The Effects of Training in Linguistics on Teaching: K-12 Teachers in White Mountain Apache Schools
EVIDENCE OF EFFECTS OF LEARNING LINGUISTICS ON TEACHING
It is often difficult to document attitudinal changes. The quotes presented above indicate that the teachers we worked with were aware that they had experienced changes in attitudes. What is even more important is the fact that they immediately began to incorporate their new linguistic knowledge into their pedagogy. The quotes below illustrate the direct application of sociolinguistic theory to their teaching.
Teacher A
In the first example, one of the teachers shared information learned in the seminar with other faculty members. This unexpected outcome allowed additional teachers to begin to understand the complex sociolinguistic situation found on this reservation. Teacher A began to feel very strongly about the importance of understanding the value of the local dialect and its usefulness in the community.
Last weekend, at a faculty workshop, I told the group that I think we need to help our students understand that reservation English is not “bad English”, but that the English we use at school is another form of English that they need to learn in order to be successful academically. In fact, I told the faculty group that I believe our students need to become trilingual. They should know the Apache language, reservation English, and the English of academia.
Teacher C
Teacher C below comments on how she changed her behavior by avoiding correcting her students. She now realizes that this may inhibit them from communicating with her and/or with others in and out of class. She admits to learning from her students and now uses a form of “teacherese” that resembles caretaker talk, the language used by parents and other caretakers with children. It has been shown that parents, rather than correcting their children’s speech, tend to reformulate their responses using the correct form themselves. This demonstrates a focus on the message’s content rather than its form.
I’ve stopped correcting my students when they talk to me. For example, if a student tells me that he or she has gone to “make woods”, I don’t correct him, I simply respond by saying, “Oh, who did you go with to cut wood?” I validate their language while at the same time letting them know that different people have different ways of saying the same thing; a lesson that I’m learning through my students.
Teacher E
Teacher E admits that her students know far more than he/she does about how to communicate in their community. She describes an approach that she plans on taking to facilitate their acquisition of a “school dialect” of English that is more appropriate for academic contexts. She reports that this linguistic knowledge is valuable and will be applied immediately. It may not be stated, but Teacher E will demonstrate her changed attitudes in her behavior and pedagogy.
So how does this influence me and my teaching? It gives me a new perspective in my role as an English teacher and a better awareness and understanding of just what ‘Standard English is. I want my students to be able to use language effectively, appropriately, and clearly. To do this I need to realize and accept that my students know more about what’s appropriate language in their community than I ever will. By accepting, and not negating, the community’s dialect, with all of its differences and quirks, I can teach my students how to adapt and learn another dialect of English appropriate to school and, in some cases, work. I’m sure I will never stop cringing when I hear, “It’s mines”, but I can recognize it as an accepted norm of local dialect and help my students distinguish between when to use it, when not to, and what options exist.
Teachers K and L
In the following quotes, Teacher K and Teacher L provide a commentary about the importance of being bi-dialectal. Both teachers realize the value of recognizing the dialect of English that their students bring to class. Armed with new knowledge on these topics, they shared their growing respect and positive feelings about bilingualism and bidialectalism with their students. This discussion provided stimulating content, allowing students to express themselves in whichever dialect and/or registers of English that they felt most comfortable with, while still making the point that there was a time and place for using more academic or formal varieties of English.
I really worked hard with my Media Arts students about the use of language because we were doing video work with audio plus we did school wide skills which are Daily Oral Language and Daily Reading Practice. I worked with them over the fact that we all need to know various dialects of English to survive today and we need to learn to know when it is appropriate to use which dialect. Standard English which I called School English is appropriate but so is being able to communicate with the people in our community in Rez talk. We take it for granted that people understand this idea but many of my students did not and we had some good conversations on the uses and appropriateness of the different dialects that we face daily. It was good discussion, which can be hard to find in high schools sometimes (Teacher K).
I have always known there are different dialects of all languages, but have not thought of the “improper” English spoken by Hispanics, Blacks, or groups like the Apaches as being a dialect. I have incorporated this into my teaching by explaining to the kids that the English they speak on the Rez is fine, but that there are other types of/dialects of English that need to be learned for various purposes. It is easy to give examples in business; business letters, presenting in front of the board of directors, presenting to the tribal council (Teacher L).
