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Appropriateness in Terms of Address

Miyuki Takenoya
Sapporo Gakuin University, Japan

Level: Intermediate to advanced, teacher preparation course, study abroad preparation course

Time: 45 minutes

Resources: Handouts and teacher's notes (see Teacher Resource)

Goal: To help students become aware of problems caused by an inappropriate choice of address forms

Description of the Activity
The instructor first introduces the topic of address forms to the learners by defining what terms of address mean and giving examples in the learners' native language and target language. After learners learn what terms of address are, the instructor distributes handouts describing situations involving forms of address. The instructor invites the learners to ask questions if the descriptions of Situations I and II are not clear.

Situation I

A professor, Jane Smith, was lecturing in a university class on psychology. A foreign student from an Asian country started to ask a question to the professor saying, 'Mrs. Smith, I have a question…' The professor apparently felt upset and said 'There is no Mrs. who is teaching in this classroom!' What was the professor telling the student?

Situation II

Laura is a college student currently looking for a summer internship position. She found an interesting position in the internship brochure as an assistant at a health science research center. She wrote a letter to the head of the center applying for the position. According to the internship brochure, the name of the head of the research center is M. S. Hess, MD. She addressed her letter to Mr. M. S. Hess. A few days later, she received a phone call from some in M. S. Hess's office notifying her that she did not get the position. In addition, she was told to be more careful the next time she addresses someone in a letter. What did Laura do wrong?

The instructor divides the class into 3- to 4- member groups. Each group attempts to answer the questions at the end of the situations. After 10 to 15 minutes, each group reports what they have been discussing to the rest of the class. The instructor summarizes their opinions and leads the class to further discussion by encouraging the learners to think of similar troubles and episodes from their daily life having to do with choice of address. The teacher may wish to introduce key points from the Teacher Resource (below).

Procedure
Total time: 45-50 minutes

1. Introduction (5 minutes): Explain what the terms of address are. Give examples.

2. Pre-group discussion (10 minutes): Read situations from the handout together in class. Clarify difficult words to help students understand the situations. Learners write down their ideas.

3. Group discussion (10-15 minutes): Divide the class into groups. Learners exchange ideas.

4. Class discussion (10 minutes): Each group reports the ideas to the class. Instructor summarizes learners' ideas. Discuss similar experiences.

5. Conclusion (10 minutes). Conclude the discussion with the key points of the lesson (see Teacher Resource).

Rationale
Terms of address are important linguistic mechanisms by which a speaker's attitude toward and interpretation of his or her relationship with a speaker is reflected. Inappropriate choice of the address hinders good communication between the speaker and the hearer.

It is generally believed by many English language learners that the American address system is based on a choice between first or last names, preceded by forms of address such as Mr. Mrs. Miss. or Ms. Although this perception is accurate to some extent, it is dangerous to oversimplify the system. It is often difficult for English learners to grasp when to choose one form of address over another, and to understand what the criteria are for deciding which the appropriate form to use is. It is important for learners to be aware of the risks associated with choosing an inappropriate choice of address.

English language teachers in EFL settings tend to underestimate the importance of this issue, which is related to lack of exposure to real English communication. The activities suggested are particularly useful for in teacher training programs and study-abroad preparation courses.

Reflections and Caveats
The procedures described have students working on two situations at the same time; however, teachers may choose to introduce and discuss each of them separately. Student discussions can be conducted either in the native or the target language.

Teacher Resource

Situation I

This is a situation in which the choice of Mrs. by the student was inappropriate. Jane Smith was telling the student that she did not want to be addressed as Mrs. Smith. It would have been more appropriate to address her as Professor Smith or, if she holds a doctoral degree, Dr. Smith
The American system of address is generally described as a choice between first names and Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms. with last names. In a university setting, however, using these forms of address with last names is generally considered inappropriate for professors because to do so is to place greater weight on the person's gender and marital status than their professional status as teachers. (Note: Increasingly on some college campuses students are explicitly invited by instructors to address them by their first name. However, unless this happens, it is unwise and highly inappropriate to so address a teacher. If a student is uncertain about the appropriate form of address, there is nothing wrong—at least in the United States—with asking the instructor how he or she would like to be addressed.)

Situation II

This situation actually happened to an American student. Laura made two errors: first, she should not have addressed the head of the research center as Mr. Hess because the position was actually held by a woman. When Laura saw M. S. Hess, MD., she mistakenly assumed that Hess was a man. To assume that professionals such as doctors, professors, lawyers or directors are invariably men is highly risky in today's world in which women increasingly are highly educated professionals. Laura's second error was her failure to recognize that MD stands for a medical doctor, and whatever the gender of the person being addressed, only the honorific Dr. is appropriate.

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