Amanda Godley

Preparing Teachers for Dialectally Diverse Classrooms

Scholarship on dialect diversity in classrooms has yielded two seemingly incompatible lines of research. Although numerous pedagogical approaches have been shown to provide productive alternatives to traditional responses to stigmatized dialects, research on public perceptions and teachers’ attitudes suggests that negative beliefs about stigmatized dialects and the students who speak them are deeply entrenched in U.S. society. The authors argue that teacher preparation grounded in socio-linguistic understandings of dialect diversity can help teachers develop productive pedagogical responses to students’ language choices. Drawing on previous research and their own work with teachers, the authors present a framework for preparing teachers for dialectally diverse classrooms. Recommendations include anticipating resistance, addressing issues of identity and power, and emphasizing pedagogical applications of sociolinguistic research.

“I'll speak in proper slang”: Language ideologies in a daily editing activity

The purpose of this study was to examine the language ideologies—the assumptions about the nature of language, language variation, and language learning—reflected in a widespread daily editing activity often known as Daily Oral Language or Daily Language Practice. Through a yearlong ethnographic study of grammar instruction in three urban, predominantly African American 10th-grade English classes, two university researchers and the classroom teacher collaboratively analyzed the language ideologies reflected through the teachers implementation of Daily Language Practice. Using methods of the ethnography of communication and classroom discourse analysis, they coded for the content and sources of recurring language ideologies and their links to state standards and assessments. Findings show that Daily Language Practice represented the English language as monolithic, language form as disconnected from meaning, and written Standard English as the only correct dialect of English. However, some students in the study concurrently expressed alternate language ideologies through their participation in Daily Language Practice, ideologies that forefronted language variation and its dependence on context and audience. Findings suggest that daily editing activities provide limited opportunities for students to learn about language in ways that build off their existing linguistic resources and that could enhance their literacy learning. n nEl proposito de este estudio fue examinar las ideologias linguisticas, es decir los supuestos sobre la naturaleza del lenguaje, la variacion lingui;stica y el aprendizaje del lenguaje, tal como se reflejan en una actividad de edicion muy difundida conocida como Lenguaje Oral Cotidiano o Practica Cotidiana del Lenguaje. En un estudio etnografico de un ano centrado en la ensenanza de la gramatica en tres clases de ingles de 10° grado con una poblacion urbana mayoritariamente afroamericana, dos docentes universitarios y el docente del aula analizaron las ideologias linguisticas reflejadas a partir de la implementacion de la Practica Cotidiana del Lenguaje. Usando los metodos de la etnografia de la comunicacion y el analisis del discurso en el aula, se codifico el contenido y las fuentes de las ideologias linguisticas recurrentes y sus vinculos con estandares y evaluaciones. Los resultados muestran que la Practica Cotidiana del Lenguaje representa la lengua inglesa como monolitica, la forma linguistica desconectada del significado y el ingles escrito estandar como elunico dialecto correcto del ingles. Sin embargo, algunos estudiantes expresaron ideologias linguisticas alternativas a traves de su participacion en la Practica Cotidiana del Lenguaje, ideologias que reconocian la variacion linguistica y su dependencia del contexto y la audiencia. Los hallazgos sugieren que las actividades cotidianas de edicion proporcionan oportunidades limitadas a los estudiantes para aprender acerca del lenguaje de maneras que apuntalen sus propios recursos linguisticos y que mejoren su aprendizaje de la lengua. n nZweck dieser Studie war es, die Sprachideologien zu untersuchen—die Voraussetzungen uber die Natur der Sprache, die Sprachvariation, und das Erlernen der Sprache—reflektierend in einer weitverbreiteten taglichen Redigieraktivitat, haufig benannt als Aussprache in alltaglicher Mundart oder alltaglicher Umgangssprachpraxis. Durch eine langjahrige ethnographische Studie von Grammatikunterweisungen in drei stadtischen, uberwiegend afrikanisch-amerikanischen zehnten Englischklassen analysierten zwei Universitatsforscher und der Klassenlehrer gemeinsam die Sprachideologien, reflektiert durch die Lehreranweisung in der alltaglichen Sprachpraxis. Unter Nutzung von Methoden der Kommunikationsethnographie und Klassenraumdiskursanalyse kodierte man nach Inhalt und Quellen von sich wiederholenden Sprachideologien und ihren Bindungen an Landerstandards und Bewertungen. Die Erkenntnisse zeigen, das sich in der alltaglichen Sprachpraxis die englische Sprache als monolithisch, Sprachform als abgespalten von Deutung, und schriftliches Standardenglisch als einzig korrekter Englischdialekt reprasentieren. Dennoch, einige Schuler dieser Studie brachten gleichzeitig alternative Sprachideologien zum Ausdruck durch ihre Teilnahme in der alltaglichen Sprachpraxis, durch Ideologien, die der Sprachvariation vorangehen, und durch ihre Abhangigkeit von Kontext und Zuhorern. Die Ergebnisse lassen darauf schliesen, das alltagliche Redigieraktivitaten begrenzte Gelegenheiten fur Schuler schaffen, die Sprache auf eine Weise zu erlernen, die auf ihre bestehenden Sprachressourcen aufbauen und die ihr Erlernen des Lesens und Schreibens vertiefen konnten. n nCette etude avait pour but dexaminer les ideologies du langage — les postulats relatifs a la nature du langage, les variations langagieres, et lapprentissage du langage — tels quils refletent les activites de preparation quotidiennes tres repandue souvent designee par Langage oral quotidien ou Pratique du langage quotiden. En procedant tout au long de lannee a une etude ethnographique de lecons de grammaire dans trois classes urbaines regroupant principalement de jeunes Afro-americains de 10° annee (classe de 2°), deux chercheurs universitaires et un professeur decole ont analyse ensemble les ideologies du langage qui passent a travers la facon de proceder du professeur en Pratique du langage quotidien. Le contenu et les sources des ideologies recurrentes du langage et leurs liens aux normes et evaluations officielles ont ete codes en utilisant les methodes de lethnographie de la communication et lanalyse du discours en classe. Les resultats montrent que la Pratique du langage quotidien se represente la langue anglaise de facon monolithique, la forme linguistique comme deconnectee du sens, et langlais ecrit standard comme le seul dialecte anglais correct. Toutefois, certains etudiants participant a cette recherche ont exprime en meme temps des ideologies alternatives du langage lors de leur participation au Langage oral quotidien, des ideologies tournees vers les variations du langage en fonction du contexte et du public. Les resultats suggerent que les activites de praparation quotidiennes aux eleves fournissent des occasions limitees de faire des acquisitions en matiere de langage allant au-dela de ce quils savent deja et leur permettant de developper leur lettrisme.

Critical Language Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Class

The purpose of this study was to examine how classroom conversations about diverse dialects of English can provide a useful foundation for critical language and literacy instruction for students who speak African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and other stigmatized dialects. This article describes a weeklong unit on language variety that implemented what we call critical language pedagogy in three predominantly African American, 10th-grade English classes. Analyses of class discussions, interviews, and pre- and post-questionnaires demonstrate that the unit helped students critique dominant language ideologies, become more conscious of their own code-switching, and view dialect variation as natural and desirable.

Bidialectal African American Adolescents' Beliefs About Spoken Language Expectations in English Classrooms

This article describes the perspectives of bidialectal African American adolescents—adolescents who speak both African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Standard English—on spoken language expectations in their English classes. Previous research has demonstrated that many teachers hold negative views of AAVE, but existing scholarship has not considered the perspectives of students themselves. For this study, 51 African American adolescents were asked to write about the dialects they thought students should speak in their English classes. Most students noted that speaking Standard English in professional situations was important, but they expressed diverse opinions about dialect use in their English classes. Students opinions centered on four themes: (1) fear of external judgment, (2) desire for clear communication, (3) maintenance of identity, and (4) demonstration of respect. The article concludes with suggestions for productive instructional approaches to spoken language and dialect use during literacy activities.

Learning About Language Through Inquiry-Based Discussion Three Bidialectal High School Students’ Talk About Dialect Variation, Identity, and Power

The field of literacy studies has seen decades of calls for scholarship and instruction that address issues of dialect diversity, identity, and power but few empirical studies that document students’ engagement in classroom activities designed to address these issues. The goal of this article is to describe how three bidialectal African American high school students learned about language variation, identity, and power through their participation in a small-group, inquiry-based discussion. The authors’ description analyzes both the learning opportunities and limitations provided by the design of the inquiry-based discussion and also the content learning about the English language that was evidenced by the students’ talk. The findings suggest that inquiry-based discussions, when driven by carefully worded questions, can lead to robust student learning about language variation and can engage students in authentic disciplinary problem posing.