Tools of Language and Culture Transform the Dialectally Diverse

JUL-LA2.QXD 6/4/2004 5:06 PM Page 470 Codeswitching: Tools of Language and Culture Transform the Dialectally Diverse Classroom 470 Codeswitching Transforms the Dialectally Diverse Classroom the Dialectally Diverse Codeswitching Transforms Codeswitching and contrastive analysis are tools Rebecca S. Wheeler of language and culture that can transform Rachel Swords literacy instruction. Student: Mrs. Swords, why you be teachin’ maf in da aftanoon? Mrs. Swords: Why do I what? Student: Why you be teachin’ maf in da aftanoon? Mrs. Swords: Why do I what? Student: Why you be teachin’ maf in da aftanoon? Mrs. Swords: We don’t say, “why you be teaching math in the afternoon. .” We say, “Why are you teaching math in the afternoon?” Student: Oh, OK. The next day the child would begin again, “Mrs. Swords, why do we be havin’ maf in da aftanoon?” And Rachel would reply, “Why do we what?” It was always the same. She would attempt to “correct” the her students would begin: “Mrs. After Rachel realized why the ques- child’s “error,” but it was clear that Swords, why you be...? Is you? tions had stopped, she tried another, no learning was taking place. Ain’t you? Never mind.” The stu- more passive approach. When a Rachel Swords began her career in dents knew she was going to correct child asked, “Mrs. Swords, why you an urban elementary school by cor- them. They tried to ask the question be teachin’ maf afta lunch?” she recting every sentence she deemed in the form the school system would repeat their question in incorrect. She noticed as time went wanted, but they didn’t know how. Mainstream American English on, however, that her students were Rather than risk the embarrassment (“Why do I teach math after asking significantly fewer questions. of being corrected in front of the lunch?”) and then answer it, also in She would call for questions and class, students became silent. the same language variety. While Language Arts, Vol. 81 No. 6, July 2004 JUL-LA2.QXD 6/4/2004 5:06 PM Page 471 this method didn’t embarrass the Communication, the de-facto lingua that affirms the rule-governed children or hinder their questioning, franca of the U.S. nature of all language varieties the children’s language did not The motivation for this article lies holds promise in fostering a cultur- change. Even though Rachel consis- in our desire to bring the insights of ally compatible classroom. In turn, a tently corrected their speech and 20th-century linguistics to bear on culturally consonant classroom, en- writing, her students still did not the achievement gap, the “devastat- gaging the student far more broadly, learn the standard English forms. ing rates at which schools fail Afri- holds promise for reducing the Concern with the vernacular dialects can American students” (Rickford, achievement gap in America. our children bring to school has 1999, p. 22). Rickford asserts that We chart our course in two voices, 471 been long-standing. Heath (1983) “the evidence that schools are fail- that of a university professor and noted that school desegregation in Classroom the Dialectally Diverse Codeswitching Transforms the 1960s brought out these issues: English teachers routinely equate standard English with “Academic questions about how children talk when they come to “grammar,” as if other language varieties and styles school and what educators should lack grammar, the systematic and rule-governed know and do about oral and written backbone of language. language were echoed in practical pleas of teachers who asked: ‘What ing massive numbers of African stu- that of an urban third-grade teacher. do I do in my classroom on Monday dents with existing methods is so Rachel shares her movement as a morning?’” (p. 1). Now, more than overwhelming that it would be teacher from a monodialectal, mono- 30 years later, teachers remain con- counterproductive and offensive to cultural model to a multidialectal, cerned. Christenbury (2000) has continue using them uncritically” multicultural model of language arts observed that “[o]ne of the most (p. 3). Accordingly, we offer some of in her classroom. Understanding the controversial—and difficult—issues our ideas for creating an accessible, nature of language variation (across for English teachers is their respon- research-based approach to lan- region, ethnic identity, social class, sibility to students who speak what guage arts in the dialectally diverse, language styles, and registers) pro- is considered “nonstandard” En- multicultural classroom. vides language arts teachers with a glish, English that violates the usage While the jury is still out on whether fertile ground from which to build a rules we often mistakenly call dialect contrast actually interferes welcoming, multicultural language ‘grammar’” (p. 202). with reading comprehension, it is arts classroom. Christenbury’s comment sets the clearly the case that when an urban stage for the central focus of our ar- teacher tells minority-language stu- TRADITIONAL LANGUAGE ARTS ticle. English teachers routinely dents that their language is wrong METHODS FAIL MANY AFRICAN equate standard English with “gram- and error-filled, she creates a seri- AMERICAN STUDENTS mar,” as if other language varieties ously deleterious effect in the class- and styles lack grammar, the system- room. As the teacher seeks to Rachel became involved in this atic and rule-governed backbone of eradicate vernacular language and project because of her concern over language. Yet, the child who speaks culture, not only does she remove a how her students fared on statewide in a vernacular dialect is not making link that could bring relevance to tests. “When last year’s disaggre- language errors; instead, she or he is the classroom lives of the children, gated scores for the Virginia Stan- speaking correctly in the language of but she assails the child’s family and dards of Learning tests (SOL) were the home discourse community. home community, thus contributing put up on the board, in every case, Teachers can draw upon the lan- to a barrier between the values of our Black children were performing guage strengths of urban learners to home and school. As a result, even if much lower than our White chil- help students codeswitch—choose the the contrast of dialect structure itself dren. It is very disheartening to say language variety appropriate to the is not found to significantly impede that I’ve taught the same way to all time, place, audience, and commu- children’s performance, teachers’ ex- the children all year long and my nicative purpose. In doing so, we pectations and perspectives on di- White children are passing the tests honor linguistic and cultural diver- alects, cultures, and the vernacular and my Black children are not. Then sity, all the while fostering students’ speakers themselves do hamper chil- our principal put up the scores for mastery of the Language of Wider dren’s learning. Hence, an approach the entire district; it looked exactly JUL-LA2.QXD 6/4/2004 5:06 PM Page 472 the same. The children speaking lar English (AAVE)—different from school system, which was seen as African American vernacular are the language of the school (Delpit, the particular possession and expres- doing significantly worse on the 1995; Wolfram & Schilling-Estes, sion of the dominant white society” writing test—not two or three points. 1998). While speaking a vernacular (Labov, 1995, p. 42). In turn, schools In some schools, African American dialect has been correlated with may ban literature reflecting African students scored 36 points lower reading failure, scholars continue to American language and culture. One than White children on average.” debate whether dialectal contrasts Virginia librarian commented to us Such disparities of language perfor- cause failure. that “no children’s books containing 472 mance are neither isolated nor re- As of the mid 1990s, “the conclusion African American dialect are avail- stricted to Virginia. Rickford (1996) of most sociolinguists was that the able in our school. This is a very Codeswitching Transforms the Dialectally Diverse Classroom the Dialectally Diverse Codeswitching Transforms reported the results of a study of semantic and structural differences controversial topic.” As Smitherman student writing performance across between AAVE and other dialects observed, “[W]hen you lambast the school districts contrasting in eth- were not great enough to be the pri- home language that kids bring to nicity and socioeconomic standing. school, you ain just dissin dem, you The study revealed that: talking bout they mommas!” (quoted Beyond linguistic in Richardson, 2002, p. 677). third grade kids in the primarily structure, cultural Further, as teachers absorb “wide- white, middle class Palo Alto School spread, destructive myths about lan- District scored on the 94th percentile conflict lies at the guage variation” (Wolfram, 1999, in writing; by the [sixth] grade, they heart of why schools p. 78), their cultural vantage turns had topped out at the 99[th] per- to pedagogical damage. In other centile. By contrast, third grade kids fail African Americans. in primarily African American work- words, whether black or white, a ing class East Palo Alto (Ravenswood mary causes of reading failure” teacher is likely to consider a child School District) scored on the 21st (Labov, 1995, pp. 48–49). Indeed, speaking African American Vernac- percentile in writing, but by the sixth some educational researchers have ular English as slower, less able, and grade, they had fallen to the 3rd per- found no particular dialectal intru- less intelligent than the child who centile, almost to the very bottom sion in the reading process (Good- speaks standard English (Labov, (p. 1). man & Goodman, 2000). Yet, others 1995). Such dialect prejudice re- demonstrated that “dialect is a duces teacher expectations for the Similar statistics can be found in source of reading interference” for child’s abilities (Baugh, 2000).

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