“Teaching Standard English: Whose Standard?” is a reading
about personal experience of the writer, Linda M. Christensen. English from Boston, Texas, and from Los
Angeles might be different in some pronunciation and word using. Linda has to
avoid the word lawyer and lay in order not making people burst into laughter
after hearing her pronunciation. The questions arise from this kind of event,
who determines which one is “standard English” and which one is “nonstandard”.
A bias also arises as people using nonstandard English, which are their home
language. This problem is getting serious. As people want to pay more attention
to the “correct” English, they are indirectly decreasing their attention on
engaging, persuading and even entertaining. Realize it or not, the teacher has
the main role on solving this issue. Some teacher might just humiliate or put
down students’ home language indirectly, and just straight to the point what is
right or what is wrong. People will start losing their passion and honesty about
their world without knowing who benefits from the rules, who makes the rules,
and who loses from the rules.
Linda study English for about fifteen years to become an
English teacher and teach her student about “Standard English”. She has
experienced being down because of her own English. Therefore, she changes the
way an English teacher supposed to teach. By inviting her former student, she
showed that it’s OK to have “nonstandard English”. In fact, after hearing her
former student with a weird pronunciation, students to be open about
themselves. The problems like homosexual in families even arise in the
discussion as the students start being honest and being open. Rather than
putting students down because of “standard English”, teachers need to encourage
students and don’t let them blame their own selves for the low grade on English
or poor SAT scores. As a good teacher, she has the role to empower student with
the right English without throwing away their English value.
I really agree with Linda that “Standard English” is not
supposed to be a wall to block people’s creativities and ideas. By being down,
people cannot stand on their own feet to defend their argument, as they are
afraid of making mistakes. People need to value their own English that they learn
from their home. Because without worrying about their English, someone can
easily express their thought about something. I really like when Linda said, “…
what I said was more important than how I said it.”
Do you agree that Standard English is not everything on
discussion? Do we just need to stay back and let this issue keep happening?
What can you do to give impact to the people who don’t have the “correct”
English? What do you thing the right role for an English teacher?
I think that standard English in the way it is used hear is not as important in discussion. The article seems to talk more about problems people have with pronunciation difficulties and accents. Judging people based on these isn't fair. It would be wrong (and extremely difficult) for teachers to deal with all these issues. Thus, I think they need to stay back and let this one be.
ReplyDeleteTimes change, and we have to adapt to this. While I think it is important for people to learn proper english, we can't leave behind those who struggle because of their various situations (learning disability, racial background, etc.). Who knows, these kids could be the future politicians or great individuals of our time. However, if we shoot them down at the start because they don't pick up english as quickly as some of us, how are they going to be encouraged to succeed in an English speaking society?
ReplyDeleteI think since language can be categorized as verbal and written, we cannot just struggle with grammar or standards. For instance, when I was in China, we learn English, most focus on grammar. However, when I actually come to the US, I found out that daily-use speaking English is way different than the rules I learned from the book. I think language is the tool of communication. It should be formalist or rigid.The culture of the language is important, but it also should be developed with the development of the society. Like American English, it is also the development from British classical English and has now its own tone.
ReplyDelete