Vernacular English in Classrooms
The word ‘vernacular’ is defined as “the native language or native dialect of a specific population, especially as distinguished from a literary, national or standard variety of the language used in the region or state inhabited by that population” (Vernacular). AAVE is then the dominant dialect spoken between African Americans. Often times, teachers find this to be a problem in their classrooms, then criticize their students when they aren’t using ‘standard English.’ However, the students are using their type of English that they’ve grown up speaking at home. African American Vernacular English is indeed a language. Since it is a different dialect than what is being taught in the schools, which does not mean it is incorrect.
African American Vernacular English, otherwise known as AAVE or “Black English,” tends to lead towards conflict in schools. Jack Sidnell writes, “AAVE has been at the heart of several public debates and the analysis of this variety has also sparked and sustained debates among sociolinguists” (Sidnell). The reason for its conflict is often that educators think of AAVE as being a separate language not just a type of dialect. In fact, many people don’t even realize that AAVE is actually a type of dialect. For instance, many people can tell someone that yes, most African American people do not speak mainstream “standard English” for the most part, but they would agree that it’s still English. The truth being though that it’s just like having a California dialect with using “like” or having a more laid back type of speech when they talk. The same goes for Southern speakers. They use ‘y’all’ and often leave off the ‘g’ at end of words (walkin’, talkin’, goin’).
An article written by John Rickford, he discusses a brief history of AAVE, then includes a list of about 25 characteristics that African American Vernacular English possess. The first and fourth traits are ones that seem to come to mind for people most often when thinking of this dialect. These two traits are: “Reduction of word-final consonant clusters (i.e. han instead of hand), and realization of final ng as n in gerunds (i.e. walkin’ instead of walking)” (Rickford). Those characteristics seem to come to mind first primarily since it’s what we hear most often when listening to the AAVE dialect. It doesn’t mean that the other 23 characteristics aren’t as important; they are, it’s just that these stick out as well as register in our minds more often than the others do.
In the PBS documentary by William Cran, Do You Speak American? (Cran), there is a clip that shows a teacher discussing with his fifth grade class how to code-switch from their ‘home language’ (mainly AAVE) to mainstream American language. In their exercise they are given a sentence or phrase that is not written with correct grammar. It is the children’s job to figure out what is wrong with the sentence/phrase then turn it into a grammatically correct statement.
For instance, one of the sentences used was “We don’t have nothin’ to do,” at first the group mistakenly corrects it as, “We don’t have nothing to do,” emphasizing the ‘g’ missing at the end. Their teacher then tells them it is incorrect, but does it in a way that doesn’t belittle the students for making a mistake in their translation since they are all learning the code-switching process. The group gets another chance, plus they get the statement right by changing it to, “We don’t have anything to do.” It proves to be much more fun for the students when there is a game involved; a person can see the children’s excitement when they correctly code-switch an answer.
Another separate clip from Cran’s Do You Speak American, tells of three grown men, Asheen, Dwayne, and Kihilee with their much different experience of using AAVE when they were in middle school 25+ years ago. The clip talks about how these men went to a predominantly white based school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The video’s narrator explains how when they talked in their AAVE dialect, their teachers just presumed that they didn’t understand the standard English language, thus could not do the schoolwork. Asheen says, “It sort of felt like we were unteachable in a sense…It made them (the teachers) go towards other students more and gave them a little bit more help than they would give us” (Cran).
A mother of one of the boys, Annie Blair, says that her son was given a comprehension test, and was then placed into a special education class because the teachers felt that they weren’t understanding the context being taught. Nevertheless, the boys did actually understand. The teachers just weren’t willing to put in the time as well as effort needed to help the boys succeed.
Annie Blair then had a lawsuit brought against the school for discrimination due to a language barrier. While the trial didn’t go exactly how they had hoped, lawyer Kenneth Lewis said in Cran’s documentary, “You had a federal judge formally acknowledge that African American Vernacular English represented a significant linguistic barrier for academic achievement” (Cran). It was even later argued in California that AAVE was a whole different language, not just a dialect. This statement is clearly not true; AAVE is just a different branch of the standard English language, like having a Southern, Californian, or New England dialect.
Others also feel that schools are failing their AAVE speaking students. For example, John Rickford writes an article that states: “I also want to begin where Oakland began, which is with the facts of massive educational failure within the African American community. The fact is that existing methods, throughout the country, are not working” (Rickford). Rickford also goes on to point out in a bar graph that students who go to a predominantly white school in Palo Alto, California compared to a much more African American and Latino based school in Ravenswood, California. The school with a whiter population have much higher reading, in conjunction with, writing scores in the 3rd and 6th grade classes compared to those grades in the minority school.
Rickford makes the argument that schools are failing African American students in the fact that they aren’t getting nearly as much time and effort as their white classmates are. Like in the Do You Speak American video this could be related back to discrimination. The argument appears to stand at that educators aren’t willing to take the extra time that is needed on these students. This argument, however, would make sense.
For instance, if someone look at the curriculum standards that are held for teachers nowadays it seems impossible that they get through everything that is required of them by the end of the year. Yet, this is no excuse for not giving help to students who may need extra assistance. It should also not be a reason to put them in special education classes when there is no need. It isn’t that these students don’t understand the context, because they clearly do, it’s just that they aren’t familiar with the code-switching process. What should happen is that their attention should be made aware of how they should make the switch from AAVE too standard mainstream English when being used in the classroom.
To bring back the example of Southern and students in the Pacific Southwest (more broadly than just California students), we don’t tend to correct them when they use “y’all” or “like” often when we know that that is their dialect along with how they are speaking isn’t incorrect. If we constantly criticize students for speaking differently than we are used than we are used to, we will end up shutting down our students as well as making them feel as though their previous education was wrong.
If a home-schooled student attends a public school for the first time, they usually are in for a bit of a “culture” shock. They learn more about cliques, and what brands are “acceptable” to wear and which ones are not. They usually also learn a new vocabulary. Trend words seem to have taken a more enhanced newfound popularity thanks to social media’s ever growing following. In example, if a person were to step foot into a middle school classroom tomorrow they would probably hear acronyms being used as real words like, “bae (babe/baby),” “DMs (direct messages,” “MCM/WCW (man crush Monday/women crush Wednesday)” as well as actual words like, “glo up” (changing in looks due to puberty), “adulting” (doing grown up responsibilities), and “fleek” (on point or exact).
The students aren’t using the acronyms or trend words wrong necessarily; they’re just using them in place of more exact, defined words. These words mean something to them even though they might not to others around them who hear the words being used. To correct them and tell them they are mistaken in their usage of speech would be -in a way- ineffective. They know how to use the real words when they are needed. When it comes down to it they will write the words out when it is needed, but that is because they are aware of the code-switching process whether they know they are or not.
This rule needs to be utilized amongst African American students for their AAVE dialect as well. Educators need to make the students aware that how they speak isn’t “incorrect” but they do, in fact, need to be able to code-switch for more formal papers for school. This way, the majority of their readers will be able to understand their paper and writing with a simpler ease. It’s crucial to take into consideration the feelings of all students. A teacher should never want them to shut down and feel as though how they speak isn’t correct.
Depending on each type of individual student, there will be talkative ones as well as the much more reserved ones. It’s crucial to always take into account the feelings of the students because a teacher never wants them to feel as though they aren’t valued in the classroom, or that their opinions and thoughts don’t matter. This being said, when approaching code-switching for the more academic based assignments a teacher should make it clear that how they speak is fine, but when writing formally it is better to spell words out completely, additionally, write in a manner that is more virtually used.
For instance, like previously stated earlier on, an educator could point out that while talking to friends it is fine to use informal language. Leaving ‘g’s’ off the end of words including using slang or shortened words, but that they shouldn’t write that in a formal research paper that will be read by many people. It is better to be formal in academic writings, so people will think the author is more serious about what they have written. They will also be able to tell that the author has put in a great deal of effort into their work which will be more highly respected.
Most schools do not teach dialect, but more so the importance of correct mainstream standard English since that is more widely known by people and used. For instance, Jordan Boyd-Graber says that “we shouldn’t teach it (AAVE dialect) for the same reason we don’t teach dialects in Switzerland: there isn’t enough material, it will annoy people who aren’t part of that dialect community, and there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to teach all of the things that are worthy of being taught” (Boyd-Graber).
This statement does make quite a bit of sense because there are so many curriculum requirements that must be met before the end of a school year. Teachers struggle as much as it is trying to get everything done that is expected of them in the short amount of time that they are allotted. For them to go and try to teach dialect to some students who might not ever speak in that dialect would be a waste of time that they don’t have. It would also be educating some students who may never have to use this dialect, however, maybe it could be offered as an elective course in some schools that have their community heavily populated in AAVE speaking students.
A small town in Pickford, Michigan shows that in 2000, “the racial makeup of the township was 92.11% White and 0.06% African American” (Pickford Township, MI) in this instance, the comprehension level of learning AAVE in classrooms would be quite unnecessary. The majority of the demographic wouldn’t be benefitting at all from learning this dialect since they are very rarely exposed to it, if ever at all.
In Flint, Michigan, though, where in the 2010 census states: “the racial makeup of the city was 37.4% White, 56.6% African American,” (Flint, Michigan) it would be more logical to offer a AAVE dialect course in one of the multiple school districts around this area where the dialect is more known among the general population. People in Flint will also have more chances to utilize their knowledge of AAVE when speaking with someone who regularly uses this speech dialect.
Meanwhile, in California, some people tried to get AAVE a more defined term which they called, ebonics. Ebonics is a term that is defined as: “a variation of English spoken by African Americans, consisting of slang and shortened words” (Ebonics Dictionary Definition, 2016). It derives from “a school board in Oakland, California in 1996” (Friedman, 2013). The word ‘Ebonics’ has had much backlash due to the fact that people had felt that ‘Ebonics’ meant a whole separate language. Speakers of ‘Ebonics,’ or the more widely accepted AAVE, didn’t approve of this new word because they knew it wasn’t a whole separate language. “
The educators in California had no plans to teach kids to speak and write AAVE; Lex Friedman writes “this wasn’t an attempt to get “ain’t” in their grammar books. Rather, the Oakland school board’s ruling was meant to stop unfairly punishing kids whose first instinct was to speak at school the way they spoke at home” (Friedman). In this case, while ‘Ebonics’ is frowned upon, it is important to be aware that most schools and educators do acknowledge that AAVE is just a separate dialect, not a whole other language that people speak in their communities. It’s just like any other accent from anywhere in the United States.
While AAVE maybe shouldn’t be taught generally in schools, it could possibly be beneficial to have an AAVE dialect elective course for those who are interested in taking it. It is also important that educators are aware of this dialect so they don’t try to correct the student for how they speak. The worst thing that could happen would be that a teacher overcorrects, and makes their student feel as though they aren’t as intelligent as the others for the way they were raised to speak. Everyone is different, therefore, no one speaks the same. Code-switching is a growing tool and should be utilized whenever it is necessary. Kids know how to write well executed papers and when it comes down to it, they know that trend words and slang words shouldn’t be included unless it helps with the papers main idea as well as provides strength.
Make sure the students are aware of the code-switching process if it is necessary, but even if it may not be vital for them to use, it’s still a useful tool to know how to use should the occasion ever arise. It’s better to have well equipped and prepared students than students who feel shut down or unintelligent because of some correcting for the way that they talk.
Always remember to put the student’s needs first and make sure they know that the intentions aren’t meant to belittle them. If they need extra time, then try to carve out a slot when both not too busy with school work and they can be provided with some further assistance where it is needed. Students look to their teachers as a leader. The last thing they want to do is make the students feel as though they can’t come to them for something as common as speech and language. AAVE is just as an important dialect as any other accent out there and it should be accepted as such.
Boyd-Graber, Jordan. "Should African American Vernacular English Be Taught in U.S. Schools?" - Quora. N.p., 21 Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
https://www.quora.com/Should-African-American-vernacular-English-be-taught-in-U-S-schools
Cran, William, dir. "Do You Speak American?-DYSA Ebonics Controversy -- Ann Arbor, MI School Board." Do You Speak American. PBS. 5 Jan. 2005. YouTube. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKlmaFQniB0
Do You Speak American? Dir. William Cran. Perf. Robert MacNeil. PBS, 2005. Youtube: Do You Speak American? Thirteen/WNET, 5 Jan. 2005. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX1-FgkfWo8
"Ebonics Dictionary Definition | Ebonics Defined." Ebonics Dictionary Definition | Ebonics Defined. N.p., 2016. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/ebonics
"Flint, Michigan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Oct. 2016. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michigan#Ethnic_minorities
Friedman, Lex. "The Magazine." Article RSS. N.p., 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.
http://the-magazine.org/12/aint-no-reason#.WAi8eflViko
"Pickford Township, Michigan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Jan. 2016. Web. 19 Oct. 2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickford_Township,_Michigan
Sidnell, Jack. "African American Vernacular English." African American Vernacular English. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/aave.html#bkgd-hce
Rickford, John R. "African American Vernacular English: Roots And Branches." African American Vernacular English (1999): 1-7. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
http://www.johnrickford.com/portals/45/documents/papers/Rickford-1999e-Phonological-and-Grammatical-Features-of-AAVE.pdf
Rickford, John R. "Using the Vernacular to Teach the Standard." Using the Vernacular to Teach the Standard. N.p., 1977. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
http://web.stanford.edu/~rickford/papers/VernacularToTeachStandard.html
"Vernacular." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Sept. 2016. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernacular
The word ‘vernacular’ is defined as “the native language or native dialect of a specific population, especially as distinguished from a literary, national or standard variety of the language used in the region or state inhabited by that population” (Vernacular). AAVE is then the dominant dialect spoken between African Americans. Often times, teachers find this to be a problem in their classrooms, then criticize their students when they aren’t using ‘standard English.’ However, the students are using their type of English that they’ve grown up speaking at home. African American Vernacular English is indeed a language. Since it is a different dialect than what is being taught in the schools, which does not mean it is incorrect.
African American Vernacular English, otherwise known as AAVE or “Black English,” tends to lead towards conflict in schools. Jack Sidnell writes, “AAVE has been at the heart of several public debates and the analysis of this variety has also sparked and sustained debates among sociolinguists” (Sidnell). The reason for its conflict is often that educators think of AAVE as being a separate language not just a type of dialect. In fact, many people don’t even realize that AAVE is actually a type of dialect. For instance, many people can tell someone that yes, most African American people do not speak mainstream “standard English” for the most part, but they would agree that it’s still English. The truth being though that it’s just like having a California dialect with using “like” or having a more laid back type of speech when they talk. The same goes for Southern speakers. They use ‘y’all’ and often leave off the ‘g’ at end of words (walkin’, talkin’, goin’).
An article written by John Rickford, he discusses a brief history of AAVE, then includes a list of about 25 characteristics that African American Vernacular English possess. The first and fourth traits are ones that seem to come to mind for people most often when thinking of this dialect. These two traits are: “Reduction of word-final consonant clusters (i.e. han instead of hand), and realization of final ng as n in gerunds (i.e. walkin’ instead of walking)” (Rickford). Those characteristics seem to come to mind first primarily since it’s what we hear most often when listening to the AAVE dialect. It doesn’t mean that the other 23 characteristics aren’t as important; they are, it’s just that these stick out as well as register in our minds more often than the others do.
In the PBS documentary by William Cran, Do You Speak American? (Cran), there is a clip that shows a teacher discussing with his fifth grade class how to code-switch from their ‘home language’ (mainly AAVE) to mainstream American language. In their exercise they are given a sentence or phrase that is not written with correct grammar. It is the children’s job to figure out what is wrong with the sentence/phrase then turn it into a grammatically correct statement.
For instance, one of the sentences used was “We don’t have nothin’ to do,” at first the group mistakenly corrects it as, “We don’t have nothing to do,” emphasizing the ‘g’ missing at the end. Their teacher then tells them it is incorrect, but does it in a way that doesn’t belittle the students for making a mistake in their translation since they are all learning the code-switching process. The group gets another chance, plus they get the statement right by changing it to, “We don’t have anything to do.” It proves to be much more fun for the students when there is a game involved; a person can see the children’s excitement when they correctly code-switch an answer.
Another separate clip from Cran’s Do You Speak American, tells of three grown men, Asheen, Dwayne, and Kihilee with their much different experience of using AAVE when they were in middle school 25+ years ago. The clip talks about how these men went to a predominantly white based school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The video’s narrator explains how when they talked in their AAVE dialect, their teachers just presumed that they didn’t understand the standard English language, thus could not do the schoolwork. Asheen says, “It sort of felt like we were unteachable in a sense…It made them (the teachers) go towards other students more and gave them a little bit more help than they would give us” (Cran).
A mother of one of the boys, Annie Blair, says that her son was given a comprehension test, and was then placed into a special education class because the teachers felt that they weren’t understanding the context being taught. Nevertheless, the boys did actually understand. The teachers just weren’t willing to put in the time as well as effort needed to help the boys succeed.
Annie Blair then had a lawsuit brought against the school for discrimination due to a language barrier. While the trial didn’t go exactly how they had hoped, lawyer Kenneth Lewis said in Cran’s documentary, “You had a federal judge formally acknowledge that African American Vernacular English represented a significant linguistic barrier for academic achievement” (Cran). It was even later argued in California that AAVE was a whole different language, not just a dialect. This statement is clearly not true; AAVE is just a different branch of the standard English language, like having a Southern, Californian, or New England dialect.
Others also feel that schools are failing their AAVE speaking students. For example, John Rickford writes an article that states: “I also want to begin where Oakland began, which is with the facts of massive educational failure within the African American community. The fact is that existing methods, throughout the country, are not working” (Rickford). Rickford also goes on to point out in a bar graph that students who go to a predominantly white school in Palo Alto, California compared to a much more African American and Latino based school in Ravenswood, California. The school with a whiter population have much higher reading, in conjunction with, writing scores in the 3rd and 6th grade classes compared to those grades in the minority school.
Rickford makes the argument that schools are failing African American students in the fact that they aren’t getting nearly as much time and effort as their white classmates are. Like in the Do You Speak American video this could be related back to discrimination. The argument appears to stand at that educators aren’t willing to take the extra time that is needed on these students. This argument, however, would make sense.
For instance, if someone look at the curriculum standards that are held for teachers nowadays it seems impossible that they get through everything that is required of them by the end of the year. Yet, this is no excuse for not giving help to students who may need extra assistance. It should also not be a reason to put them in special education classes when there is no need. It isn’t that these students don’t understand the context, because they clearly do, it’s just that they aren’t familiar with the code-switching process. What should happen is that their attention should be made aware of how they should make the switch from AAVE too standard mainstream English when being used in the classroom.
To bring back the example of Southern and students in the Pacific Southwest (more broadly than just California students), we don’t tend to correct them when they use “y’all” or “like” often when we know that that is their dialect along with how they are speaking isn’t incorrect. If we constantly criticize students for speaking differently than we are used than we are used to, we will end up shutting down our students as well as making them feel as though their previous education was wrong.
If a home-schooled student attends a public school for the first time, they usually are in for a bit of a “culture” shock. They learn more about cliques, and what brands are “acceptable” to wear and which ones are not. They usually also learn a new vocabulary. Trend words seem to have taken a more enhanced newfound popularity thanks to social media’s ever growing following. In example, if a person were to step foot into a middle school classroom tomorrow they would probably hear acronyms being used as real words like, “bae (babe/baby),” “DMs (direct messages,” “MCM/WCW (man crush Monday/women crush Wednesday)” as well as actual words like, “glo up” (changing in looks due to puberty), “adulting” (doing grown up responsibilities), and “fleek” (on point or exact).
The students aren’t using the acronyms or trend words wrong necessarily; they’re just using them in place of more exact, defined words. These words mean something to them even though they might not to others around them who hear the words being used. To correct them and tell them they are mistaken in their usage of speech would be -in a way- ineffective. They know how to use the real words when they are needed. When it comes down to it they will write the words out when it is needed, but that is because they are aware of the code-switching process whether they know they are or not.
This rule needs to be utilized amongst African American students for their AAVE dialect as well. Educators need to make the students aware that how they speak isn’t “incorrect” but they do, in fact, need to be able to code-switch for more formal papers for school. This way, the majority of their readers will be able to understand their paper and writing with a simpler ease. It’s crucial to take into consideration the feelings of all students. A teacher should never want them to shut down and feel as though how they speak isn’t correct.
Depending on each type of individual student, there will be talkative ones as well as the much more reserved ones. It’s crucial to always take into account the feelings of the students because a teacher never wants them to feel as though they aren’t valued in the classroom, or that their opinions and thoughts don’t matter. This being said, when approaching code-switching for the more academic based assignments a teacher should make it clear that how they speak is fine, but when writing formally it is better to spell words out completely, additionally, write in a manner that is more virtually used.
For instance, like previously stated earlier on, an educator could point out that while talking to friends it is fine to use informal language. Leaving ‘g’s’ off the end of words including using slang or shortened words, but that they shouldn’t write that in a formal research paper that will be read by many people. It is better to be formal in academic writings, so people will think the author is more serious about what they have written. They will also be able to tell that the author has put in a great deal of effort into their work which will be more highly respected.
Most schools do not teach dialect, but more so the importance of correct mainstream standard English since that is more widely known by people and used. For instance, Jordan Boyd-Graber says that “we shouldn’t teach it (AAVE dialect) for the same reason we don’t teach dialects in Switzerland: there isn’t enough material, it will annoy people who aren’t part of that dialect community, and there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to teach all of the things that are worthy of being taught” (Boyd-Graber).
This statement does make quite a bit of sense because there are so many curriculum requirements that must be met before the end of a school year. Teachers struggle as much as it is trying to get everything done that is expected of them in the short amount of time that they are allotted. For them to go and try to teach dialect to some students who might not ever speak in that dialect would be a waste of time that they don’t have. It would also be educating some students who may never have to use this dialect, however, maybe it could be offered as an elective course in some schools that have their community heavily populated in AAVE speaking students.
A small town in Pickford, Michigan shows that in 2000, “the racial makeup of the township was 92.11% White and 0.06% African American” (Pickford Township, MI) in this instance, the comprehension level of learning AAVE in classrooms would be quite unnecessary. The majority of the demographic wouldn’t be benefitting at all from learning this dialect since they are very rarely exposed to it, if ever at all.
In Flint, Michigan, though, where in the 2010 census states: “the racial makeup of the city was 37.4% White, 56.6% African American,” (Flint, Michigan) it would be more logical to offer a AAVE dialect course in one of the multiple school districts around this area where the dialect is more known among the general population. People in Flint will also have more chances to utilize their knowledge of AAVE when speaking with someone who regularly uses this speech dialect.
Meanwhile, in California, some people tried to get AAVE a more defined term which they called, ebonics. Ebonics is a term that is defined as: “a variation of English spoken by African Americans, consisting of slang and shortened words” (Ebonics Dictionary Definition, 2016). It derives from “a school board in Oakland, California in 1996” (Friedman, 2013). The word ‘Ebonics’ has had much backlash due to the fact that people had felt that ‘Ebonics’ meant a whole separate language. Speakers of ‘Ebonics,’ or the more widely accepted AAVE, didn’t approve of this new word because they knew it wasn’t a whole separate language. “
The educators in California had no plans to teach kids to speak and write AAVE; Lex Friedman writes “this wasn’t an attempt to get “ain’t” in their grammar books. Rather, the Oakland school board’s ruling was meant to stop unfairly punishing kids whose first instinct was to speak at school the way they spoke at home” (Friedman). In this case, while ‘Ebonics’ is frowned upon, it is important to be aware that most schools and educators do acknowledge that AAVE is just a separate dialect, not a whole other language that people speak in their communities. It’s just like any other accent from anywhere in the United States.
While AAVE maybe shouldn’t be taught generally in schools, it could possibly be beneficial to have an AAVE dialect elective course for those who are interested in taking it. It is also important that educators are aware of this dialect so they don’t try to correct the student for how they speak. The worst thing that could happen would be that a teacher overcorrects, and makes their student feel as though they aren’t as intelligent as the others for the way they were raised to speak. Everyone is different, therefore, no one speaks the same. Code-switching is a growing tool and should be utilized whenever it is necessary. Kids know how to write well executed papers and when it comes down to it, they know that trend words and slang words shouldn’t be included unless it helps with the papers main idea as well as provides strength.
Make sure the students are aware of the code-switching process if it is necessary, but even if it may not be vital for them to use, it’s still a useful tool to know how to use should the occasion ever arise. It’s better to have well equipped and prepared students than students who feel shut down or unintelligent because of some correcting for the way that they talk.
Always remember to put the student’s needs first and make sure they know that the intentions aren’t meant to belittle them. If they need extra time, then try to carve out a slot when both not too busy with school work and they can be provided with some further assistance where it is needed. Students look to their teachers as a leader. The last thing they want to do is make the students feel as though they can’t come to them for something as common as speech and language. AAVE is just as an important dialect as any other accent out there and it should be accepted as such.
Boyd-Graber, Jordan. "Should African American Vernacular English Be Taught in U.S. Schools?" - Quora. N.p., 21 Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
https://www.quora.com/Should-African-American-vernacular-English-be-taught-in-U-S-schools
Cran, William, dir. "Do You Speak American?-DYSA Ebonics Controversy -- Ann Arbor, MI School Board." Do You Speak American. PBS. 5 Jan. 2005. YouTube. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKlmaFQniB0
Do You Speak American? Dir. William Cran. Perf. Robert MacNeil. PBS, 2005. Youtube: Do You Speak American? Thirteen/WNET, 5 Jan. 2005. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX1-FgkfWo8
"Ebonics Dictionary Definition | Ebonics Defined." Ebonics Dictionary Definition | Ebonics Defined. N.p., 2016. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/ebonics
"Flint, Michigan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Oct. 2016. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michigan#Ethnic_minorities
Friedman, Lex. "The Magazine." Article RSS. N.p., 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.
http://the-magazine.org/12/aint-no-reason#.WAi8eflViko
"Pickford Township, Michigan." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Jan. 2016. Web. 19 Oct. 2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickford_Township,_Michigan
Sidnell, Jack. "African American Vernacular English." African American Vernacular English. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/aave.html#bkgd-hce
Rickford, John R. "African American Vernacular English: Roots And Branches." African American Vernacular English (1999): 1-7. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.
http://www.johnrickford.com/portals/45/documents/papers/Rickford-1999e-Phonological-and-Grammatical-Features-of-AAVE.pdf
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http://web.stanford.edu/~rickford/papers/VernacularToTeachStandard.html
"Vernacular." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Sept. 2016. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernacular