Where do you stand between the following points of view about either welcoming or rejecting local culture and dialect into the English classroom in order to promote literacy?
1. Local culture and dialect, particularly the aspects of which are particular to teenage popular culture are like candy – too much is not healthy for children and likely to adversely affect their nutritional needs. Whether you find these cultures and dialects valid or not, they take away from a teacher’s effort to promote literacy in Standard English, a language children must adopt because it is the language of money and power. Fluency in the teenagers own social language is ensured by their interaction, but fluency in Standard English is not. Without it, these students , particularly those of minority cultures in the US, will be increasingly marginalized. Time is limited and bringing local culture and dialect in, while engaging, will only serve to dilute curriculum and underserve the very students in the greatest need of being empowered by fluency in Standard English. Therefore, teachers must focus lessons exclusively on Standard English at the exclusion of local dialect/culture if he/she is to enable students to gain access to the mainstream culture of money and power
2. All students come to school literate and only through the fair and validating exchange of diverse literacies will students avoid feeling threatened by Standard English and be willing to embrace it. Teachers must bring diverse dialects into the classroom and then proceed to bridge, to make connections between them and Standard English. All versions of English used in the US utilize the same basic concepts of grammar and usage. Can a teacher not discuss how time is expressed in a local dialect in contrast with Standard English as well as which would be more appropriate when? Don’t all languages require a writer or speaker to consider audience? Since both are valid, both used effectively for communication, can they not both be taught in a way that strengthens a student’s overall literacy? In fact, this is the only way to bring all students ‘on board’ and if they are not ‘on board,’ many will reject Standard English as foreign subjugation.
As with many issues in America, this one has taken on the polarization of our divided political system, as system that pushes unrealistic and oversimplified answers onto complex questions. What is needed is what Soja terms 'thirdspace.' a solution that attempts to address the concerns of both of the views listed above as well as some others; or perhaps neither of those views but something entirely different. In this series of blog posts, I would like to explore and perhaps identify a 'thirdspace' (Soja 1996).
Soja, E. 1996, Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places,
Blackwell, Cambridge, MA.
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While the two positions appear to be polar opposites, they both have validating factors. I would certainly not bring dialect into the school to “teach how time is expressed” but neither would I “focus lessons exclusively on Standard English”. My Advanced Placement students complain that there are no grammar lessons. They learn grammar in world language class only. This is true. Never in my academic career have I had to take a grammar course. These students regularly use Standard English. My regular and lower level students find that speaking Standard English is sometimes more of an affectation than the default setting. They come to understand, however, that “Miss, Miss! I got to go to da batroom” is not appropriate for school. “Mrs. SJ, may I please use the bathroom?” is where I try and take them linguistically.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that Standard English is the language of money and power. They need to learn how to read, write, and speak this language. However, exploring the mutability of the English language is also important. Validating their languages teaches them appropriateness of setting, just like a dress code. i.e.: “Yes, Linda, that is a beautiful dress but it is not appropriate for school. It’s club wear.” Teaching them audience is similar. i.e.: “You do not talk to your friends like you talk to your mom or your teachers. You may even speak differently to your pastors or grandfathers than you do in school.” And that is okay. It is how we learn register. We need not embrace dialect in order to supplant Standard English, but we should try and embrace it in order to learn the discrepancies and usefulness of all aspects of our rich, diverse language.
...................lisa
My current work has recently taken me from literally the most elite prep schools in the US to inner city public schools where all of the students have dropped out of another school and most of them are in gangs. The disparity of education in the US is alarming and needs to be addressed as a top priority. I agree with the point that "sub"-Standard English is going to put young people at an unfair disadvantage in life, but I think they will be even more disadvantaged if language is yet another barrier to learning. With small schools and teachers who know their students, language is something that will happen over time. I believe that speaking about language usage without trying to address some of the larger educational issues will have limited usefulness. Each situation, each school and each student is unique and should be treated as such.
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