BLOG 4, Chapter 3 - Rigorous Researcher - Elizabeth
In Chapter 3, Nieto (1999) refers to Paulo Freire's questioning of language. Freier wanted to know: "When did a certain form of grammar became 'correct'? Who named the language of the elite as 'correct,' as the standard? He answered his own question by stating, 'They did, of course,'" (p. 55). The "they" that Freier is talking about is the dominant, White, upper-middle class society that has been (and continues to be) historically privileged and powerful in America.
In reality, when all political, social, and economic influences are removed, "Standard English" is simply another dialect or variation of American English. Few, if any, Americans, including those of the dominant race, speak the "Standard." However, because the English of the "White" upper-middle class is most like "Standard English," "White" English is more widely respected than Black English or Ebonics, or the "broken" English spoken by immigrant and other minority populations, to name only a couple of examples.
A dialect is "a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language; ... a variety of a language used by the members of a group; a variety of language whose identity is fixed by a factor other than geography" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialect).
I had just been discussing this concept in my literacy class. Often times we see teachers "correcting" the way a student speaks in the classroom because it is not the way everyone else speaks. This only puts shame on the student and causing them to tense up and not participate at all or become angry with school all together. Standard English is just a form of English and should be taught through code-switching. This process builds off of students' dialect but teaches them the context of what and where the dialect should be spoken. For example, Informal at home, formal at school.
ReplyDeleteChristina
Often, teachers are seen in the classroom correcting the langauge use of their students, in reference to the standard form of English. I do not think that students should constantly be corrected for not using the standard form of English, but I do feel that the students sould be taught when and where it is appropriate to use the standard form of English.
ReplyDeleteShawne