GRDG526: Language, Literacy, and Diversity in American Education

GRDG526: Language, Literacy, and Diversity in American EducationUsing Linguistic Analysis

Dr. Gloria E. Jacobs

Sharing

Agenda

•Sounding Black Podcast•Group Discussion•Break•Minilecture & IPA Instruction•Next Week

Podcast

•Studio 360: Sarah Jones on Sounding Black

Small Group Discussion

This week, you choose your groups!

Break 6:15 – 6:30

Minilecture: Linguistic Variation

•Accents, dialects, languages – all linguistic variation

•Levels of variation▫Regional Association (“regional dialects)

Pronunciation (accent) Vocabulary

▫Social Groups (“social dialects”) Grammar

Minilecture: Linguistic Variation

•The greater the social distance, the greater the variation in language.▫Most apparent in how verbs are used

Those with less social power expected to know/understand language of those of higher social power, but not vice versa.

Minilecture: Linguistic Variation

Rather Than These• Dialect

• Nonstandard English

Use These Terms• Language variation or

linguistic variation

• Vernacular dialect

Language, Learning, and Thinking•No evidence that linguistic variation

interferes with cognitive development or reflects logical thinking (or lack thereof).

Minilecture: Linguistic Variation•Standard English: A composite of “socially

preferred dialects from various parts of the US and other English speaking countries” (Adger, Wolfram, & Christian, 2007, p. 15).▫Consistent with critical race theory that

recognizes the value of the African American experience and how the white experience has been historically privileged.

•Two views: Deficit versus Difference ▫Consistent with McDermott & Varenne

(1997) Culture as Disability perspective.

Minilecture: Linguistic Variation

•What’s a teacher to do?▫Develop knowledge and respect for

integrity of linguistic varieties (Adger, 2007, p. 26).

▫Make dialect study part of your professional development

▫Teach students to appreciate their linguistic heritage by teaching them how to do dialect study

Minilecture: Linguistic Variation

•Conducting dialect study▫Involve your students▫Listen closely and nonjudgmentally to your

speech and that of your students▫Learn the linguistic patterns of the

community I which you teach Listen for grammatical patterns Listen for pronunciation patterns

Vowel differences tend to mark region Consonant differences tend to mark social

class

Minilecture: Linguistic Variation

Is someone who speaks in the vernacular

•“uneducated”

Or

•not socialized into academic or standard Englishes

Minilecture: Linguistic Variation

•Implications for Literacy Instruction▫miscue analysis/reading instruction▫spelling development▫grammar instruction▫writing assessment

We should of gone to are grandmother house.

Minilecture - IPA• Sound/letter correspondence• Vowels and consonants• Terms

▫Phoneme: smallest unit of sound that carries meaning.

▫Dipthongs: Two sounds within one phoneme (bike)

▫Digraphs: Two letters to represent one phoneme (that)

▫Blends: Two letters/two phonemes that are smoothed together (bread/bleed)

Practicing the IPA

•Handout

Practicing for the Oral Language Analysis• With a partner, analyze your speech

▫Read the first paragraph of “Comma Gets a Cure” and with a partner, transcribe a few sentences using IPA.

▫Use Adger et al (2007) and Freeman & Freeman (2004) to help you think about your Grammar patterns Vocabulary choices

▫ In casual conversation with close friends, how “standard” do you think your speech is?

▫ In classroom or other professional settings, how does your speech change?

Student Analysis

•Page 13 of syllabus•Data to be collected•Analysis•Implications

Next Week

•Meet in Library 100▫Have some idea of what you would like to do

your literature review on•Sutton (2004) on spoken word

performance•Lee (2009) on cultural modeling•Compton-Lilly Chapter 10 on popular

culture to support literacy development•Watch Brave New Voices performances•Student Analysis paper due

Examples of Spoken Word

•Elliot of RCSD to NCTE•Hebrew Mamita•Taylor Mali - "What Teachers Make"