What I liked most about the article was that it did not
completely bash on Standard American English. Because Standard American English
(edited) is my dominant and home language I always feel uncomfortable guilty
when articles or discussions arise that make using Standard English as a tool
to make people of other cultures feel inferior to you. Because that is not my
goal when I am speaking, I am not trying to make myself above anyone else it is
just the way that I speak. I liked how he wanted to teach languages in a way
that no one language was devalued or belittles and that by learning standard
English was just another tool for success in their tool box along with the many
other forms of language that a student could pull from and adapt to certain
situations with. I really agree with the idea of making languages and different
discourses of writing or speaking as flexible. And by incorporating many
different styles (even standard American English) the only thing that can
happen is an appreciation for other languages and an understanding of knowing
who your audience is. I also enjoyed the idea that teaching this goes beyond
just writing, I liked how they practiced different types of speak for example a
news anchor. For my final reflective
statement I want it to be something that introduces the idea that language is a
tool for communication, and that the end goal of language is to communicate.
There are many different audiences for which one may need to communicate too,
so by learning different styles of language and understanding how they allow
people of that discourse to communicate is what I will center my class around
when it comes to teaching grammar. I want my students to really understand what
community discourse, audience and the role of the writer (or speaker) really
means and how they can adapt language to empower them in whatever situation
they are in. Code-switching. I believe that if language is taught to students
as something that is a tool for success and they are shown the many ways in
which to communicate there will not be issues with devaluing different
languages.
For my portfolio I am having trouble classifying my
different examples. I have found passages of writing that I find interesting
but I find it hard to limit myself to putting a label on them. Most of my English are pieces of Standard
American Edited English as the core or base or influence of the writer but each
passage has its own twist or flare that make it deviate from the norm giving it
flavor. I specifically chose these because SAE is my dominant discourse and has
been getting criticized, so I wanted to find passages that show that this
language style can be creatively made unique and is not as constricted as
people claim it to be.
I really liked how you used a short sentence to switch it up a bit and how you used parentheses. I feel like if you could have used short sentences more so it could add more of an intense feel. perhaps when you were talking about your home language being English.
ReplyDeletei really like how you are doing your portfolio. I am doing my own with SAE examples but i like how you are adding flavour with deviating from the norm of the assignment!
Brooke,
ReplyDeleteYou make a lot of great points about Flynn’s article, and I definitely agree with your view on “Standard English”—I think it’s very necessary, and don’t think there’s a problem with students using it to communicate, but it’s best when students know about its possible dangers etc., because it makes the importance of code-switching make more sense (especially, if they have a different home language, and wish to preserve it). I like the angle that you’ve got for your portfolio, and I love how you want to emphasize how useful “code switching” is in your classroom.
As far as your portfolio goes, I think I’m having some similar issues as well. Sometimes classifying all my grammar variations is difficult, and I use a lot of different voices (because I’m drawing from most of my creative work) that all use grammar in their own unique ways—some emphasize more with dashes, italics, and fragments, while others are slow…sarcastic, and make use of complex sentences that can be muddled with commas. Still, I think its great that you’re finding passages that have their own unique twists of flavor, because it means that you’ve found a way to deviate (at least a little) from writing too sterilely, like a college-zombie, and it most-likely means that you’re using grammar in a more experimental way, and you’ve got good voice. So…the difficulty of categorizing and labeling your use is probably a good thing. From what I see of your blog posts, you make great use of parenthetical commas, your voice is pretty strong, and your sentence length shows a great deal of variety, which keeps reader engaged. Also, the title of this blog post is pretty good—I’ve been up for awhile, and it got a good laugh outta’ me when I pulled it up. Overall, great post! And good luck on your final portfolio, it’s sounding like it’s shaping up to be pretty good!
-- Mike