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last.updated 11.15.09

 

Grammar(s) & Diversity

Purpose

Students who grow up in environments where standard academic English is not used and/or valued will often produce errors when asked to produce this dialect of the academy. This fact often stigmatizes these students and, in many cases (or as a result), challenges their academic success. Whether we are faced with a full class of these students or just one of these students, we should know how our pedagogy will address these issues. And we may also ask how we handle error when it is consistent and you only have 15 weeks to work with the students. By the end of the class you will be able to decide what strategies you will use to invite these students into the academic discourse community.

Before Class

FreeWrite

Answer the following questions in "Week 13" thread of the Blackboard Discussion Board. You have the first ten minutes of class.

The CCCC Statement on a Student's Right to Own Language states:

We affirm the students' right to their own patterns and varieties of language-the dialects of their nurture or whatever dialects in which they find their own identity and style. Language scholars long ago denied that the myth of a standard American dialect has any validity. The claim that any one dialect is unacceptable amounts to an attempt of one social group to exert its dominance over another. Such a claim leads to false advice for speakers and writers' and immoral advice for humans. A nation proud of its-diverse heritage and its cultural and racial variety will preserve its heritage of dialects. We affirm strongly that teachers must have the experiences and training that will enable them to respect diversity and uphold the right of students to their own language.

How does your current pedagogy or the pedagogy you proposed in your semester syllabus help to fulfill the promises of the SRTOL Position statement (see above) and the CCCC's Statement on Second Language Writing and Writers?

Discussion: Diverse Grammatical Structure

The discussion today will address the following questions:

  • What questions or comments do you have about these articles?
  • Why are non-standard productions of English a problem for the academy?
  • What is Ferris's argument? What is Troutman's argument? How are they approaching the issue of language diversity similarly and differently?
  • How do the issues that Ferris and Troutman describe speak to the discussion of teaching grammar rhetorically (Miccichi) and the different definitions of grammar (Hartwell)?
  • If we decide to value Canagarjah's argument that we should legitimates our students' World Englishes and encourage code-meshing in the composition classroom, how might it influence how we approach the six student essays in Troutman's article?

Activity: Being Gateways

Get into groups with others. Using the student essay that we examined two weeks ago, develop a strategy for helping this student reduce error in his writing. Write a justification for your approach based upon the scholarship we have read. Be prepared to share your responses with the class. This will not be submitted.