Active cultural responsivity to terminology in speech and hearing science

Abstract

People are often the main focus of speech and hearing science. That being so, it is essential that scholars in the field recognize that all people are active participants in a larger sociocultural context. This context has an effect on how we refer to, describe, and study people from different backgrounds. Because of this, research and pedagogy in speech and hearing science have a responsibility to recognize and integrate this context into their practices. This presentation will focus specifically on the usage of terminology that describes different social and cultural groups. I will first review examples of the terminological history of a few commonly encountered groups. This section will also serve as a practical resource for the current best practices for terminology usage in accordance with the groups’ preferences. Then, I will provide general recommendations for being culturally responsive to terminology usage in research and in the classroom, with examples from common topics taught in speech and hearing science classes.