Hardie 1 Samantha Hardie English 402 Baron Final Exam

Who Cares About Standard English? While saying that language is an important issue that is close to many people is fairly obvious, we cant escape that its true. We use language in some form every single day whether its talking to your friends, writing an email, calling your mom, doing your homework, or sending out a tweet. Almost anything you do to communicate your ideas and feelings to another person involves some sort of language. We insist on trying to tell people what is right and what is wrong when you are communicating, but what really complicates this is that there are endless forms of languages that we use to convey messages to each other. Are we allowed to do this? What implications does this have? Does it even work? Language is an influential and prominent part of culture, but it is also one that is extremely varied and changes regularly. Therefore, because people care so much about how they communicate with each other, more specifically in some sort of Standard English, it sparks a lot of controversy over the preservation of what is considered correct, and the inevitable changes that happen. Americans feel threatened by the changes that happen to language, and their natural instinct to try and suppress the differences in an attempt to control the uncontrollable not only gets rid of the culture that makes society rich and interesting, but it also works to take away opportunities to express our voice and who we are. Americans claim that there is a dialect called Standard English that we should base all of our linguistic education on. Standard English follows all of our grammatical rules and

Hardie 2 conventions, is spoken well, structured properly, and it is what we insist all of our English communication should be modeled after. For many things in this world, we like to have something that we can use as a model and base our learning and decision making on and in that respect Standard English can be useful. As humans, we love having rules and regulations because they make us feel safe and that we are doing things right. We like to strive for perfection, or at least towards correctness and having defined grammar rules and patterns of speech, in my opinion, make us feel safe and that we are doing things right. We all know that person who is a stickler for grammar and feels compelled to tell you that you are incorrect when you say Me and John went to the movies instead of John and I. Standard English gives us a comfort zone to revert back to when we are unsure about how we are writing, and that is understandable. We forget to ask ourselves though if Standard English actually exists and isnt just a made up ideal. According to our book, Many linguists argue that standard varieties are idealizations: no speaker speaks perfect Standard English, or example, and there is much more variation within Standard English than the term suggests (Adams, Curzan 349). In short, we are basing our language on an ideal that may not even exist. There are so many different variations of English and different dialects spoken not only in America but in Europe that its almost impossible to pin down anyone that speaks in what would be considered a Standard English dialect.

Schools rely almost solely on a system that teaches students the conventions of Standard English, but evidence shows that this isnt a method that really benefits students. We can get a good glimpse of this by looking at the Ebonics controversy and the arguments over how to best serve students whose primary language isnt English. The issues over Ebonics, or the African American Vernacular English (AAVE) started in Ann Arbor in 1979. Students who were

Hardie 3 speaking in AAVE felt as if they were falling behind and their language needs were not being met by their teachers who werent up to the task of instructing their students. The court case ruled that the Ann Arbor schools needed to provide instruction for the students whose English was so different from the Standard English taught in schools and couldnt participate properly in instruction. The parents called for a program that would give their students access the Standard English they needed to know to read the cannon of text taught in schools (Baron 4). A similar but more radical controversy arose in Oakland in 1996 when Oakland passed a resolution claiming that Ebonics was an entirely separate language rather than a dialect, and they asked for federal funding to implement a foreign language assimilation program as well as to boost test scores in the school district (Baron 5).

While in both court cases it was agreed that there should be some sort of bilingual education program put in place, different language or not, the actual follow-through was not helpful. The programs used foreign language guidelines teaching students that their original language was different rather than wrong. Despite the fancy wording though, this was the correct English versus incorrect English idea wrapped up and given to students in a different form (Baron 6). In addition, none of these methods were effective in helping students to understand Standard English in the ways in which they needed to survive their education. So what do we learn from this? These controversies all boil down to the fact that not only do we not know how to give students a valuable bilingual education, but we also dont exactly make the effort to either. In both cases federal mandates told the schools to start including bilingual education but neither of them gave an effective solution that actually succeeded in teaching students what they needed. It was a half-hearted attempt to take responsibility for a flaw in our education system with nothing that actually followed through and solved anything. It indicates the problem that the

Hardie 4 United States has with accepting anything other than the form of Standard English that we push on students. We understand that we have students who need to have their culture recognized and reconciled with the curriculum of schools yet we neglect to acknowledge that their linguistic variation isnt wrong.

These two examples also start to lead into the questions of why we put so much stock in teaching Standard English and why we are so resistant to changing our ways. In college teachers are taught time and time again that teaching students to solely understand Standard English doesnt work, the students dont identify with it and they struggle. Students start learning a form of the language from the time when they can first understand and use it and tend to grasp the concepts they need to at an early age. The way that grammar and writing is taught in school puts very little focus on finding a voice and a lot on enforcing nitpicky grammar rules that really only serve to confuse and break down students confidence in their knowledge of the conventions of the English language. Most students come to a writing class already knowing what words they need to use in certain situations and how to craft a sentence to make their writing interesting and represent their ideas and what they are trying to convey, so how does it serve them to make them memorize what a helping verb is and making them recall it on a test? (Baron 11) In addition, teachers arent fully equipped to teach students in depth grammar. Baron writes, Few of these teachers take more than one or two language courses, not much compared to the eight to ten literature classes and the huge number of units in curriculum, child development, and testing that are necessary for licensing. And while these courses introduce teachers to new ways of looking at language and language pedagogy, they are typically pressured to forget what they learned about language in college once they have their own classrooms, because only a rigid, teach-tothe-test approach to grammar can get students past the standardized tests they all must take

Hardie 5 (Baron 11). It goes to show that the system isnt exactly open to cultural diversity and change. Teachers are taught how silly it is to teach prescriptive grammar at length and how important it is to guide students in finding their voice, and then are forced to reverse their methods to get students through standardized tests. It keeps students from really connecting with them and finding a voice during a period of their life, they need help reconciling their first language and the language taught in schools. It fails to address issues like this that really need to be addressed. There seem to be a few reasons why there is a disconnect in schools about why we teach Standard English when we know it doesnt exactly benefit students. One reason seems to be standardized testing. According to Language and Education: The More Things Change, teaching to tests seems to be a driving force behind why in schools this push to learn Standard English still exists. The article says, Schools may defend their focus on correctness as testdriven, and its true that standardized tests of writing competence either look for error-free paragraphs or test students knowledge of writing conventions using multiple choice questions (Baron 12). Schools feel like they need to teach these conventions in order for students to be able to score appropriately but it doesnt account for the fact that their time is being spent learning this rather than writing instruction that could actually benefit them. In A Snapshot of Writing Instruction in Middle Schools and High Schools we see that its a fact that teachers are including a lot of standardized test preparation in their classes. The article interviews teachers and finds that, When asked about the importance of various external exams in shaping curriculum and instruction, the state exam was rated as important or very important by 85.7% of the teachers at middle school, followed by district exams (63.6%). At the high school level, state exams again topped the list, rated as important or very important by 65.6%, followed by district exams (47.7%), SATs and ACTs (45.7%), and Advanced Placement or International

Hardie 6 Baccalaureate exams (30.4%) (Applebee, Langer 17). Teachers are clearly taking into account exams that their students will be taking and are tailoring their curriculum to reflect that, which many times means that they will need to have extensive instruction on the mythical Standard English dialect that they have difficulty connecting with and understanding. We know that there is a ton of variation in the speech and writing we have, so it seems oppressive and counterproductive to try and squeeze everyone into the same mold. In addition to the education aspect, there are also more broad cultural issues that seem to have led to our fear of language variation, one of the most prominent being that there appears to be a widespread fear that we are losing the English Language. In an article called English Spoken Here? What the 2000 Census Tells Us about Language in the USA we learn that, The 2000 US Census reports a 47% increase in speakers of languages other than English in the United States during the 1990s, compounding a 38% rise in the 1980s. In addition, the Census reports more people speaking a language other than English at home (Baron 1). There has clearly been a large growth in the United States for people who speak something other than English, but this is a statistic that people get stuck on. If you look deeper into the topic we see that the fear that non-English speakers are dominating the United States seem to be fairly unfounded. The article goes on to say that, English is secure. The number of immigrants acquiring English closely tracks the rise in immigration, so despite the concerns of English-only advocates, there has been no net loss in English usage in the U.S. The real endangered languages in America continue to be the ones spoken before the English came, and the ones that immigrants bring with them (Baron 2). There are immigrants coming to America, but their languages appear to not be sticking with them. Not only are the immigrants coming here but they also seem to be losing their language and assimilating into the

Hardie 7 English language. The article describes that most immigrants follow a pattern, with the first generations of the family knowing less English, but that number increases in following generations. There is a lot of importance placed on learning English when migrating to the country, even if it doesnt happen right away. Despite the fears of Americans, English appears to b here to stay. Is our reluctance to accept that our language, at least the current time, is not going away or something deeper involved? Is there an underlying tone of discrimination for those who arent considered American Enough for America? The issue of language and heavy efforts to preserve English tends to pop up during times of heavy periods of immigration. In the early 20th Century, there was a huge influx of immigrants pouring into America there was a similar level of concern for the preservation of the English Language, with a lot of discrimination being directed at the foreigners who were making our country their home. Our borders were then closed for a time, and when they were re-opened the conversation about language re-ignited. We clearly fear things that appear to threaten our culture, and we do so without the thought that we are suppressing other peoples cultures at the same time. For example, if we look at the reaction from the English speaking world to the translation of the Star Spangled Banner into Spanish, we can see the fear that comes from people from losing their culture. People expressed that they were deeply offended with the translation of the American symbol, and felt extremely threatened by it. It shows that Language is connected so closely to culture, sensible or not, and the national anthem is one of those things that represents our nation as well. People are upset that something that is supposed to stand for America and by association the English language that is now, all of a sudden, being mixed with another culture. We are very protective over what is ours, which is ironic because the United States doesnt even have an official language.

Hardie 8 I believe that one of the things that we forget as Americans is that we all come from different cultures. We often use the clich Melting Pot to describe the background of the United States and its citizens, which really is accurate. Our country got its identity because of the varied cultures of the people that came here to begin with. As much as we consider ourselves primarily white, we need to take into account how many of us have several different races that we represent. What makes people is interesting is that we all come from different walks of life, and we are all different people. We need to change our mindset and perspective about English, how it is used, and how it is growing. Statistically, English is not disappearing. We are so concerned that it is though that we try and force the language on people who are different than us. While English isnt going away, the culture and variation which makes us all interesting is. Cultures are feeling more and more pressure to assimilate into the English speaking one which is actually endangering their home culture and language. We need to find a balance between the two schools of thought in order to encourage the type of people that make our country what it is.

Hardie 9 Works Cited

1.

Applebee, Arthur N., and Judith A. Langer. "A Snapshot of Writing Instruction in Middle Schools and High Schools." English Journal (2011): 14-27. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.

2.

Baron, Dennis. "Language and Education: The More Things Change." (n.d.): 1-14. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people/faculty/debaron/402/402readings/langed.pdf>.

3.

Baron, Dennis. "English Spoken Here? What the 2000 Census Tells Us about Language in the USA." (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 14 Dec. 2012. <http://http://www.english.illinois.edu/people-/faculty/debaron/402/402readings/english%20spoken%20here.pdf>.

4.

Curzan, Anne, and Michael Adams. How English Works: A Linguistic Introduction. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2012. Print.