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

Abstract

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.

Fostering counter-narratives of race, language, and identity in an urban English classroom

“…We call attention to the urban setting of Greensburg High School here and in our title because it shared many characteristics with urban schools across the country, including its high percentage of students of color and students living in poverty, its location in a racially and socioeconomically segregated neighborhood, and its lack of adequate public funding and thus equitable learning opportunities for students. Through three years of observations, field notes, and analyses of writing samples, we determined that most students at Greensburg High spoke both AAVE and SE (for a more detailed discussion, see Chisholm & Godley, 2011;Godley & Escher, 2012). Although we have analyzed the students' perspectives on dialects and codeswitching elsewhere (Chisholm & Godley, 2011;Godley & Escher, 2012), this study focuses on the particular ways in which their counter-narratives about language were fostered by their teacher's instruction and provides a detailed analysis of the students' counter-narratives.…”

“…Through three years of observations, field notes, and analyses of writing samples, we determined that most students at Greensburg High spoke both AAVE and SE (for a more detailed discussion, see Chisholm & Godley, 2011;Godley & Escher, 2012). Although we have analyzed the students' perspectives on dialects and codeswitching elsewhere (Chisholm & Godley, 2011;Godley & Escher, 2012), this study focuses on the particular ways in which their counter-narratives about language were fostered by their teacher's instruction and provides a detailed analysis of the students' counter-narratives.…”

“…Although many educators assume that African American adolescents only speak AAVE or view their language choices as direct reflections of their racial identities, recent studies of African American youths' linguistic practices and perspectives paint a more complex picture (Godley & Escher, 2012;Kinloch, 2010;Paris, 2009). In order to better understand the complexity of the students' linguistic and racial identities, our study used interactional and poststructural theories of identity, specifically theories of positioning and indexing, to examine the ways in which students positioned themselves within multiple macro-and micro-level social categories, including race, age, and neighborhood alliances (Brown, 2006;Davies & Harré, 1990;Leander, 2002;Paris, 2009).…”

Student-Teacher Responsibilities in English Studies: An Empirical Analysis of Arab Student and English Faculty Perceptions

“…The analysis presented in this paper will help cultivate mutual understanding as well as assist in designing productive literacy instructions (Godley & Escher, 2012) that reflect the perspectives of the teachers and the students. Literacy educators in different settings may also benefit from doing a similar analysis to evaluate the differing expectations of the students and the faculty so that the relationship between the two can be ameliorated in terms of academic and non-academic coordination.…”

Low-income black parents' perceptions of familial acculturation processes during urban to college town transitions

“…For instance, one benefit of code-switching is that it provides advantages for students for attainment of literacy skills (Craig, Zhang, Hensel, & Quinn, 2009). Some dangers associated with not code switching for instance is that individuals in powerful academic positions use Standard English and often have negative opinions about those who do not (Godley & Escher. 2012).…”