RM Winter 2017

Speak Up! The Unintentional Silencing of Minority Students

By Leslie D. Roberts, Clemson University

Reading Matters Justice Matters

ABSTRACT—The dissonance between the dialectal language minority students use at home and the language expected of them at school may interfere with their engagement in the classroom and this lack of engagement may hinder motivation to use ‘standard English’ accurately and often. In a typical classroom setting, standard English is expected of all students. However, when non- standard dialect students feel they are being judged by their dialect, they may be more concerned with how they speak instead of the information they are expressing. Unknowingly, teachers may be silencing minority students through their expectations of language use in the classroom. When all students are able to participate in authentic learning based on their funds of knowledge, they will also be more engaged in their learning. This review showcases some of the language barriers that can exist between minority students and their teachers, along with offering solutions to these barriers. Differences in Language Use at Home and in the Classroom Language is the first place that students feel accepted or not accepted in the classroom (Behrend, 2009). Oftentimes, teachers do not realize the dissonance between the standard English dialect used in the classroom and the dialectal versions some students use at home. In fact, very few children arrive to school fully capable of the academic language that is expected of them in the classroom (Fillmore & Snow, 2000). However all students, including dialectal language minority students, are expected to speak a standard English in the classroom, even if it is a dialect they are not comfortable using. This expectation teachers have for their students to use a standard English dialect in the classroom may hinder the language minority student’s overall academic performance by unintentionally silencing them from communicating in their preferred dialect. The language practices used at home would be included in the student’s funds of knowledge. Teachers,may overlook these funds of knowledge that students bring from home as they concentrate on the content they are expected to teach. According to Delpit (2006), “Children have the right to their own language, their own culture… [and should] be allowed to express themselves in their own language style” (p. 37). Standard American English vs. Non- standard Dialects Students who speak non-standard dialects come into classrooms and are expected to use standard English regularly, accurately and to do this as quickly as possible with minimal help from the teacher (Fillmore & Snow, 2000). Standard English (SE) refers to language that is both written and spoken without

regionalisms and accents; non-standard dialects (NSD) incorporate regional word choice, pronunciation, sentence structure, and voice inflection (Burdette, 2011). There are many dialects heard across the country and just about everyone speaks with some sort of dialect. Therefore, there really is no true ‘American Dialect;’ rather, standard English (SE) is the language spoken by schools, media outlets, the government, and so forth (Burdette, 2011). According to Adams & Curzan, (2009), because language is constantly changing and varies by situation, no one is said to speak a “perfect” version of SE. By implying that SE is the only form of language to be used in the classroom, teachers may inadvertently cause students to disengage from wanting to even participate in class. Miscommunication between the Teacher and the NSD Student When NSD students feel they are being judged by their dialect, they may be more concerned with how they speak instead of the information they are expressing. These students, now feeling disconnected in the classroom, could begin to resent using SE dialect. Ogbu (1999) attributes this miscommunication between teachers and minority students to the different structural rules of dialect used at home and school. Students may discover many differences and an overall disjointedness between the language and cultural understandings used at home and in school (Fillmore & Snow, 2000). Dialect usage and rules for language use are vastly different in both of these contexts, so these students may have a difficult time using SE in each of these settings. Teachers and students bring their own personal/cultural characteristics to the classroom. Cultural characteristics can include attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, ethnicity, social class, and verbal language such as varying dialects and accents (Irvine, 1990). Often, the cultural and personal characteristics that teachers have differ from those of their minority students. These differences are sometimes conflicting and create a sense of discontinuity (Irvine, 1990). Eventually, this discontinuity could lead to an overall disengagement from learning. Unintentionally Silencing Non-standard Dialect Students In a typical classroom setting, SE is expected of all students. However, for some minority students, SE is not the dialect they feel most comfortable using. Already, a misconception that one form of language is ‘right’and another is ‘wrong’is created. If a student feels uncomfortable using their dialectal language from home in the classroom, they tend to remain silent. This silence may cause students to fall further and further behind academically while simultaneously resulting in disengagement through a lack of authentic learning.

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