Diverse Dialects In The Classroom

Addressing Diverse Dialects in the Classroom

Dayna Wallace

Towson University

Addressing Diverse Dialects in the Classroom

Imagine you’re a kindergartener sitting in your classroom on the first day of school. You look around the room and get excited about all the new friends you’ll make and experiences you’ll have. With the whole class gathered on the carpet, your teacher introduces herself and tells everybody what she did over the summer. The trend continues and your classmates go one by one saying their name and summer adventures. A handful of students share and then it’s your turn. In the middle of your introduction, your teacher interrupts you.

“I can’t understand what you’re saying because that’s not how we speak

in school. Try again, but this time say it the right way.”
You’re frozen with confusion.
How else am I suppose to say it, you think to yourself. Instead of continuing with your story about the pool, you say, “never mind” because you’d rather keep quiet than embarrass yourself on your first day.
It may be hard to believe that conversations such as this occur, however, some teachers still reject the use of dialects other than Standard English (SE) in the classroom. While SE should be the expected dialect used in schools, there are many reasons that prove that not all students know SE and that complete rejection of other dialects can be detrimental to the education and confidence of non-standard dialect speaking students. Because of the mismatch between language used in school and non-standard dialects, SE needs to be taught to students, without undermining the validity of other dialects, in order to create equal opportunities for all students.
Teachers can’t assume that all students come to school knowing SE because of the cultural differences between some student’s home lives and the expectations in schools.

Even though classrooms today are filled with diverse students and faculty, education was only available to the upper and middle class when schools were established. Moreover, they set the standards for schools across the country, as well as regularized the use of SE in professional settings. While the expectations in schools have remained the same, the demographics occupying classrooms across the country has expanded to groups other than those who regularly use SE in their communities. Every student comes with their own unique background and culture, as well as their own difficulties in school language. However, the language used in school matches that of SE speaking students and not non-standard dialect speaking students. An estimated 80-90% of African American students speak African American English (AAE), coming from communities where SE is unlikely to be spoken (Redd &Webb, p.78), where as the majority of their peers speak SE regularly in their homes. As a result, non-mainstream students have had different social and learning experiences than mainstream students have, causing a gap in academic achievement (Zwiers, p.3). It’s the teacher’s job to close the achievement gap for non-standard dialect speakers, beginning with teaching them

SE.
Teachers need to make information equally accessible to every student because students who speak dialects other than SE will have more difficulty grasping material that they can’t relate to. Teachers create different expectations for their students based on their use of SE, and will overlook the needs of non-standard dialect speaking students (Zwiers, p.3). As a result, the student’s academic performance is weakened due to lack of support from the teacher, as well as deprivation from recognition in the classroom (Wheeler & Swords, p.472). Even when these students have adopted SE into their linguistic toolbox, there can still be cultural barriers that negatively impact comprehension of the curriculum. Resulting from both their educational neglect as well as their cultural/linguistic mismatch, diverse students often have to work harder to understand concepts and construct meaning. It’s important for teachers to value different topics and learn their students thinking and ideals in order to adapt their lessons and pedagogy to the needs of the classroom. Having multiple ways to explain a topic to students allows more of them to follow the lesson and evens the academic playing field. As a result, SE and non-standard dialect speaking students will have equal opportunities in the classroom.
Knowing SE will further students understanding in the classroom because it will allow them to comprehend what is expected in classroom activities. Without the knowledge of SE, directions for tasks can become unclear, and conversations among teachers and their peers have the potential to get confusing. Because SE is customary in schools, it’s important that students can understand the language of the instructions that will be given on assignments and be able to follow the structure of formal group discussions. Clarification of the dialect and the vocabulary used within these situations can help non-standard dialect speaking students become more engaged in activities and lessons in school. The English as a Second Dialect approach (ESD) is a method to teach students SE by using patterns in their identified dialect, with the ultimate goal of broadening their linguistic adaptability. Doing so will allow them to still maintain their dialect, while permitting them to successfully communicate in a setting that expects the use of SE (Redd & Webb, p. 83). An effective strategy used in ESD is code switching, where the teacher announces to the student using a non-standard dialect to “code switch,” signaling to them to repeat what they previously said in SE. Code switching is an effective method to be used in the classroom because it shows the students that AAE is a recognized language to be used at home and SE is the appropriate language to be used school (Redd & Webb, p. 83.). This strategy enhances students metalinguistic awareness because it highlights the differences between the two dialects, which helps students understand the linguistic modifications needed to be made to go from one dialect to another. These comparison strategies all help add to a student’s linguistic diversity, resulting in a deeper understanding in the classroom. Knowledge of SE positively impacts student’s performance in school.
Unfortunately, the debate over teaching SE in the classroom is often seen as being either the right or wrong way to approach diversity of dialects in the classroom. Many people believe that maintaining ones home language shouldn’t be determined by the school system. Moreover, they think that teaching SE invalidates non-standard dialects, while also stigmatizing non-standard dialect speaking students as less intelligent because of the requirement of knowing SE in order to succeed in schools. Others against teaching SE say that schools shouldn’t have to change their curriculum in order to meet the needs of students who need extra instruction adapting to classroom expectations. However, the reality of this linguistic debate is much more complex. Teaching SE in the classroom doesn’t mean that other dialects won’t be valued, nor does it frame non-standard dialect speaking students as being inarticulate. Although many teachers enforce of the use of SE in their classrooms, they still allow and incorporate the use of non-standard dialect through either classroom discussions or informal assignments. Thus, SE can be taught in a way that still values other dialects.
As noted previously, it’s important that teachers preserve the validity of dialects other than SE because of the potential repercussions that can weigh down on students who aren’t native SE speakers. Going to a school where the dialect is different than the one spoken at home can negatively influence a student’s identity and confidence if not approached correctly. Classrooms that dismiss the legitimacy of AAE and other non-standard dialects often leave nonmainstream students feeling confused and overlooked. A common fault made by teachers is correcting a student’s language when they are speaking a dialect other than SE in the classroom. Correcting them tells students that only one way of speaking is correct, leaving them feeling less confident and lost in regards to how to communicate in the classroom. In the beginning of Rachel Swords career, she corrected her students who spoke AAE, resulting in them asking less questions and being less engaged in their learning (Wheeler & Swords, p. 470). Her students preferred to stay silent than risk being embarrassed by corrections from the teacher, a habit that can lead to lower academic achievement. A way to show students which dialect is appropriate for school, is to compare SE to the non-standard spoken dialect rather than correcting them (Wheeler & Swords, p. 475). This rejects the idea that SE is the correct dialect, and instead presents it as the academic way to speak. While schools need to teach formal language, it’s important that they will accept informal dialects. For this reason, teachers need to value all dialects, while teaching SE, in order to improve understanding, confidence and academic success for all students.
Anyone going into teaching knows that there will be many challenges faced while attempting to secure the academic success for all students.

With the range of diversity in the students of a modern classroom becoming larger, it is inevitable that the obstacles a teacher must overcome to reach this goal are becoming more difficult and complex. However, it’s important for teachers to remember that most students want to succeed just as much as we want them to. It’s only when we don’t set them up for success and lose hope in them that they begin to do the same. Teachers must be mindful of the evidence that teaching SE, while still valuing other dialects, will create the most inclusive and effective educational environment. Guaranteeing that all students understand the material and feel confident in the classroom may require more instruction, but it’s worth the effort. The academic successes of all students are on the

line.

References
Redd, T, & Webb, K. S. (2005). A teacher’s introduction to African American English: What a
writing teacher should know. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Wheeler, R., Swords, R. (2004). Codeswitching: Tools of language and culture transform the
dialectally diverse classroom. (81)6. National Council of Teachers of English.
Zwiers, J. (2008). Building academic language: Essential practices for content classrooms,
grades 5-12. San Francisco: Joessey-Bass.