Can You Tell Me How to Get to Central Square?
Effective communication requires the speaker to take into account the knowledge and perspective of the listener.
E.D. Hirsch’s new book American Ethnicity: A Sense of Commonality begins as one might expect Hirsch to begin: with a focus on background knowledge. But this quote is also a good example of the way teaching and explanation happen naturally and responsively in the wild. The example quoted is based on this research.
A researcher goes to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts (a major suburb of Boston) with a tape recorder hidden in his coat pocket. Putting a copy of the Boston Globe under his arm, he pretends to be a native. He says to passersby, "How do you get to Central Square?" The passersby, thinking they are addressing a fellow Bostonian, don't even break their stride when they give their replies, which consist of a few words like "First stop on the subway."
The next day the researcher goes to the same spot, but this time he presents himself as a tourist, obviously unfamiliar with the city. "I'm from out of town," he says. "Can you tell me how to get to Central Square?" This time the tapes show that people's answers are much longer and more rudimentary.
A typical one goes, "Yes, well you go down on the subway. You can see the entrance over there, and when you get downstairs you buy a token, put it in the slot, and you go over to the side that says "Quincy". You take the train headed for Quincy, but you get off very soon, just the first stop is Central Square, and be sure you get off there. You’ll know it because there's a big sign on the wall. It says Central Square."
