Greetings,
So going through the assigned readings for Thursday made me think about the language and communications standards many of us have adopted in the United States. I never thought about the "Standard English" being socially constructed by society, I have always called it "proper English" because that is what I have been taught in school and by television. With this there were various quotes that I thought were very interesting and made be think.
1. "The job of school is too add a new layer to a child's speech repertoire, not to undo the one they already have" (Chapter 1, p. 15).
2. "An Accent is not the a sign of having failed to master the standard accent" (Chapter 2, p. 21).
Many of us in the United States call Standard English "proper" English, and by putting English in such category not only do we look down upon others who do not meet the standards, but we also misinterpret many who do not meet the standards, as well. In my case, my mother speaks some English but with her Spanish accent and as a result some look down on her. If that happens to her, imagine how many of our students feel terrible because of their accents? Or underestimate themselves because of their accents?
Also, I thought McWhorter had a very interesting point on looking at dialects and language, but I am curious to know who in the class disagrees with McWhorther. While reading the article I sometimes found myself not completely agreeing with him. It is important to know that there are different dialects, but how and when (especially when) do we as teacher expect our students to communicate in Standard English? because it is a skill that they will definitely need to have.
-Paola P.
(Group: Paola, Bethanne, Ivette, Emme, and Nate)
No comments:
Post a Comment