RM Winter 2017

students just outside of Chicago. These methods produced promising results when various samples of student writing showed a 59% drop in the use of Ebonics (Messier, 2012). These results clearly show that acknowledging language and dialectal differences and specifically teaching SE through the use of NSD examples in the classroom yields more success with NSD students. This method of using Ebonics in the classroom and recognizing it as a legitimate dialect is a more effective teaching practice than ignoring the dialectal differences altogether. Though there continues to be push-back on the use of Ebonics or other forms of NSD in the classroom, Wheeler (2016) reminds teachers to at least appreciate the dialectal differences of students. Instead of trying to change the way students speak, teachers should try to change the prejudices held against non-standard dialects. If a low value is continuously placed on non-standard dialects in the classroom, NSD students could then become less confident in their oral expressions and more reluctant to contribute to class discussions (Snell, 2013). This reluctance to participate in class could have negative long term effects for these students. How this Silence Affects Literacy Delpit (1997) found that teachers are more likely to correct their students who are reading a sentence correctly using a non-standard dialect than those students who read a sentence incorrectly using SE. Teacher corrections to a student’s dialect and speech does not enhance their linguistic repertoire (Snell, 2013). Additionally, these corrections are oftentimes not just limited to teachers, but soon come from other student peers directed towards NSD students as well. Teachers are sometimes more concerned with how a student sounds, rather than the student’s understanding of the material. NSD students who continually receive corrections for dialectal miscues while reading aloud could soon learn to resist reading and resist the teacher (Delpit, 1997). This resistance is seen with Godley et al.’s (2007) study of NSD high school students and their struggles with using SE during grammar instruction. Eventually these students refused to even speak in class to avoid the discomfort they felt being corrected by the teacher.“Students should be encouraged to respond, question, challenge, and elaborate their thinking using whatever [dialect] they find most comfortable”(Snell, 2013 p. 22). Eventually, these disengaged students are at risk for becoming poor readers (Gavigan, 2011); minority students have been shown to dislike reading and school work because they believe it will never benefit them long term (Schwartz 2002). Some students may feel they will never play an integral part in ‘White society,’which leads them to believe that school is something unnecessary for their future. Failed attempts at literacy. The majority of students who are considered ‘struggling readers’have encountered some sort of failure while embracing the literacies faced at school (Gavigan, 2011). This embarrassment of failure leads to an overall aversion to the school literacies and languages. However, teachers often forget that these ‘struggling readers’are already readers. Reading is not just limited to ‘school material’; reading any genre is still considered being a proficient reader. Reading does not just

Minority students may grow up in a distinct culture with their own language systems of varying dialects and accents (Hale, 1986). Unfortunately, these language systems are often overlooked or even ignored in the classroom. Although it is unrealistic for teachers to abandon their teaching of standard English in the classroom, denying students the ability to use the dialect that they feel comfortable with in the classroom is ultimately alienating these students and creating a further divide between SE and NSD students (Brady, 2015). NSD students may feel unaccepted in the culture and environment of school. Ogbu (1999) notes that a lack of acceptance in the classroom, pushes NSD students further away from the school climate and creates an ‘us versus them’mentality and an unwillingness to participate. African American English Sometimes, the unwillingness of minority students to use SE instead of their own dialects is due to the fact that they fear fitting the stereotypes of White society. One of the most commonly spoken dialects of minority students is African American English (AAE) or Ebonics, as it is often referenced outside of academia. AAE is one of the oldest, yet most scrutinized form of English and has sparked many controversies over its usage in the classroom (Wolfram, 2007). However, forcing minority students to use SE in the classroom could have some negative repercussions as well. Some Black students fear ‘soundingWhite’because it could signify adoptingWhite attitudes and vindicating them as superior (Ogbu, 1999). There is even a certain amount of mistrust from the minority community for a minority child who wants to assimilate intoWhite culture by using ‘proper’English. It is looked at as ‘turning their back to the community’or ‘acting fake’(Ogbu, 1999). Some minorities describe their use of ‘slang’as membership to their cultural community and therefore, are unwilling to completely conform to using SE. The dialect dilemma. Though this unwillingness to continually use SE exists, NSD students still understand that SE is the language of power - this creates the dialect dilemma . Ogbu (1999) defines the dialect dilemma as minorities understanding the need to conform to SE, but they also have a reluctance to do this for fear of losing their cultural identity. Minority students understand that SE is the way to obtain success in school and in the future, but do not feel fully capable in their ability and willingness to use it. Recognizing the Push-Back on NSD Use in the Classroom. There has been a great deal of push-back on the idea of allowing NSD students to use their preferred dialect in the classroom. The 1996 Oakland California School Board was one of the first school districts to actually recognize Ebonics as a primary language for some students. This school district then allowed those students who actively used Ebonics to participate in Standard English as a Second Dialect (SESD) classes in which Ebonics was used in the classroom to help teach standard English (Messier, 2012). Though this idea of using Ebonics to teach SE has since been rescinded, the Oakland California School Board still advocates the recognition of Ebonics as a dialect used by the majority of its students.

Reading Matters Justice Matters

Similar methods of using Ebonics in the classroom through SESD classes were used with African American inner-city

Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 scira.org | 13 |

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