So, we (class and I) discussed an article in class yesterday on code switching, specifically with African American students. The premise of the article was that teachers should be aware that African American students mispronounce words, but what I found fascinating, was that there is little to no attention paid to code switching or speech when it comes to other races. For instance, Asian American students, Russian American students, and the like code switch too. Are blacks always used as an example...?
Is so; why are African Americans used as an example? I am not certain, but I believe that there are some negative reasons behind it. When we think about how children acquire language, we have to consider their environment as this is where/how they learn. In my opinion, there are general assumptions / blanket statements made about African Americans. While I understand that there is some truth to it, why are we the first point of reference? It is disheartening to say the least. Not every African American is grammatically inept, why make us the portrait of grammatical error.
As I read the article, I could feel the heat rise in me because it suggested that teachers should expect this- in my opinion, it was almost saying, "Don't worry educators, it's normal, this is how "they" speak ... It held me and some of my classmates, African American, Russian, Jewish in deep discussion afterward for a hearty and rather healthy discussion.
What are your thoughts?
Without having read the article, it's difficult to comment. But I would say that it has to be possible to discuss "difference" without mapping it onto "deficiency." In other words, to say that there are different dialects of English in use in the US is not *necessarily* to rank those dialects as better or worse.
ReplyDeleteLinguistically speaking, it isn't possible to make a mistake in speaking your native language. You can diverge from the standard, but if it's your native language, it's not a mistake, it's a variation.
Studies of Black English began from the proposition that African American students had more difficulty learning to read because the grammar they were reading in books was different from the grammar they used in oral practice. I'm thinking of J.L. Dillard's book, _Black English_. His solution was to advocate books written in Black English, which has a stable grammar of its own. Of course, parents screamed that to do this was to teach the students to make mistakes, and so the idea when nowhere. But Dillard's point was that not recognizing that there was a divergence between the dialect the students used when they spoke and the dialect they were reading hurt them.
It's also worth noting that the term "code switching" is used in the bilingual hispanic community quite widely, and as a point of pride. The ability to flip between Spanish and English (or Black English and standard English), is a marvelously accomplished skill. I can't do it at all--I get very very confused if I try to think it two languages at once. So I wouldn't think that it is even easy to appropriate "code switching" for a negative meaning. In my understanding, it is a term meant to drain the value judgement out, and describe a linguistic practice.