moving
through our mission statement and video. Using this, kairos is able to serve as a means of
invention stimulated by the arguments present when considering the voices of these diverse
groups (7).

The second question Crowley and Hawhee pose examines who and what communities are
favoring these arguments, and [how] their interests [are] served by these arguments (7). As
stated above, UCF encompasses students of all social backgrounds, but college students enter
their undergraduate career with their own understanding of how the world works; sometimes,
these students have never been exposed to the kinds of people they meet in college before then as
their greatest interactions had likely come from people they had known for years. This is
reflected in their own language that may be exclusionary to the types of people they will meet in
college. Even academically, language itself is exclusionarythe standards of most modern
languages have always been primarily at the hands of those with sociopolitical power. A
language policy, while it would seek to benefit everyone, would be the most beneficial to those
whose voices have been marginalized. As our video depicted the diversity among the students on
campus, we represented a deviance from this idea of normal or standard to create an
atmosphere that was inclusive, respectful, and tolerant to these differences.
Regarding the third question, which questions the type of power dynamics that would be
present within the policy and who would have the upper hand, our awareness project seeks to
dismantle one set voice and instead would encourage all voices to participate in the discussion.
Default perceptions are facilitated by those in powerthose who are at an advantage in society
are those who try to regulate language. By engaging students with questions on how they
would want to see a language policy being implemented, we establish everyone as an active
voice in the issue.
The fourth question address the appropriate and inappropriate lines of argument that may
prevail through the issue. Our goal of our awareness group video shown to the class was to
showcase our diversity, but it was also important for us to take into consideration the level of

diversity that was present. Each person stated their name and spoke either about their race and
ethnicity or where they were from. To each member of the group, these aspects of their identity
shaped their personal experiences in life. We must take into consideration the type of power
inequities that can exist between people of different races and social classes that are
systematically ingrained in society. For example, I did not state my race as I felt as though I was
already part of a default group that American society has historically catered to. On one hand,
acknowledging this acknowledges the need for diversity, but on the other hand, it could possibly
contradict the message itself.
Crowley and Hawhees final question, regarding what other issues align with this
discourse in the community, can be explained by first quoting a sentence of our mission
statement: We hope to stand united in the acceptance and celebration of the many beautiful
cultures that call UCF home. Our project acknowledged that the discussion of language
diversity ultimately ties itself into a discussion of equality, tolerance, and acceptance of the
diverse groups not only on the UCF campus, but in the world. With our video and video idea that
showcased student diversity, and through our mission statement, we created a framework of
awareness that could allow other ideas and issues to be addressed in the discussion that could
both affect the language policy and be an effect of the language policy.
A language policy is essential to bring light to the differences on campus and create a
standard that is attainable and reflective of the entire school community. The need for a language
policy is not only rooted from our own understanding of how language works on a linguistic
level, but on a societal, interpersonal level as well. From a kairotic lens, our strategy for
awareness represented its necessity and relevance as the UCF campus continues to grow and
become more and more inclusive and must accommodate to this increasing demographic.

Works Cited
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1999. Print.