"I said I be's fine!" #Youbestberespectinmyculturaldialect
What's so funny about another dialect? I mean, I guess the better question is why is it so easy to laugh at or correct someone's dialect when they are not speaking the "standard way of speaking"? Most people who speak a different language or dialect try not to speak in front of people because of the fear of being ridiculed. I was one of those people. I grew up on the southside of Indianapolis in an area which would be described as "the ghetto". I used a lot of "slang" when I was with my friends, as well as when I was at school. It wasn't until I got in fourth grade when my teacher, who was one of my favorite teachers, and still is to this day (shout out Mrs. Apple :)), told me that if I ever wanted to go anywhere in life "you cannot talk as if you do not have an education!"
Needless to say that made me feel very uneasy about my language and how I perceived the world and my place in it. My mother told me that I had to "play the game". I did not know at the time that she was referring to codeswitching, however I took it upon myself to learn when and where to speak the "appropriate language". My teacher meant well. I honestly want to say that she did not know any better as a young white woman in the 1980s. I will say that other than that bit of advice she never corrected me, even when I slipped out of the "right" way to speak. That may be why she is still one of my favorite teachers. Delpit states "Correction may also affect students' attitudes towards their teachers" (Delpit, 2003,51). I think this is why my favorite teachers did not question the way I talk.
I think that most children don't like to read, because teachers are always correcting them, instead of embracing if they actually are understanding the words on the page. My mother, and the teachers the were my favorites, never did that. They fostered my love of reading and did not say anything about if I was saying it right or not. Just that I understood it. Eventually, I learned to say the words in the Standard English on my own. I try to foster this level of instruction in my own classroom.
After reading the reading for this week, I am left with a few questions;
- Why are do teachers push themselves to focus on the way a student is saying the words on the page instead of whether he/she is comprehending what the words are saying? I find myself doing this also, ever so often until I catch myself. I do not know why I do that though.
- It is good for children to be proud of their language, but at what point should the teacher press standard speaking on them? It is unfortunate that differences in appearance, religion, and sexuality separate people in society and language is just as divisive as the others that were just mentioned. People that do not speak a certain way will have a harder time trying to succeed in society. So, at what point do we try to help them, and does helping them by pushing our notions of correct speaking on them push them further away? How can we do this without alienating them? Is there a better way to do this than how it has been done in the past? Should we do anything or just allow them to find their way on their own?
- All students come to school with a wealth of knowledge and personal experiences and most teachers acknowledge that. If that is the case, then why is it so hard for teachers to accept a students's home language or dialect? Most students engage more freely with a lesson when they can see themselves or their culture in the lesson.
- Why is it easier for teachers to correct dialect miscues instead of non-dialect miscues?
- Why is it so much easier to fall into dialect intervention instead of actual reading intervention?
Although the readings did not go into codeswitching too much, it did make me think of it and how children have to "play the game" as I did. Regardless, if they feel comfortable talking in Standard English or not, it never really feels like it is a part of them like the language they speak around family and friends. I included this video as a homage to that.
As a teacher, I think that it is important for a student to feel accepted, safe, and comfortable in a classroom. If they mispronounce a name or word while speaking or reading, from my own experience, I believe that she will correct it in time. The older I get I become more jaded and less self conscious about this. I've been at lectures where college-educated "experts" have pronounced words in nonstandard ways. Once when I was sitting near a person who told me she had never heard a certain word pronounced a certain way. I flippantly replied that the speaker was imitating a professor he had who pronounced the word that way. Later, when someone openly questioned the speaker about the pronunciation, he admitted as much. However, I try to model standard English when ever possible and when I had the same students for two semesters it would begin to take hold. Ultimately, I feel that if correction is necessary, it should be done as unassuming as possible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100% Sandra. I do the same thing as a teacher. I also feel that since I have gone through being ridiculed about how I speak in certain environments, I try to be as unassuming as possible. I think that it is the same, but different when you are dealing with children speaking English, but a different dialect of it (Black English) and ELL students. I feel it is the same because they both are saying what they are familiar and comfortable with. However, the difference is that ELL students know that there is a "proper" way to talk and they are trying to emulate the "right" way to speak. Those that grew up speaking English, but a different non-standard way of it, do not see anything wrong with the way they are talking until it is pointed out to them, and usually it is not in the best manner. I do wonder that those lectures that you have been to where they were speaking non-standard English, I am curious of their race and culture. I was just wondering were they speaking like that because they felt safe in that environment and therefore, felt they could speak how they wanted to, or did they feel that they were privileged enough to speak however they wanted to because of their status?
ReplyDeleteJames, I agree with you that people who speak English, but a type that isn't viewed as the "norm" or "standard" don't see anything wrong with the way that they speak until someone points it out to them, which was the case for me as I stated in my first post. However, I'm not sure that ELL students or people in general believe that there is a "right" way to speak that differs from their speech, but more so that there is "proper" ways to speak in different settings and in different groupings, which I believe is what you meant as well.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I think that Ell students do think that there is a "right" way to speak. I think that coming into another country or being around their families who speak their home language and then go to school where everyone is speaking English, I think that makes them feel like outsiders, and different to not speak the way everyone else does. I have taught a lot of ELL students and a few of them have told me that their parents want them to do well in school and learn how to talk the "right way'" like everyone else. That always broke my heart to hear that, which is why I always celebrated their language in class. I think that it is wrong for them to think that their language is not the "right" way to talk, but it is an unfortunate stigma that is placed on their language...that it is wrong, and not on par with the standard English.
DeleteAlthough I don't believe that I have any experience with code-switching, I do have experience with feeling self conscious about the way in which I spoke. As I shared in our first face-to-face class meeting, I was born and raised in Oneida, Tennessee. It is extremely rural and has a population just under 3,000 people. I moved to Indianapolis, Indiana when I was 16. I began high school in a place that was very foreign to me. Decatur Central is very urban and had a student population that was about triple the size of the student population of the high school I attended in Tennessee. It was there, for the first time in my whole life, that my peers pointed out that I spoke differently than everyone else. They told me that I had a southern drawl and an accent, they said I spoke very slowly, and that I was very loud. I often joke now that I speak loudly because growing up I didn't have neighbors that were close to me, so when we wanted to talk to one another we would yell about half a mile away from each other. My peers comments about the way I spoke made me very self conscious and there were many days that I would go to school and try not to talk at all so no one would notice my accent or how slowly I spoke. I was already in a school in which I didn't really know anyone and the "friends" that I had made were making fun of the way I talked. Although teachers never commented about my speech, I always assumed that they thought the same things as my peers, so I became the quiet kid in class. I no longer have the accent, unless I get angry, I don't believe I talk slowly anymore either. I do talk very loud still! The comments that were made by my peers in high school do still affect me. I am very nervous and self conscious when I have to publicly speak in front of my peers still to this day. Thinking back to my experience, even though I don't think that the kids meant any harm with their comments, and the readings for this week, the urban school setting and ELL students really made me think that there were more than likely students whose first language wasn't English at DCHS that had much worse experiences than I did. I wonder how they are still affected?
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DeleteI agree, Brittany, that it can be rough coming into a situation like you did. I find it interesting that you assumed that the teachers felt the same way that your "friends" did. Did the teachers give you any clues that made you feel that way, or were you just assuming that without any signs that they were? I know you might have answered this question, but I wasn't sure if you actually felt that way or subconsciously, you felt they were giving off signals, even if they were weird looks, or something of that nature.
ReplyDeleteMy teachers never did or said anything, that I can remember, that would have made me think that the way I spoke was "incorrect." I think I just self consciously believed that if my peers felt that way, my teachers did also.
DeleteI loved reading this blog post. I feel it happens more than we realize and sometimes it's done maliciously, sometimes out of ignorance, and sometimes it's just done. I think it's so critical to have these discussions especially when we encounter these things directly...we are educators and educating is our job no matter if it's an adult or children. Doing it with respect can be demonstrated to help our students feel self-worth.
ReplyDeleteKristyn is the Unknown person :)
DeleteAs a teacher I have a hard time with the idea of code switching. For one, I get it. The language that our culture accepts is standard English. However there is so much culture and value in the way our students talk. I always worry about forcing "proper" grammar on students and making them feel ashamed of their home languages. So often I feel like my students have this idea that being white is better. I have had numerous students tell me, "I wish I was white." When I think about forcing my students to code switch it is another example of saying what you know is not good enough. Why are we forcing our children to adapt to a Eurocentric way of life. Why can't we push diversity of language on the world?
DeleteAbsolutely, blown away that kids say "I wish I was white". Of course, I turned to you and said that I was surprised and we talked about how kids also say things such as "I wish I was rich". I guess, it's what the perception of anyone is about the "grass being greener on the other side", but I'd like to think we are going to work towards helping kids embrace who and where they are in life in order to feel healthy and happy to learn!
DeleteGood point Kristyn. When you mentioned how some minority kids wish they were white, well I recently heard a student say that she wished she was black. I told her that you have to love the skin your in because there is nothing you can do to change it. People try to change themselves into something or someone so I agree with you that we need to help kids embrace who they really are to so that they can be productive and successful in this society.
DeleteAs an English language learner, I had a lot of experiences of feeling anxious whe I speak English to native English speakers. I clearly knew that I'm not good enough in English, and I always feel like I have the natural insufficient in this language, especially when I am the only one who native language is not English. It happens every time I'm in a party or classroom. I always afraid that I may have a lots language problems when I'm talking or writing, and I can feel a language and culture gap over there. For me, as English language learner, I can definitely tell that encouragements, patients, and forgiveness is really important to me.
ReplyDeleteThis is Yunlu, I signed in but it didn't show my name then..
DeleteAs a Chinese language speaker and Chinese language teacher, to answer the question "is that good for children to proud of their native language", my word is yes.
ReplyDeleteLanguage is an important part of culture, nation, and belongingness. In China, we have a policy named "standard mandarin in school policy", this policy required teachers to teach in standard mandarin in class and encourage students to speak standardized language. I do feel like standardized language is easy to communicate nationwide. However, I don't think requirement of "standard language" should not be extremely strict. The basic pursue of standard is making communication and understanding easier but not being super professional of standard speaking.
In my opinion, it seems like the dialect in urban communities is perceived as the person being ghetto or uneducated. Hispanics or Asians aren't really labeled in negative way because of their accents or dialect. People from Southern regions like Georgia or Tennessee are also not labeled as being uneducated because of how they pronounce their words. However, I do believe that the dialect in urban communities is becoming more popular and accepted because of the Hip Hop culture.
ReplyDeleteI disagree about certain dialects not being mistaken for lack of education and even in some cases with a southern dialect is coming from a white male, I think some people, including me, automatically think racism and ultra conservatism. I sometimes listen to a southern Evangelical minister, who happens to be long gone, put his voice lives on through radio broadcasts. At first I was skeptical of what he said because of his southern accent. As time went on, however, I found he had fresh perspectives and I have learned a lot from him. I noticed that on a lot of radio and television stations for a while, no matter the region, there seem to be one homogeneous voice for both male and female hosts. I agree that dialects are becoming more popular in some cases, not only southern but that of Hip Hop culture.
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