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“On the Lookout for Language”: Children as Language Detectives

206 A teacher researcher describes how she invited her students

On the Lookout for Language to be detectives on the lookout for language and Mary Beth Monahan to take a critical perspective on how it varies with each speaker, purpose, and context.

“I sometimes use words or phrases from young adult novels that we read audiotaping classroom conversa- cartoons, books, TV, and other people in throughout the year. To conduct our tions, interviewing peers and par- my conversations because when I do it small-scale ethnographies of lan- ents, and writing field notes, grabs the attention of my friends. They’d guage, we used a variety of qualita- observations, and literary responses go ‘oh yea’ or ‘I know that.’” (Lauren) tive research methods, such as in our detective logs. “Personally, I think that people use other people’s voices or quotes to put themselves on a similar status of that person. When Apollo 13 was showing, I noticed that a lot of people were saying, ‘Houston, we have a problem.’ In my opinion, the people were saying that to elevate their rank to the actor’s.” (Derek) “Everyday people use language to get power by interjecting in a conversation and then talking for long periods of time. People also use sarcasm to gain power. Also, you have to use other people’s words and talk about ‘in things.’” (Mia) These are just a few entries from sixth graders’ language-detective logs. As a class, we were always on the lookout for language—exploring how and why we use language in certain situations and with particu- lar people, investigating how lan- guage is used to confer or deny power, and considering the many voices that we adopt as speakers and writers. In the spirit of Heath (1983), we studied “ways with words” by documenting, discussing, and reflecting on language use in school, at home, and within the

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By instructing sixth graders to be rural, agrarian community has heteroglossia—that I wanted stu- on the lookout for language, and become more diverse, it is nonethe- dents to explore and understand. particularly for how it varies with less predominantly white and upper The poem is delivered in the voice each speaker, purpose, and context, middle class. of 14-year-old Kate Bloomfield, a I hoped to promote a richer and Given this homogeneity, it was im- character from Little’s other novels. more robust view of language diver- portant for me to raise students’ Young Kate declares: “Today I will sity. In my mind, it was vitally im- awareness that every “utterance is not live up to my potential. / Today portant to spotlight language an embodiment of speech diver- I will not relate well with my peer varieties, not simply as colorful al- sity” (Bakhtin, 1981, p. 271). By group” (p. 6). When discussing 207 ternatives to “standard English” and urging sixth graders to study their these lines, students and I first con- thus as linguistic novelties, but as own behaviors as language users, I sidered why the poem made us On the Lookout for Language basic phenomena of language itself. hoped that they would come to un- laugh and what was so funny about As Bakhtin (1981) suggests, lan- derstand how local literacies ap- Kate’s expressions. We discovered guage is heteroglossic, or composed plied to them and not simply to that Kate’s declaration was humor- of many voices. Moreover, the nu- “others” from different social ous mostly because she took adult merous voices or literacies within a classes, races, and ethnicities. And ways with words and used them as single utterance is a simple fact of much like Freire and Macedo tools to fashion her own rebellion. language (Bakhtin, 1981). To this (1987), I did not want students to With this example, I highlighted the extent, “local literacies,” or lan- think of local literacies in terms of guage varieties, are not merely “linguistic ghettos.” Such a view is I hoped that they exotic specialty items for the edu- not only grossly inaccurate and cated language consumer; they are patently offensive; it also balka- would come to among the many linguistic re- nizes language in ways that distort, understand how local sources available to all our students. disfigure, and ultimately compro- literacies applied to APPRECIATING LANGUAGE mise all students’ voices. DIVERSITY: BEING “ON THE Thus, as language ethnographers, them and not simply these sixth graders and I investi- LOOKOUT FOR LANGUAGE” to “others” from gated the “primordial properties” of Hoping to enlarge sixth graders’ language and, in so doing, exam- different social understanding of language diver- ined instances—both within and classes, races, and sity, I created an instructional beyond the classroom—where lan- strand in my curriculum called “On guage was heteroglossic, elastic, and ethnicities. the Lookout for Language.” Al- historically, politically, and socially though I continued to recruit stu- constructed, as well as ideologically fact that Kate, a writer close to my dents as language detectives, I am charged (Bakhtin, 1981). What fol- students’ own age, was actually an reporting on only our work from lows is an account of the instruc- ingenious tactician when selecting the first year, 1995–1996, in this tional activities I created for the her words for her own subversive article. Teaching at Rockford Upper purpose of raising sixth graders’ ends. She poached adult language Elementary School in central New critical language awareness and, in and inhabited those voices that typ- Jersey (names have been changed turn, their appreciation of language ically encroached upon her (Dia- throughout to protect student diversity as a fact of language (Fair- mondstone, 1999). anonymity), I worked with a clough, 1989, 1992). heterogeneously grouped class This mini-lesson showed sixth of 25 students. The social, cultural, graders that language can be elas- Language as Elastic and and racial composition of my tic, supple, and even responsive to Heteroglossic: A Visit class varied from year to year, but their touch (Bakhtin, 1981; Hymes, with Kate Bloomfield in 1995–1996 it reflected the dis- 1973). Kate, after all, manipulated trict’s student population: 76 To begin our language study, I pre- the seemingly fixed speech codes percent White, 5 percent African sented Jean Little’s (1990) poem of adults to achieve humor and American, 18 percent Asian/ Pa- “Today” because it vividly and hu- creative resistance. Given Kate’s cific Islander, and 1 percent His- morously illustrates the two proper- example, I encouraged students to panic students. Although this once ties of language—elasticity and imagine how they too could pinch, LA-JAN2.QXD 11/22/2002 2:23 PM Page 208

press, and pull language according PTA’s upcoming book fair scheduled Bloomfield poem, I used the meta- to their own intentions. Kate for early November. The flyer stated phor of “ventriloquism” to describe Bloomfield’s poem also demon- the specific dates, times, and loca- how the flyer’s authors spoke strated a related property of lan- tions for the fair. What outraged the through children—almost like guage—heteroglossia. I capitalized student, however, were the following puppets—to reach the audience. We on this poem to show students how envisioned parents with student we, as speakers and writers, are We were on the puppets on their laps doing the talk- ventriloquists to the extent that we ing for them in the voices of fourth, 208 take on others’ words, expressions, lookout for how we fifth, and sixth graders. Then we ex- and language forms all of the time perform as plored whether or not the authors’

On the Lookout for Language (Bakhtin, 1981). I pointed out how voice projections actually achieved even the phrase “live up to your ventriloquists by the intended effect. Given that stu- potential” carries the voices of taking words out of dents were irritated by being par- Kate’s parents, teachers, older sib- roted in this way, we concluded that lings, and Kate herself. other peoples’ mouths the authors’ plan had actually back- fired, at least with us. To fully convey this idea, I created a and using them for scenario of Kate performing as a our own purposes. Still, we had to admit that not all ventriloquist and asked students to students would have the same reac- imagine a teacher or parent sitting phrases that the flyer’s authors had tion, and to that extent, the authors upon Kate’s lap as a puppet, used to frame their message: “Phic- might have swayed other sixth, mouthing the phrases “live up to my tion is phat! Books are the Bomb! fifth, and fourth graders to think potential” and “relate well with my Reading Rules!” This student was so that “reading rules.” But as our cri- peer group.” We dramatized teacher irked that he declared, “What is this tique continued, students noted how talk and playfully parodied that world coming to when teachers use the authors hadn’t quite mastered speech style. We brainstormed other these words!” Capitalizing on my the voices of children. In writing adult phrases and had fun mocking student’s passion, I used the flyer to “books are the bomb,” the authors’ the various authority figures in our springboard into an On the Lookout statement had traces of adult voices lives. We also asked ourselves if we for Language session by asking, since they had tidied up the actual had ever used those same phrases “Who wrote this flyer? What were phrase—“da bomb.” I pointed out (e.g., “accept responsibility” and “be they trying to accomplish? And why how in that one phrase there were appropriate”) either jokingly or seri- did they use these expressions?” We three voices—those of parents sani- ously. We then explored why and realized that the PTA parents had tizing children’s expressions, those questioned our own purposes for made the announcement for the pur- of suburban, middle-class adoles- doing so. As students explained, pose of rallying students to attend cents taking on the words of MTV “I’ve seen kids do it in front of the the book fair. As Clare pointed out, hip-hop personalities, and those of teacher to suck up,” “I would only “They’re just trying to get in with us the MTV personalities themselves. say that stuff to get back at my par- by using our words.” In subsequent lessons, we were on ents,” and “I might write something We discussed how parents took on the lookout for how we perform as like that in my progress report be- children’s ways with words or ventriloquists by taking words out cause like that’s what we’re like voices to manipulate the entire stu- of other peoples’ mouths and using supposed to be doing, you know dent body into thinking that read- them for our own purposes. For ex- living up to our potential.” ing is cool. I again referred to the ample, we considered the expres- There were also teachable moments idea of heteroglossia (but without sions “da bomb” and “phat” more when I offered spontaneous lessons using that term) and explained how closely. I asked students to think on the properties of language. One speakers and writers have multiple about why they used such phrases— such moment occurred in late fall voices at their disposal. In this par- to be cool, to gain peer acceptance, when a student came charging into ticular case, the PTA parents had or to rebel. On this point Ally of- homeroom waving a piece of paper adopted the voices of 9- to 12-year- fered, “I used to use the words ‘phat’ that he had found hanging on a wall olds to recruit children’s interest in and ‘da bomb’ because it was the in the hallway. In his hand was a the book fair. Relying on Bakhtin new thing and people were just neon yellow flyer announcing the (1981) as I had with the Kate saying it because it was ‘cool’ and

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new. But now it’s old and not so the idea that students automatically to you all the way I talk cool, just like those PTA people.” know how to switch codes and to with my niece who’s two. I wouldn’t be like ‘oh, We also explored the idea that stu- adjust registers in order to make each new scene work. In these de- lovie, lovie, cutie,’ right? dents use expressions from shared Why not? experiences of popular culture (e.g., briefing sessions, I tried to show Naohiro: ’Cause we’re older. television and movies) to show that students that they adopted many they are “in the know.” I made a Teacher: Right . . . what do you point of challenging students to find Students use think? out if they had used others’ voices in Shaundrika: People, like, do it all the 209 their essays. After mining their texts expressions from time without even notic- for others’ voices, students offered shared experiences ing it. When you’re On the Lookout for Language around different people observations such as, “I used Martin of popular culture Luther King, Jr.’s quote because I . . . like, I could be around Justine and talk one way, liked it a lot. If you don’t use quotes to show that they and then I could be or different voices, something is are “in the know.” around you [the teacher] missing. I think they just make your and talk like I’m older. essay a complete package of your Teacher: So . . . you’re hanging out, thoughts and other people’s voices and varied those voices ac- cording to the different scenarios you’re doing the friend thoughts,” and “These kinds of kinda’ talk with Justine. and the changing relationships with voices help you sound grown up and Then, all of a sudden, Ms. mature so people take you seriously, their fellow actors. Even more, I P. walks in and you shift like in our letter to the principal.” wanted students to realize just how a little . . . versatile and agile they were as lan- Shaundrika: To sound mature, you guage users. I encouraged them to Park Bench Language Detectives know. see how they could wield language As part of our language studies, we effectively as a means of gaining Adam: Well, in a sense, all of our also played an impromptu perfor- and maintaining access to the ongo- speech is a facade because for different people we mance game called Park Bench ing exchange. For example, some throughout the year. The game adjust to what we know students adopted the dialect or par- they can relate to . . . starts with one student sitting on a ticular speech styles related to their um . . . it’s not just a hypothetical park bench (which in roles; others (who entered the scene) facade . . . probably just our case was the read-aloud couch), created new contexts by changing a courtesy or a way of whereupon another student enters the language patterns and initiating being with other people. the scene and begins talking, new discourse. And in response, Laura: Well, with my grandpar- “Please get me a cup of coffee and others then had to take up this new ents I talk slow and loud report immediately to my office for way of talking to stay in the scene. and I can’t use big words. a dictation.” On cue, the first stu- In these Park Bench conversations, I Teacher: Why do you think you dent must respond appropriately to encouraged students to make con- do that? the context created by the second nections to their own lives in school Laura: Well, it’s polite . . . it student’s remarks. They continue to and at home and to consider how helps them understand play their roles and alter their they used language in similar ways. what I’m saying. strategies for participation. In time, What follows is an excerpt from a a third student enters the scene and, Ricky: Well, my grandmother . . . transcript of one such conversation sometimes it’s hard for with his or her statement, changes that occurred on April 11, 1996: her to understand me be- the whole context and, by exten- cause she doesn’t speak a sion, the roles and linguistic perfor- Teacher: Ok . . . let me ask you to lotta’ English. mances of the other two actors. think about how in your Teacher: Do you speak Spanish own conversations you I used Park Bench for fun and for with her then? uh . . . take on a different the express purpose of encouraging voice or a different style Ricky: No . . . inglés. [The stu- sixth graders to be detectives of of speaking. For example, dents break into laughter language (Heath, 1983). After the I can only go from myself. because Ricky doesn’t actual performances, we discussed I would certainly not talk speak Spanish.] LA-JAN2.QXD 11/22/2002 2:23 PM Page 210

As this conversation and others over gossip (Connors, 1987). The writer eral use of the pronoun in ques- the years have shown me, students (generally a man at this time) would tion. We discovered that essays know a great deal about how lan- be dismissed, and as a result, his seemed to always have some mix guage works and are generally eager to discuss their own practices I asked students, “Who makes up the rules as language users. Even students as young as 11 and 12 years old, in the of the language game and decides context of a structured inquiry, are which words live and die?” 210 aware that they engage in constant code switching as they strategically

On the Lookout for Language and selectively deploy their verbal chances of gaining respect or pres- of fact and opinion, that the writ- repertoires in school and at home tige or of realizing his goals (e.g., ers occasionally used I to be ironic (Hymes, 1973). These sixth graders initiating legislation in the city- or self-deprecating, and that ex- saw local literacies (among friends, state) would be lost. I made the case perts made first-person references. family members, and teachers) as that language rules and norms were The more articles we collected and different options for achieving cer- and still are often promulgated by examined, the more we realized tain academic and interpersonal those in power (Meyer, 1993). that I was used by many authors goals. The voices they adopted, in To make a contemporary connec- and in many different ways to effect, were ways of moving in and tion, we discussed how teachers achieve a wide range of effects. In out of relationships with particular often forbid first-person pronouns the end, we decided, I was a tool people in particular circumstances in formal writing and how this we’d list on our Essay Tool Box and with particular aims in mind. practice is part of a long-standing bulletin board because, as students Students can discern these nuances tradition. The linguistic conformity pointed out, this little pronoun was of language use and can also iden- that the ancients demanded, ac- a way to “show you had a similar tify such subtleties of local literacies cording to some language theorists, experience to back up what you’re if given the opportunity to talk reflected a general distrust of the saying,” to make sure “your own about talk (Heath, 1983). individual—of his perceptions and opinions aren’t treated like dirt,” to passions (Rosati, 1990). This suspi- “be myself . . . and to be known for How Language Is Shaped cion of the masses, I explained, who I am,” and to “get respect by by Historical, Social and often served to uphold the author- showing and not hiding what you Political Forces ity of rulers. The intrusion of just really think.” I created lessons to highlight the one little pronoun “I” was consid- We then examined other language fact that language itself is often ered a sign of disrespect and per- forms—dialects and slang, for exam- what is at stake in power struggles haps even a threat to those in ple—that are also carefully moni- (Fairclough, 1989). Specifically, I power. For this reason, it was tored in formal, school-based explained how certain power hold- strictly policed and, to this day, re- speaking and writing. When we ers (people or institutions) fight for mains an issue for writers. As an were studying contractions, I raised control over discourse to thereby extension of this conversation, stu- the issue that amn’t, a once popular maintain a social order that privi- dents interviewed their parents and acceptable word, has since leges them and advances their par- about the use of “I” in formal writ- fallen out of favor and is no longer ticular interests. As a case in point, I ing and reported their findings to used. Likewise, I explained how described how in ancient times stu- the class. ain’t is heavily policed and widely dents were trained to deliver argu- According to parents, the first- denounced as inappropriate. In dis- ments wherein they established their person point of view “makes an cussing these two terms, we ex- credibility by invoking noted au- essay more of an opinion and not plored how and why they had met thorities on the subject at hand; as much of a fact,” “could make such fates. I asked students, “Who their personal opinions were students become arrogant,” and makes up the rules of the language strongly discouraged because they “doesn’t sound professional.” In game and decides which words live didn’t carry the same clout as the discussing these views of using the and die?” Students responded that master’s words; and any discourse word I, we analyzed magazine and their parents, teachers, and the that departed from this tradition newspaper articles where profes- board of education established these was condemned as idle chat or silly sional, published authors made lib- laws in order to “keep kids in their

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place.” I reminded them that we has ever spoken or written in En- it happen. But somehow I think I would need to consult the Oxford glish has had a hand in making” the have a small part to play in this English Dictionary to find out about dictionary (p. 20). So one day he drama, and I have chosen to be the the life story of these words. After coins a new word for pen, frindle, villain. Every good story needs a bad doing so, we realized that local au- and mobilizes all of his classmates guy, don’t you think? So someday, I thority figures (e.g., our teachers, and every student in his school to will be asking you to forgive me, and parents, and board members) were use this new term. Mrs. Granger, his I hope you will. (p. 99) following, rather than creating, teacher (the high priestess of dictio- I asked students what it takes for these language conventions. They naries large and small), mounts a 211 new words or new rules to be stood in a long line of people who campaign against frindle, pitting formed. We discussed the idea that

agreed to accept and maintain the students and teachers against one On the Lookout for Language many people have to agree to use the status of amn’t and ain’t. another in a bitter contest that gains word or rule in the first place. It is by national attention. Nick even goes In the context of this study of con- convention or social agreement, I on the David Letterman Show to tractions, we also explored the explained, that some words or rules promote his cause, while local op- social purposes behind language live and others die. I also pressed portunists mass-produce frindle forms, noting that speakers contract students to consider what role Mrs. words for efficiency’s sake and that Granger played throughout the whole writers might put contractions in Too often students are process. As a villain, she fueled Nick’s their texts to establish a more infor- led to believe that drive and thereby kept frindle’s mo- mal and conversational tone. We mentum going. Students then wrote focused again on the ain’t taboo, language is just a in response to the following prompt: discussing how this controversial given—a fixed, finite, “What did Nick’s experience teach little word often accomplishes a you about language—words or rules— number of social goals—irking our and value-free system in general?” parents, establishing insider status of rules. We discussed these written re- within our peer groups, or showing sponses, and students made the fol- that we just don’t care about paraphernalia for nationwide distri- lowing conclusions: “proper” language. bution. In time, all of the fanfare • Language rules are really just made subsides, Mrs. Granger relents, and With this line of inquiry, I hoped to up by people and like I wanna’ the students at Lincoln Elementary raise students’ awareness that lan- create a new punctuation mark that become so accustomed to using guage forms are historically, so- you can throw in to show you know frindle that the word becomes an cially, and ideologically constituted. it’s probably a run-on sentence but almost natural part of their speak- Too often students are led to believe you’re not sure why. that language is just a given—a ing and writing vocabulary. fixed, finite, and value-free system The story concludes when Nick is a • I think you might be able to make up of rules. It is important for students junior in college and his word is of- stuff in poetry but you can’t do what to appreciate how language prac- ficially added to the dictionary. That Nick did in essays really. tices, conventions, and even words year, he receives a letter that Mrs. • Well, that lady who wrote that mag- come into existence; to see that lan- Granger has written in the midst of azine article about learning how to guage is in a continual process of the controversy years earlier. In the fly airplanes . . . she um...used a creation, forever shaped by social, letter, she writes: fragment in her essay to show how historical, and political forces and scared she was. even by people like themselves. The word frindle has existed for less than three weeks. I now see that this • You gotta’ want things to change, Andrew Clements’s (1996) novel is the kind of chance that a teacher though, and you sort of have to go Frindle illustrates this very point by hopes and dreams about—a chance to against other people like your teach- dramatizing how linguistic forms see bright young students take an ers. Your parents and your friends don’t just magically materialize but idea they have learned in a boring would have to be on your side like are in fact created and later adopted old classroom and put it to a real test with Nick, you know. because of social convention. In this in their own world. I confess that I story, fifth-grader Nick decides to am very excited to see how it all From the novel itself and their con- test the idea that “every person who turns out. I am mostly here to watch versations with classmates, these LA-JAN2.QXD 11/22/2002 2:23 PM Page 212

sixth graders had begun to develop an understanding of the inner work- Students Making a Difference ings of language and of what it might mean for them to risk what Nick did. The following books contain specific ideas for students who want to take action and make a difference in the world: Extending our investigation of these particular language issues, we went • Editors of Fairview Press. How We Made the World a Better Place: Kids on the lookout for etymologies while and Teens Write on How They Changed Their Corner of the World. Min- 212 reading Evslin’s (1969) version of neapolis: Fairview Press, 1998. Students describe the work they do to make Ulysses. I relied on Kaye’s (1985) a difference in the world. Several selections are by students who were in- On the Lookout for Language Word Works, which explicitly ad- spired by their teachers or are about groups within school contexts. dresses the idea that many words from Greece and Rome have been • Barbara A. Lewis and Pamela Espeland. The Kid’s Guide to Service Projects: adopted by the English language. Over 500 Service Ideas for Young People Who Want to Make a Difference. Kaye (1985) offers examples of bi- Minneapolis: Free Spirit, 1995. This book offers many concrete ideas for stu- ographies of several words; however, dent service projects. The publisher has a Web site that features books writ- I found that students enjoyed creat- ten by and for students on a variety of topics: www.freespirit.com ing their own stories about how cer- • Charles Kroloff. 54 Ways You Can Help the Homeless. New York: Macmil- tain words came to be and later comparing their versions with those lan, 1993. This book contains specific ideas for helping the homeless, in- offered in Word Works. Moreover, cluding many activities children can do themselves. such an exercise revealed students’ • Jason Dorsey. Can Students End School Violence? Solutions for Amer- understanding of etymologies and of ica’s Youth. Nashville: Archstone Press, 1999. Many specific ideas are of- the various forces and factors that fered to encourage students to think about and take action on issues influence a given word’s trajectory. related to school violence. Specifically, we talked about the word clue, and students composed • Patricia O. Giggan & Barrie Levy. 50 Ways to a Safer World: Everyday Ac- accounts of how this term had tions You Can Take to Prevent Violence in Neighborhoods, Schools, and evolved. Then, I presented the actual Communities. Seattle: Seal Press, 1997. This guide provides suggested ac- tale that clue comes from the Middle tions for personal safety, safety in homes and communities, and safety on English word clewe, which refers to the streets, some of which are appropriate for students. the silk string that Theseus used to find his way out of the Minotaur’s • Westridge Young Writers Workshop. Kids Explore America’s Hispanic labyrinth. Interestingly, students Heritage. New York: Norton, 1992. Eighty-two students wrote a book about preferred their own etymologies, ar- Hispanic culture from their point of view. The book can be used to encour- guing that these life stories were age students to take action by inquiring into their own heritage and by often more interesting, funny, and sharing what they learn through publication. dramatic. With these word-study ex- ercises, I tried to make the point that —Roxanne Henkin language is living, changing, and re- sponsive rather than fixed, finite, and immutable.

(1987), we noted how people use name. Although Bee saved Wallace’s Language as a Site of Struggle language to subordinate others and life many years ago, and the two for Power thereby to maintain social in- men share a special bond, Wallace Finally, we investigated the political equities. In The Friendship, racial insists that Bee only use his first dimensions of language throughout tensions brought on by segregation name during private conversations. our author study of Mildred D. escalate when Mr. Tom Bee, a spir- However, Bee ignores Wallace’s Taylor. During our read-aloud of ited but aged African American, ad- conditions and yells “John! John! Taylor’s shorter pieces, The Gold dresses longtime friend and white John! Till the judgment day! John!” Cadillac (1987) and The Friendship storeowner John Wallace by his first in the owner’s crowded general

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store (p. 45), to which Wallace used language to gain or fight turn, affirmed my commitment to replies: “But this here disrespectin’ against power. Karim, for example, ethnographic inquiries based on me gotta stop and I mean to stop it offered, “The last time I recall using more general theories of language. now. You gotta learn to address me language to show power was during proper. You hear me, Tom?” (p. 45). my I-Search presentation. I said that CONCLUSIONS Honoring local literacies and valuing We need to be careful about how we present all students’ funds of language re- sources can prove problematic, par- language varieties so that our students 213 ticularly if all we have to guide us appreciate them as more than quaint artifacts are good intentions. Without a from a cultural bazaar. broader view of language diversity, On the Lookout for Language we run some of the same risks that To back up his words with force, I was Mr. K. because I wanted them many multicultural education pro- Wallace then shoots Bee in the leg. to think of me as their teacher who grams have over the years. That is, we may find ourselves hosting a lit- Horrified by the bloody outcome of was there to teach them.” Anthony eracy fair of sorts and spotlighting a the men’s dispute, students were read from his paper, “Also in school given language variety as the feature mystified as to why Wallace would the teacher being you controls the presentation of the day. Although resort to such extreme measures. I conversation. If we get off the sub- such an approach seems to be far made the point that language played ject you will bring us back.” Corinne better than ignoring or dismissing an invisible role throughout the wrote, “When you call a rich man sir, language diversity altogether, it can book to maintain the supposed supe- it shows that he has a higher status have the unintended effect of casting riority of whites. We noted, for ex- than you. That’s probably why local literacies as spectacles or side ample, how many African American people in Egypt never know the shows—detours from our main in- men were belittled by the term boy. pharaoh’s real name.” And to come struction. We need to be careful The system of segregation, I ex- full circle, Ned invoked Kate Bloom- about how we present language vari- plained, gave rise to such demeaning field by declaring with mock earnest- eties so that our students appreciate expressions, which, in turn, rein- ness, “I’m not going to listen during them as more than quaint artifacts forced those prejudicial attitudes. class. I will not pay attention to the teacher. I’ll daydream all I want.” from a cultural bazaar. After tracking down similar in- By focusing on the power plays that Alternatively, we would do well to stances in the novel in which whites are often at work within and behind draw on those theories of language used language to undermine African language, I wanted these sixth that afford more inclusive views of American characters, we returned to graders to realize that their lan- language diversity itself. There is Bee, who deployed language as a guage choices in conversations and great power and possibility, for ex- means of resisting segregation and in writing often reflect their own ample, in Bakhtin’s (1981) claim the subordinate role that such a feelings of power or powerlessness that a single utterance holds multi- system had assigned him. With each in an exchange. We talked about ple voices—multiple ways of acting, “John!” that he fired from his lungs, what it means to control the floor interacting, valuing, knowing, and Bee condemned Wallace and the during classroom and home interac- being. Finding real-world illustra- social order until “there was no tions. We also thought about how tions of this or other related proper- other sound” in the store or on the we use certain words (e.g., modal ties of language (e.g., in Jean street (p. 47). I thought it was sig- adjuncts such as might and maybe Little’s poem, the Park Bench game, nificant that the story ended with or hedging devices such as just) or young adult novels such as only Bee’s voice ringing loud and when we are not sure or lack confi- Frindle and The Friendship) is a clear. I asked students to address the dence when speaking or writing. We small step in the direction of broad- following question in their reading considered the audience and how ening and deepening our study of journals: “What does this story our relationship with those listeners the literacies within and beyond our teach you about how language is and readers affects our sense of schools’ walls. used in the world?” power as speakers or writers. This Still, such investigations—into I also challenged students to explain was one issue of language that how we adopt and adapt different any situations where they or others really stirred students and that, in voices to accomplish certain social, LA-JAN2.QXD 11/22/2002 2:23 PM Page 214

emotional, political, and academic thority figures can be appropriated Fairclough (Ed.), Critical language aware- goals; into whose voices we ventril- and ventriloquized for subversive ness (pp. 31–56). London: Longman. oquize and why; and into how ends. Moreover, a single word such Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: voices serve as resources for achiev- as John can be an act of resistance Reading the word and the world. South ing a certain status or identity, for and self-edification. Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey. arguing against certain values and For Hymes (1973), competence is Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with words: Lan- guage, life, and work in communities and world views, or for participating in more than grammatical know-how; certain communities—are potential classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- it involves some degree of resource- versity Press. 214 inroads for students to both value fulness and even gameness—being and learn from the inherent diver- Hymes, D. (1973). Toward linguistic aware of the rules of the game but competence. Texas working papers in On the Lookout for Language sity of language. Such an approach also being plucky enough to re- sociolinguistics, no. 16. Austin: Univer- might cultivate in students a more imagine such obligations as options sity of Texas. critical and reflective disposition as and to deploy those resources, be Kaye, C. B. (1985). Word works. New York: language users, a disposition that, they single words, grammatical con- Little, Brown. in my mind, is ultimately necessary structions, speech codes, or others’ Little, J. (1990). Today. Hey world, here I am! for overturning deficit approaches voices. Competence, then, assumes New York: Harper Trophy. to linguistic differences (New language diversity. Committed to Meyer, S. L. (1993). Refusing to play the London Group, 1996). such views of language and lan- confidence game: The illusion of reading/ Moreover, if we can enrich students’ guage competence, teachers might writing of texts. College English, 55(1), understanding of language itself, find ways to celebrate local litera- 46–53. then we are that much closer to al- cies without privileging standard Monahan, M. B. (2001). Raising voices: tering their views of what it means forms or “restrict[ing] students to How sixth graders construct authority to be competent as language users. their own vernacular” (Freire and and knowledge in argumentative essays. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rut- For how we define communicative Macedo, 1987, p. 151). gers University. competence is ultimately how we New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of position students’ voices within the References multiliteracies: Designing social futures. context of instruction and, in effect, Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). Discourse in the Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), how we treat language diversity. novel. In M. Holquist (Ed.), The dialogic 60–92. This view of competence is one of- imagination: Four essays by M. M. Rosati, A. C. (1990, July). (Dis)placement of fered by Hymes (1973) and later Bakhtin (pp. 259–422). Austin: Univer- current-traditional rhetoric’s approach in elaborated by Cazden (1996). Ac- sity of Texas Press. (Original work pub- a composition class. Paper presented at cording to Cazden, competence in- lished in 1935.) the Conference on Rhetoric and the volves being apPROpriate (e.g., Cazden, C. B. (1996, March). Communica- Teaching of Writing, Indiana, PA. knowing and producing language tive competence: 1966–1996. Paper pre- Taylor, M. D. (1987). The friendship. New sented at the annual meeting of the York: Bantam. that is grammatically acceptable American Association of Applied Linguis- and appropriate to the situation), as tics, Chicago. Taylor, M. D. (1987). The gold Cadillac. New York: Bantam. well as being able to appropriATE— Clements, A. (1996). Frindle. New York: to adopt and adapt language, selec- Aladdin. tively and strategically, for one’s Connors, R. J. (1987). Personal writing as- particular communicative purposes. signments. College, Composition and As detectives of language studying Communication, 38(2), 166–183. the various historical, political, and Diamondstone, J. V. (1999). Tactics of resis- social forces that shape and are tance in student-student interaction. Lin- shaped by language, students come guistics and Education, 10(1), 107–137. Author Biography to see the tensions of tradition/ Evslin, B. (1969). The adventures of Ulysses. invention and constraint/choice that New York: Scholastic. Mary Beth Monahan is an assistant are always at play in any instance Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. professor of literacy in the Department of language use. The pronoun I, for London: Longman. of Undergraduate Education at Rider example, is both taboo and a re- Fairclough, N. (1992). Language awareness: University. source. Likewise, the voices of au- Critical and non-critical approaches. In N.

Language Arts, Vol. 80 No. 3, January 2003