Great Divide: correct
or not
The many dialects
of English should cause every English teacher to pause, and listen to their
students, as well as review their written work.
From teaching
ESL to reading Mordaunt’s, Bidialectalism in the classroom: the case of African-American
English, I can see that as teachers of English we must be open to multiple
dialects in the classroom, and leave our prejudices regarding different dialects
at the door. Yet as Mordaunt points out,
there is a need to help all students become aware of standardized, English
vernacular in order to open the door to academic, social, and economic success.
On the one
hand, we need to be open to the use of all dialects in order to foster a
positive learning environment. While on
the other hand, we need to make sure that we do not, as Jesse Jackson and Louis
Farrakan note, engage in “teaching down” to students that are not familiar with
by SAE by not familiarizing them with SAE and provide them with positive feedback
on how to improve their work and understanding of SAE.
It’s important
to value all dialects and avoid causing students to feel inferior. Discussing the differences between informal
and formal communication, such as written, business contracts, is important for
the foundation of understanding that there are rules for all languages. It is imperative that we engage our students
with the message that the English language has different dialects, and for
academic and many professional purposes, SAE is the standard-bearer by which
their work with the English language will be judged.
I agree largely with what you're saying here - but you can back off a little on the formal language yourself in these entries, Ross. I'm interested in seeing something a little more reflective, really, that raises questions as well as answers them, perhaps. In any case, you can step back from the more "official" language here - do you see what I mean by that?
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