The Use of Contrastive Analysis in Code-Switching from Appalachian English Dialect to Standard English Dialect
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction Curriculum and Instruction 2015 The Use of Contrastive Analysis in Code-Switching from Appalachian English Dialect to Standard English Dialect Shayla D. Mettille University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Mettille, Shayla D., "The Use of Contrastive Analysis in Code-Switching from Appalachian English Dialect to Standard English Dialect" (2015). Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction. 13. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/edc_etds/13 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Curriculum and Instruction at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Shayla D. Mettille, Student Dr. Mary C. Shake, Major Professor Dr. Mary C. Shake, Director of Graduate Studies THE USE OF CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS IN CODE-SWITCHING FROM APPALACHIAN ENGLISH DIALECT TO STANDARD ENGLISH DIALECT _______________________________ DISSERTATION _______________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for The degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky By Shayla Damron Mettille Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Mary C. Shake, Professor of Literacy Education Lexington, Kentucky 2015 Copyright © Shayla Damron Mettille 2015 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION THE USE OF CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS IN CODE-SWITCHING FROM APPALACHIAN ENGLISH DIALECT TO STANDARD ENGLISH DIALECT This study examined the use of an intervention, Contrastive Analysis (CA), with fourth-graders’ writing in a Central Appalachian elementary school. The purpose was to improve the use of Standard English in students’ writing in Appalachia by decreasing the number of vernacular features typically used in the writing. The researcher collected data through Consent and Assent Forms, interviews with the fourth-grade teacher, classroom observations and an accompanying CA observation evaluation rubric, pre- and post- writing prompts, selected writings and Writer Self-Perception Scale (WSPS), as well as communication data. Data analysis was accomplished for both the prompts, writing pieces and the WSPS scores. The primary results of the study indicated that the students’ use of vernacular features did in fact decrease after the implementation of CA. An approach that takes into account the vernacular or nonstandard dialect from the home speech of children, CA is utilized to help them perform better in writing in school. The CA approach has been used successfully with African American students primarily in large urban areas. The research results indicate that lessons from CA may be “customized” and used successfully with students who are speakers of Appalachian English. During the eleven-week study, the fourth-grade teacher implemented the intervention and a fifth-grade teacher also led a non-intervention group. A comparative analysis was done to determine whether membership in the fourth grade intervention group was a significant factor in lowering non-standard features in writing. This was a descriptive case study. At the beginning and end of the study, teachers of the fourth- and fifth-grade groups administered pre- and post-tests to their respective groups in the form of writing prompts. The researcher and a second reader did vernacular counts of the writings of both groups. A comparative analysis of the frequency of vernacular features (VFs) in the writing of the fourth-grade group showed decreases greater than the fifth-grade group in three of four categories of vernacular features in writing. The categories were: regularization of past-tense verbs, multiple negation, subject/verb agreement, and pronominal difference. There was only a 1% greater decrease of VFs for the fifth grade in the fourth category. A scale of self-efficacy in writing, the Writer’s Self-Perception Scale (WSPS), was also administered by the teachers pre- and post-study to both groups of students. The difference between the fourth- and fifth-grade pre- and post-WSPS scores was not statistically significant. The findings of the study are important because they show that the use of the CA approach, when used with students from the Appalachian subculture who are speakers of Appalachian English, does make a difference in their rate of usage of Standard English in writing. KEYWORDS: Contrastive Analysis, Code-switching, Dialect, Appalachian English, Standard English Author’s Signature: Shayla Damron Mettille Date: ___________________________July 7, 2015 THE USE OF CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS IN CODE-SWITCHING FROM APPALACHIAN ENGLISH DIALECT TO STANDARD ENGLISH DIALECT By Shayla Damron Mettille Director of Dissertation: Dr. Mary C. Shake Director of Graduate Studies: Dr. Mary C. Shake Date: July 7, 2015 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, the late Jesse James Damron and Ernestine Stewart Damron, who instilled in my siblings and me a love for learning. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of the following dissertation would not have been possible had it not been for the assistance and insightfulness of several people. First, I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Mary C. Shake, the Chair of my Dissertation Committee. Throughout the dissertation process, she has inspired me to continue in the quest of this scholarly work. Next, I would like to thank the Dissertation Committee and outside reader, respectively: Dr. Mary Shake, Dr. Susan Cantrell, Dr. Sharon Brennan, Dr. Alan DeYoung, Dr. Rusty Barrett, and Dr. Amy Gaffney. Each person in the committee has been very supportive of me and my endeavor as they shared information from their respective areas of expertise. In addition, I wish to thank the administrative staff in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, for their invaluable assistance, as well as those of the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky. Completing a task such as the dissertation would not have been possible without generous assistance from family, friends, and colleagues, as well. My husband, John L. Mettille, Jr., sustained an interest and supportive influence on this long-term effort. Jesse Edward Mettille, John L. Mettille, III, and Joseph Peter Mettille, our three sons, provided ongoing encouragement and support during my graduate work. Jesse Mettille, a teacher and intervention specialist, was an excellent resource; John III, a doctoral candidate, was a source of academic support; Joseph, too, was encouraging. Also, I would like to thank Rachel Bailey Mettille, my daughter-in-law, for her patient and erudite assistance with the writing assessment segment. My sister, Dr. Julia Damron Porter, and her husband, Dr. Roy M. Porter, Jr., who completed their doctoral degrees several years previously, were a iii constant source of support—ever on the positive bent. Finally, I wish to thank Susan Waggener for her excellent editorial assistance. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................iii List of Tables .........................................................................................................................viii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ix Chapter One: Introduction .....................................................................................................1 Background ......................................................................................................................3 Locating the Appalachian English Dialect Region ....................................................4 Linguistic Basis of the Stigmatized Dialect ...............................................................5