Oh hey der. Welcome to my, ah, blog der. Well, enyhow. It's gettin' to be dat time of yer, eh? Only eight more monts til deer season. And only six more til pre-season tailgaitin'. Boy, I tell yah. Green Bay. Hunting is pretty much my life, der. Oh sure. Nutin like dat wind blowin' 45, temp tirty below, freezin' my blaze orange buns to death chasin' trophy deer up Nort. Oh it's greaat cuz I get da chance to drink beer and get awey from da wife. And now, my no-good brudder-in-law from Illinoys just got a triple barrel, double-scoped, heat seekin' shotgun. I can see dat tirty pointer now. Created by God for Outdoor Magazine...and for mounting on my wall, of course too. Course doh in da deer stand I can't watch da Packers. I tink if I could blog 'bout anyting, it would be da Pack. Gosh I like da Packers, I'd do anyting for da Packers. Who could forget Vince Lombardi, ya know, back in da glory years? Not me, boy. At least we have Superbowl '96. And don'tcha forget it. And Favre. A god amungst us mortals, eh? Enjoy my blog post, der too, eh? Oh, and don't forget to polish dat clock trophy for me now. I'd prefer it'd be for my tirty pointer, but doz bucks are hard to, ah, come by. Oh sure. Fer Pete's saaake. And don't forget: da Bears. Still. Suck.
haha.
kidding!
I apologize. I would have liked to keep going, but I just thought I'd take this opportunity to showcase the greatness that is the vernacular of Green Bay. I'd also like to thank my English teachers along the way who somehow managed to prevent me from speaking/writing like that. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking abooot, Minnesotans.
Like so many other areas of education that present considerable challenges to English teachers, variations in spoken English appear to be one of the most difficult. Public schools are so grounded in standards and norms that require students to use Standard English for academic discourse. Realistically, there needs to be an understanding of Standard English for both assessment but also professional writing purposes. Although the use of vernacular English is nowhere near a near a new phenomenon by any means, there doesn't seem to be any practical solutions to the problem within the public school realm. Who remembers the Oakland, CA school district's 1996-ish decision to teach Ebonics in the classroom? EPIC FAIL. So what is the solution? The Adger et al. article "Dialects and Writing" from Dialects in Schools and Communities brought up a lot of interesting points regarding the differences between written and spoken English.
The point is, we need to teach our students Standard English regardless of how many other dialects are spoken in our classroom. This is just a fact. It's been discussed so many times that we need to teach this so that our students ideas can not only be heard, but be respected. In essence, we teach Standard English in order to broaden our students opportunities. However, this need to be done in conjunction with teaching dialect diversity, and keeping the integrity of the different variations of English that are going to inevitably be used in our classrooms. Writing vernacular English is not incorrect, "but rather the reflection in writing of differences in the verbal expression, grammar, and pronunciation between the school's dialect and the standard dialect against which writing is judged at school" (116). I think it's important to stress that the "school's dialect" is exactly that - a dialect - not necessarily the "correct" way to write.
According to the article, along with making the difference between the two mediums distinguishable to students, teachers need to accommodate "the special communicative demands associated with the writing situation" (113). I think this is so incredibly important to point out, not just for speakers of vernacular English and ELL students, but for all students in our classrooms. I think the suggestions they give in the article were very practical (dialogue journals, peer editing, giving opportunities to write in the vernacular), and would benefit all students. The point is, when the two become distinguishable, it will lead to better writing. As I observed my 11th grade students begin the task of writing their first draft introductions to their I-Search papers last week, I couldn't believe how many of them would start, "I've played rugby all my life. That is why I'm writing a paper on why I want to be a professional rugby player." Although there are clearly other writing issues that need to be addressed, one of the most obvious to me is how to make that type writing distinguishable from having a conversation as well. And as digital literacies and technology in the classroom becomes increasingly popular, it's going to be an even bigger issue to make sure ALL of our students are very aware of purpose and audience in their writing. Even as I write this, I am well aware of the much more informal, conversational nature of the blog. It raises some concerns of what the implications of this are for our own students, and how much more the issues of PURPOSE and AUDIENCE need to be made transparent.
As Adler et. al said, "the common but unjustified association of the appearance of dialect features with an inability to express oneself must be recognized and countered by those who engage in holistic assessments" (123). This just brings up the point of, yet again, what an awesomely huge responsibility we have as English teachers. As those who participate in the holistic assessment, we need to understand the needs and cultural variations of our students in a 21st century classroom. We need to do what we can to help our students be successful outside the classroom, and that involves teaching students to be AWARE of the differences between how they speak at home and how they are expected to write academically and professionally. Above all, teaching language/vernacular English awareness can play an important role in addressing some the problem of associating certain dialects with certain ability, intelligence, and socioeconomic levels. Exposing dialect prejudice can benefit ALL students, not just vernacular speakers. How cool is it to be an English teacher now? Oh, you betcha.
LINK:
This doesn't have anything to do with dialects or writing, but I came across this while looking up things to do for Taming of the Shrew. A lot of really great, practical ideas for teaching that inevitable Shakespeare play you never knew you always wanted to teach! :)
Shoutout to Geebs. You know you love them.
When considering the variety of dialects spoken in any given classroom, I am reminded of Jeremiah Wright's talk about differences between the black and white churches. As he put it, "the black church is different from the white church, it is not deficient, it is different." So, too, with dialects. I agree with you that it is not our duty as teachers to value one dialect over another, but at the same time we must acknowledge standard English as the dialect of power.
ReplyDeleteSpot on, Kubsch.
Good post. I'm curious how other countries deal with this issue, especially countries with less language- and culture-homogeneity than America. I recently learned from an Indian friend that not everyone is India can speak the same language, even though Hindi is the Official National Language.
ReplyDeleteNothing profound to say except I liked your post KK.
ReplyDelete