As a general thing, have you ever taken any public speaking courses? When I was in high school, my parents insisted I join the speech club. I went in a very shy girl and now, even years after graduating high school, am much better at communicating and conducting conversations and interviews than I used to be.
Nope, sure haven't. I don't think there is a public speaking course or speech club at my school either...if there is, I wouldn't be able to fit it into my schedule. Blame unit limits :p
Hmm, that's sad. My school used to have a mandatory public speaking course that was abandoned at some point before I enrolled. Shame, especially since in my major (creative writing), all graduates are required to read a portion of their senior project out loud at a public reading, and I've seen more than a few people who would have benefited from it. It might be worth it to head down to your local bookstore o' choice and see if they have any books that might be useful.
When you're getting to know professors, you really don't have to turn the conversation to your future plans just yet. Just ask them questions about your assigned readings, assignments, or other reading you've been doing in the field. If you find something particularly interesting, ask who's work you should read to find out more about it. You don't necessarily have to get personal to give off the impression that you're smart, curious, and dedicated - three things that you'll want them to say in a LOR one day
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Thank you! I was thinking that I needed to get into the habit of preparing lists of questions that I'd like to ask, actually. Is it a bad idea to bring the list to office hours/appointments and have it out while talking to them, though? Maybe I'm just a bit too self-conscious...
I don't think there's anything wrong with having your list out. You don't want to waste their time having to come back again and again because you forgot questions, right? I also have a notebook out while asking for grad school advice so I can write down any names or papers they mention. I don't think it looks weird at all. You do want to avoid just running down your list of questions like an interview, though.
Thanks! It's always a relief to know that professors expect my awkward attempts to talk to them :) I'm constantly worried that I'm bothering them.
Oh, I meant that I felt that I was taking up the students' time, not the professors'. That is, I know the other students want/need to speak to the professors as well, and I worry that by the time I finish, they'll be upset with me for hogging professor-time.
Yeah, I think I should be worrying less about the actual letters and more about just getting more into asking them about topics I'm interested in. I'm trying to do that more often.
I have never been very good at holding conversations with people or approaching people to talk.
Don't worry, there are plenty of people like this in Linguistics graduate programs ;)
Try to talk to professors more about the readings you're doing. If you have questions about the reading, or if you're interested in learning more about the subject the reading discusses, email the professor.
If there's a topic you don't quite get, or a theory that doesn't sit right with you - talk to them about it. Saying "I get that author X is saying blah, but I can't help but wonder - has she considered this other issue?" Things like that light up my day as a teacher. When a student says to me that the reading has made them think about something, or make them see something in another way...I remember that student for a long time. It shows they're taking an interest and they're expressing that interest to me.
Thanks much! I've been trying to do that more often; lately I've been trying to get into the habit of asking both professors and TAs about subjects I'm curious about. Once I actually received a whole paper in response. That was really cool.
Do you teach linguistics? What sorts of things do you specialize in?
I teach discourse analysis, mainly of political rhetoric, and I also teach sociolinguistics stuff related to language standardization and its applications in education.
I'm a functionalist and my area of specialisation is discourse analysis, and also Native American language revitalization :)
Oh, neat! Actually, one of the professors I seem to get along rather well with specializes in American Indian languages and is known for her field work (maybe you can guess who she is based on that description; I dunno ;]). I find discourse analysis quite interesting, although I don't know nearly as much as I'd like to about it. In fact, I'm not even sure if anybody in the linguistics department here works on it...although it seems like something that would be situated in a different field of study, so I guess that makes sense.
Thanks! Huh, I've never heard of Toastmaster's. I was thinking of going to the counselor about grad school at some point, actually, or maybe the chairman of the department.
Yeah, I do communicate much more easily when I'm writing/typing than speaking. I'm guessing most professors would prefer it if I could talk to them in person, but I use email whenever possible as a resource.
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Oh, I meant that I felt that I was taking up the students' time, not the professors'. That is, I know the other students want/need to speak to the professors as well, and I worry that by the time I finish, they'll be upset with me for hogging professor-time.
Yeah, I think I should be worrying less about the actual letters and more about just getting more into asking them about topics I'm interested in. I'm trying to do that more often.
Reply
Don't worry, there are plenty of people like this in Linguistics graduate programs ;)
Try to talk to professors more about the readings you're doing. If you have questions about the reading, or if you're interested in learning more about the subject the reading discusses, email the professor.
If there's a topic you don't quite get, or a theory that doesn't sit right with you - talk to them about it. Saying "I get that author X is saying blah, but I can't help but wonder - has she considered this other issue?" Things like that light up my day as a teacher. When a student says to me that the reading has made them think about something, or make them see something in another way...I remember that student for a long time. It shows they're taking an interest and they're expressing that interest to me.
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Do you teach linguistics? What sorts of things do you specialize in?
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I'm a functionalist and my area of specialisation is discourse analysis, and also Native American language revitalization :)
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Awesome avatar, by the way.
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Yeah, I do communicate much more easily when I'm writing/typing than speaking. I'm guessing most professors would prefer it if I could talk to them in person, but I use email whenever possible as a resource.
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