The Teaching of American English

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The Teaching of American English

• English in the United States and Canada
• Prof. R. Hickey
• SS 2006
• Universität Duisburg-Essen
• by Jana Chanas, Elena Privezentseva, Nina
  Marleaux , Veronika Funke, Riccarda Brinkmann

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Overview

• Applications of Dialect Study
• Dialects and Testing
• Testing Language
• Teaching Standard English
• Dialect Awareness in the School and Community

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Dialects and Testing

• Three critical dimensions of testing
• The definition of correctness or normative
  linguistic behavior
• The particular way
• The sociolinguistic situation or context

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Language achievement

• California Achievement Test
• Beth come/came home and cried.
• Can you went/go out now ?
• When can/may I come again ?

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The Scholastic Aplitude Test

• My sister am/is six years old.
• She will give me them/these dolls.
• I shall/will go there tomorrow.
• I am/are a good pupil.
• There was/were no ducks on the lake.
• Is George going to eat with us/we?
• Father and they/them are going on a trip.

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Speech and language development tests

• The Test of Language Development
• The boy is writing something. This is what he
  wrote/has written/did write.
• This horse is not big. This horse is big. This
  horse is ..(bigger).
• This is soap, and these are soap/bars of
  soap/more soap.

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• 4. Here is a foot. Here are two ..(feet)
• 5. The boy has two bananas. He gave one away and
  he kept one for ..(himself).

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Testing Language

• Most standardized language assessment instruments
  focus on restricted domains or levels language.
• e.g. PPVT (the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test)
• The deeper the language level, the more similar
  the different dialects of English tend to be.

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• The more superficial and limited the scope of
  language capability tapped in a testing
  instrument, the greater the likelihood that the
  instrument will be inappropriate for speakers
  beyond the immediate population upon which it was
  normed.

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Using language to access information

• Sociolinguistic differences may affect the
  results of tests which have little to do with
  language.
• Misinterpretation of simple directions
• e.g. repeat verbatim repetition task
• paraphrasing task

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Using language to access information

• Language of test is set apart from everyday
  language usage
• e.g. To prevent scum from forming in a partly
  used can of paint, one should _________
• ungrammatical sentence structures
• e.g. Show me digging!

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Testing situation

• Different cultural orientation
• differences in language use in the test situation
• e.g. status relationship between the test
  administrator and test taker
• children should be seen and not heard ?
  childs willingness to ask questions ? test
  scores

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Resolving the assessment dilemma

• Fay Vaughn-Cooke (1983)
• ? Seven alternative proposals for resolving the
  dilemma of test bias for non-mainstream dialect
  groups
• Standardize existing tests on non-mainstream
  English speakers.
• Include a small percentage of minorities in the
  standardization sample when developing a test.
• Modify or revise existing tests in ways that will
  make them appropriate for non-mainstream
  speakers.

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Resolving the assessment dilemma

• Utilize a language sample when assessing the
  language of non-mainstream speakers.
• Utilize criterion-referenced measures when
  assessing the language of non-mainstream
  speakers.
• Refrain from using all standardized tests that
  have not been corrected for test bias when
  assessing the language of non-mainstream
  speakers.
• Develop a new test which can provide a more
  appropriate assessment of the language of
  non-mainstream speakers.

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The language diagnostician

• Language specialists
• must know the descriptive linguistic
  characteristics of the local communities they
  serve
• should experiment with the administration of
  required standardized tests in a non-traditional,
  or nonstandardized manner
• ask test takers why particular responses were
  chosen

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The language diagnostician

• Formal measures of language ability must be
  complemented with assessment strategies more
  focused on underlying language capabilities in
  realistic communicative contexts.
• It is essential to complement the assessment of
  language capabilities with ethnographic
  information about language use in a natural
  setting.

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• Teaching Standard English

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• What is Standard English?
• formal standard codified, prescriptive,
  relatively homogeneous, restricted to
  writing and public presentations
• informal standard subjective, flexible, tends
  to exist on a continuum, widely
  applicable, everyday language

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• Peter Strevens
• existence of one standard that may be paired with
  any local base
• Standard English is the only dialect which is
  neither localized in its currency nor paired
  solely with its local accent
• aspects of grammar and pronunciation

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• Standard American English (SAE)
• a variety of English, that contains general and
  local features as well as regional features
• associated with middle-class, educated native
  speakers
• speaking English without some kind of dialect is
  impossible

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• Approaches to standard English
• replacive dialect (eradicationism) supplanting
  the dialect of vernacular-speaking students
• additive dialect (bidialectalism) maintaining
  standard and vernacular varieties
• dialect rightsrespect diversity, the rights of
  students to their own language

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• Teaching standard English without apparent
  success

• reasons
• dialect is an integral component of personal and
  social identity
• standard English isolation, identity crisis
• the minor differences of standard English and
  vernacular dialects make it difficult for
  learners to sort out

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• How should standard English be taught?
• principle
• instructional program
• goal functional bidialectalism
• program should incorporate some language
  scenarios
• educational goals and pedagogical strategies are
  in harmony

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• principle
• incorporating information about the nature of
  dialect diversity in standard English instruction
• principle
• focus on systematic differences between standard
  English and non-standard English forms

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• principle
• Conventions of language use and behaviour
• the teaching of standard English cannot be
  limited to grammatical and phonological structures

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Dialect Awareness in the School and Community
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Dialects and Reading

• Decoding (the process whereby written symbols are
  related to the sounds of language) refers to the
  ways in which the letters of the spelling system
  relate to the English sound system
• Example There wont be anything to do until he
  finds out if he can go without taking Johns
  brother.
• An example of vernacular dialect decoding Deuh
  wont be anything to do until he fin out if he
  can go wisout takin John_ brovuh.
• An example of grammatical mismatch in written
  text and spoken vernacular dialect It wont be
  nothing to do till he find_ out can he go without
  taking John_ brother.

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Dialect Readers

• dialect reader (a text that incorporates the
  nonstandard grammatical forms typical of a
  vernacular-speaking community)
• dialect readers have proven to be highly
  controversial (relates to the deliberate use of
  socially stigmatized language forms in written
  material)
• use of dialect readers based on three
  assumptions
• that there is a mismatch between the childs
  system and the standard English textbook to
  warrant distinct materials
• that the benefits of reading success will
  outweigh any negative connotations associated
  with use of the socially stigmatized variety
• that the use of vernacular dialects in reading
  will promote reading success

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Dialect Influence in Written Language

• nonstandard structures in writing
• 1) verbal - s absence (e.g. She go_)
• 2) plural - s absence (e.g. four mile_)
• 3) possessive - s absence (e.g. John_ hat)
• 4) ed absence resulting from consonant cluster
  reduction (e.g. Yesterday they miss_)
• 5) copula is and are absence (e.g. We _ going to
  the game)

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Dialect Influence in Written Language

• direct transfer model (the occurrence of a form
  in writing which is matched by one in the spoken
  dialect and interpreted as a direct carryover
  from a spoken language pattern to written
  language)
• eye dialect
• consists of a set of spelling changes that have
  nothing to do with the phonological differences
  of real dialects
• the reason it is called eye dialect because it
  appeals to the eye of the reader rather than the
  ear
• Examples spelling of was as wuz, does as duz,
  excusable as exkusable, them as dem, fellow as
  feller, first as fust.

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Dialect Influence in Written Language

• an apostrophe is used in dialect writing to
  indicate that a sound or a syllable has been
  lost by comparison with the standard variety
  (Example mo for more, ac for act, cause for
  because, cept for axcept - all indicate an
  absent sound or syllable)

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Dialect Awareness in Schools and Communities

• by Riccarda Brinkmann
• Grundstudium (TN)

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Why should pupils be aware of different dialects?

• Students and community members often have
  unjustified stereotypes about language and the
  way it relates to class, ethnicity, and religion.

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Why should pupils be aware of different dialects?

• Dialects affect the way students think about
  others and themselves
• Mainstream speakers may view their
  vernacular-speaking peers as linguistically
  deficient
• and so does the broader-based educational system

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Why should pupils be aware of different dialects?

• Vernacular speakers may even view their own
  linguistic behavior as proof that they are just
  as stupid as their language varieties are held
  to be.

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Why should pupils be aware of different dialects?

• Dialect discrimination cant be taken more
  lightly that any other type of potential
  discrimination
• therefore students need to be informed about
  different dialects
• about their history
• how they are applied

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Dialect Awareness Programs

• These kinds of programs are not only applied in
  schools but also in communities
• They are used to help people to get a better
  understanding about the different accents and
  dialects spoken in their community and country
• They often result in improved relationships
  between schools and communities as well as
  between adolescents and adults

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How do these programs work?

• Pupils can take special classes about linguistic
  features at school
• Here they start of with a hypotheses about a
  certain dialect
• The next step is to do some research
• Afterwards they are going to evaluate their
  results and then compare them with the original
  theses

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How do these programs work?

• They can also be part of the school curriculum
• Special lesson on the study of dialects
• Test where students can find out about their
  knowledge of different accents and dialects
• Students can create their own test and evaluation
  forms

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How do these programs work?

• Pupils can listen to oral samples or watch videos
  
• They can visit different communities where the
  dialect they are studying is spoken
• Often vernacular-speakers are invited to school

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What are the results of these programs?

• Kids can create a new slang term and follow its
  spread among their peers to observe the social
  dynamics of language
• Students are getting more aware of the dialects
  around them and also of the mainstream dialect

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What are the results of these programs?

• Pupils are getting interested in linguistics
• Stereotypes and prejudices are dealt with
• Schools and communities are functioning better

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• Thank you very much for your attention!!