Englishes

As composition teachers, how should we understand and deal with the complex issue of “Standard English”?  How should we understand and deal with the complex issue of bilingualism?  How should we understand deal with the complex issue of “Non-native speakers”?  

In the composition classroom, there is a tension between teaching “standard English” and honoring and respecting students’ home languages or dialects. On the one hand, we want to set our students up for success. It is a tough world out there, and they will be judged by how they speak and write, even if it is unfair and based on linguistic prejudice. If we don’t do that, we will not be preparing them for college level coursework, much less professional life after college. Professors, perhaps more than employers or co-workers, have expectations about students’ writing abilities and styles; if our students do not fulfill those expectations, they will not get good grades or be successful.

On the other hand, we don’t want to perpetuate the myth of “standard English” or of standard ideology. We don’t want to continue the years of oppression that our students might have felt throughout their years of education to this point; we don’t want them to resist us or perceive us as oppressors. We want to help our students be successful, and to be successful, self confidence and self actualization are important qualities.

I don’t think it’s feasible to avoid teaching “standard English.” I think the best way to deal with this dilemma is to present the idea of dialects, discourse communities, audience and context. What is appropriate in one context (in the parking lot with their friends) is not appropriate in another context (in the classroom or at a job interview) and vice versa. It’s important to let them know that no dialect is better than any other, and in fact in some cases “standard English” or academic English is inappropriate. If we have to deal with an aggressive person in front of the supermarket, academic English is not appropriate. If I am lost in an strange urban neighborhood, if I use academic English to ask directions, I may be seen as a target or victim. It is not only about vocabulary and sentence structure, but can be about body language and tone. Similarly, if I use “street” language in a college class, I might be seen as uneducated, underprepared, lazy or even stupid—by those who hold such prejudices.  By truly showing students that everyone uses many different registers and discourse styles, we can avoid the trap of standard ideology. We can avoid telling students, “OK, your dialect is just as good as ‘standard’ English, but you have to learn ‘standard’ English anyway if you want to succeed.” Instead, we can tell them that by mastering academic English, they will have another discourse style to add to their repertoire.

Of course the difficulty of this position is still that students who speak non-standard dialects might feel that they are selling out or giving in to an oppressive system. This is a real problem. Let’s face it, education changes us. We might not fit in with our old group or even our family after being remade in the image of academia. I’m not sure how to deal with this problem.

There is another dilemma in the ESL classroom. In the composition classroom, it is fine to let students use their home or community dialect to build community and comfort in the classroom. In an ESL classroom, this becomes more problematic because students would be speaking other languages. For some students, the only interaction with English might be in the classroom; if their classmates speak to them in their native language, they might be missing out on important contact or practice time.

Usually, what I do in this situation is to gently remind English learners to speak English in the classroom (not during breaks, by the way). I have noticed two responses to this reminder. Some students appreciate the reminder and switch into English with no problem (other than the problems related to speaking in a foreign language); other students shut down and stop talking, and don’t make eye contact. Alternatively, they might sweetly say, “oh, sorry,” and continue speaking their native language when the instructor moves away. That is to say, for some students, speaking English in the classroom is nothing more than changing languages, but for other students, a reminder to speak English can be oppressive. I was noticing this happening more with younger students at first, and thought it might be a generational thing, but then realized that the students who reacted the most strongly to my requests to speak English were the ones who went to high school in the US. The older or younger students showed no sign that an English only rule impinged on their identity. It was the students who had gone through the system, who had been told implicitly or explicitly that their language was not good enough. This was a surprise to me at first, but was able to come to an understanding of what was underlying their resistance thanks to the theoretical reading we had done in this class and others.Thi is actually a sad situation, where students resist against English language oppression in an ESL class, much less my ESL class where I had always hoped students would feel safe to try new things, to take linguistic, educational and personal risks with new ways of expressing themselves.

I don’t have a set strategy for this problem yet, though I try to make sure students know that I value their language. Sometimes some tension is dissipated when they realize that I am a Spanish learner, and that I am not putting myself above them or trying to define what is good or bad in terms of language. Sometimes it is enough for them to know that I am on their side, that I am there to help them with their language skills and not to judge them. Interestingly, though, this is often best communicated through actions and attitudes rather than words.