Dialect Diversity in the Classroom

English 1102-001 Phase II: Annotated Bibliography
George Reed and David Marlow USC Upstate Undergraduate Research Journal, Volume 2, Fall 2009 Talkin’ ‘Bout South Carolina: Addressing Dialect Diversity in Middle School Classroom.
In my response on the “SRTOL” Students’ Right to their Own Language, I believe that “Standard” English still has to be taught in schools. We could then bring dialects teaching in the classroom just within discussion topics. George and David are showing two main points that support my views: it wouldn’t be possible for teachers to master a variety of dialects but some dialects could be projects or topics of discussion in the classroom. This would make students have a little idea about them. The article brought to our attention that dialects are pretty hard to comprehend while you are an adult. This is supporting my view for the fact that the older people get, the harder it is for them to understand different types of dialects. When children are in their early ages, they are capable of mastering different languages and dialects because the mind is still fresh and open to receive lots of information. But as they get older and become adult, the brain starts having difficulties to incorporate more and more information. So teachers who obviously are already adults will have or actually won’t be able to answer the call for the teaching of English diversities in the classroom. However, we could have plans or projects to learn about some dialects mostly in the speech than in writing. This would build more confidence in “non-standard English speaking” students as they express themselves in class. The writers shared with us a program in which students would utilize just some dialects, study them, and better understand them. And by doing so, students would know what the suitable situations to utilize their dialects are. So overall diversity in the English language wouldn’t be possible but a study of some dominant ones could give some comfort to the

Bibliography: George Reed and David Marlow USC Upstate Undergraduate Research Journal, Volume 2, Fall 2009 Talkin’ ‘Bout South Carolina: Addressing Dialect Diversity in Middle School Classroom. In my response on the “SRTOL” Students’ Right to their Own Language, I believe that “Standard” English still has to be taught in schools. We could then bring dialects teaching in the classroom just within discussion topics. George and David are showing two main points that support my views: it wouldn’t be possible for teachers to master a variety of dialects but some dialects could be projects or topics of discussion in the classroom. This would make students have a little idea about them. The article brought to our attention that dialects are pretty hard to comprehend while you are an adult. This is supporting my view for the fact that the older people get, the harder it is for them to understand different types of dialects. When children are in their early ages, they are capable of mastering different languages and dialects because the mind is still fresh and open to receive lots of information. But as they get older and become adult, the brain starts having difficulties to incorporate more and more information. So teachers who obviously are already adults will have or actually won’t be able to answer the call for the teaching of English diversities in the classroom. However, we could have plans or projects to learn about some dialects mostly in the speech than in writing. This would build more confidence in “non-standard English speaking” students as they express themselves in class. The writers shared with us a program in which students would utilize just some dialects, study them, and better understand them. And by doing so, students would know what the suitable situations to utilize their dialects are. So overall diversity in the English language wouldn’t be possible but a study of some dominant ones could give some comfort to the way students should express themselves. Carolyn Temple Adger Issues and Implications of English Dialects for Teaching English as a Second Language, Tesol Professional paper #3 March 2003 We have here those same points I brought up in my topic; we still need to teach the “Standard” English language but can also tolerate the diversity of English dialects. The author shared with us in the article a common project that Caribbean students experiment to see the value of “Standard” English. In the “Language Awareness and Teaching Standard English” paragraph, she noticed that in some Caribbean education systems, students study historical and linguistic information to compare it with their own dialects. They use topic discussions in both dialects to analyze both languages styles. By doing that, most students see the difference, and understand better the “Standard” type of English. Also, that teaching system shows students the role of “Standard” English in their lives as it is a requirement for social consideration and in the business world. We were always told back home in Africa where I’m from, that learning the so called “Standard” English was the only way to make ourselves understandable anywhere and be part of the respectful and successful society. Understanding that fact gave us the will to learn “Standard” English because we wanted to belong to that successful society. So, first teaching students that, “Standard” English is not the requirement for passing tests but important in their daily lives, and second, showing them the differences between both “Standard” English and their own dialects result in students getting motivated to learn “Standard” English as a second language. This program, incorporated in the education system in some Caribbean countries, illustrated my point on still teaching “Standard” English but implicating some forms of dialects just to make students express themselves freely and understand those varieties and differences.