One of the claims discussed in class that author Keith Gilyard writes about in his novel was that most people are bidialectal and can “code switch” with ease. Code switching is defined as “the ability to move back and forth among languages, dialects, and registers with ease, as demanded by the social situation” (31). I think that code switching is the key to success for teaching Standard English. I always had the idea that other “non-standard” English dialects were wrong or uneducated. After reading Voices of the Self and taking another ESL class this semester, I have begun to think much differently. I am actually jealous of those people who can speak with or without a dialect depending on the situation. It is almost like speaking another language in a sense.
In saying this, I think it is vital for children to learn in school that speaking with dialect is okay if in the right setting. Somewhere during my educational journey, I got the wrong idea that dialects were “bad.” I don’t want this to happen to children. I think they should be able to take pride in their ability to code switch so easily.
Back when my dad was growing up, it was looked down upon to speak a different language besides English. Because of this, my grandmother who is fluent in Polish never taught my dad to speak fluently in Polish and only used English around him. When my grandmother dies, the Polish language will die in my family as well. It is sad for me to think about this; I would have loved to be bilingual in Polish and English and would have brought me great pride in my cultural heritage.
With the emphasis of “Standard English” in today’s schools, I don’t ever want to see other dialects disappear. I think they are culturally linked and have strong ties to family that people can take pride in. Therefore, in my classroom, I want to encourage my students to use their dialect with their friends so as to never lose that unique part of who they are.
Do you think that dialect will ever go “out of style” like speaking a second language did during my Dad’s childhood?
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3 comments:
I learned about code switching and such during my Linguistics class last semester. In turn, it was interesting because I have a roommate who is from Saudi Arabia. When she talks with her family on the phone she speaks in both Arabic and English. I find it confusing and interesting at the same time. She also switches very easily and quickly as well. Yet, I think it's good that she hones her culture when speaking with her family.
I don't think dialects will go away any time soon. Dialects aren't always how someone talks but can represent a social class as well. We can then generate a region a person is from depending on their dialects. People that have different dialects have rules of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation that I don't think will diminish.
I agree with you and I do think people should take pride in their ability to code switch! There is a sense of pride and identity when code switching. Referring back to my roommate, even though she isn't at home she is able to connect with her family through her language. The ability to communicate with her family and be allowed to talk in her own language gives her freedom and comfort. Being bilingual isn't a bad thing for it is a way to preserve a culture, and in my opinion there isn't anything wrong with it.
Kelsi, reading your post was crazy because I too come from a Polish background in which my grandmother speaks fluent Polish but my father does not, nor in turn do I. My father I know has always wanted to learn, we signed him up for a class at a local community college but school was never really his favorite thing so he never took advantage of it. I too find it sad that when my grandmother dies the language will as I completely agree that speaking the language gives one a greater sense of pride. We still had the Polish culture within and around us growing up in other ways, such as Polish dancing and Wigilia, Christmas Eve, but the language just got lost along the way.
As for dialect's "going out of style" I'm not sure. I agree with Cortney that most likely they won't. Dialects too involve a certain sense of pride, a verbal marker of where you come from and quite often traits about you. What comes first to mind are New Jersey residents when they say wader. My roommate is from there and though we pick on her I don't think it's an embarrassment as it was when the immigrants came over. It's more of a collectivist marker, a trait that connects one with their home. People don't easily want to get rid of that as they did back then causing certain families to lose touch with it.
Cortney, I thought it was interesting that you brought up social class in dialects. When I was typing my original post, I completely forgot that social class usually correlates with dialect. I am from a really small farm town, and a lot of people who are of a lower class (farmers, etc.) speak with a “hick” dialect. I always worked hard to avoid speaking like so many of my peers did in this dialect, but why? I said in my original post that any dialect is something to take pride in, but all through high school, I tried very hard to not talk like my friends. Perhaps social class had something to do with it. Being from a higher social class, I was never raised to speak in such a manner, and to do so would lower myself in society. So, I’m going to make an adjustment to my original claim and say that dialect can also be something you’re not proud of and wishing to avoid depending on what the dialect is and what it represents in society.
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