1. GRDG626: Language, Literacy, and Diversity in American Education
Using Linguistic Analysis
Dr. Gloria E. Jacobs

2. Agenda Sharing Minilecture and Linguistic Workshop Break
Small Group Discussion
Introduction to Student Analysis
Next Week

3. Sharing
Elliot of RCSD addressing NCTE

4. Minilecture: Linguistic Variation
Accents, dialects, languages – all linguistic variation
Levels of variation
Regional Association (“regional dialects)
Pronunciation (accent)
Vocabulary
Social Groups (“social dialects”)
Grammar

5. 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.

6. Minilecture: Linguistic Variation
Use These Terms
Language variation or linguistic variation
Vernacular dialect
Standard English(es)
Rather Than These
Dialect
Nonstandard English
Proper English

7. Language, Learning, and Thinking
No evidence that linguistic variation interferes with cognitive development or reflects logical thinking (or lack thereof).

8. Minilecture: Linguistic Variation
Standard English(es): 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.

9. 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
Explicitly teach code switching and audience/purpose for different Englishes

10. 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 in which you teach
Listen for grammatical patterns
Listen for pronunciation patterns
Vowel differences tend to mark region
Consonant differences tend to mark social class

11. Minilecture: Linguistic Variation
Is someone who speaks in the vernacular
“uneducated” Or
not socialized into academic or standard Englishes
choosing to use a linguistic variant as an identity and group membership marker

12. Minilecture: Linguistic Variation
Implications for Literacy Instruction
miscue analysis/reading instruction
The shortcomings of Dibels and similar out of context word lists
spelling development
grammar instruction
writing assessment
mis-identification of students for Special Education services
We should of gone to are grandmother house.

13. Minilecture - IPA (Phonics Chapter)
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)

14. IPA sounds/symbols

15. Linguistic Workshop (Part 1)
With a partner, go to a quiet place in the building and analyze your speech
Read a portion of a passage from a text. Have your partner listen to how you really pronounce different words. Listen for vowels, dropped consonants, elisions, etc.
Pay attention to how you speak in casual conversation. How does your pronunciation change? How do your grammatical patterns change? What vocabulary choices do you make that mark you as a particular type of person (Discourse community)?
How does this differ from how you speak in a professional environment?

16. Break 6:15 – 6:30

17. Linguistic Workshop (Part 2)
With a partner, wander around campus and listen to the different speech patterns.
Take notes on what you hear and your reactions to the language variations you hear.

18. Small Group Discussion
Random groups. Discuss what you learned during your linguistic self-reflection and sleuthing.

19. Student Analysis See syllabus Data to be collected Analysis
Implications

20. Next Week Watch performances from Brave New Voices
Compton-Lilly Chapter 10
Redd, T.M. & Webb, K.S. (2005). A Teacher’s Introduction to African American English. Urbana, IL: NCTE. Chapters 3 & 4
Tatum, A. (2009). Reading for Their Life: (Re)Building the Textual Lineages of African American Males. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

21. Examples of Spoken Word
Hebrew Mamita
Taylor Mali - "What Teachers Make"