10 Three Mentor Texts That Support Code-Switching Pedagogies · 6/3/2013 · switching pedagogies for middle level students that are guided by three mentor texts. Woodson’s (2009)

Hill | Three Mentor Texts That Support Code-Switching Pedagogiespage

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Voices from the Middle, Volume 20 Number 4, May 2013

Dara Hill

Three Mentor Texts That Support Code-Switching Pedagogies

A common concern among teach-ers is the challenge of devel-oping a skill set for delivering

code-switching pedagogies to young adolescents who speak African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and other varieties of English.

Carrie Secret, a well-known teacher who em-ployed the Standard English Proficiency Pro-gram while the Ebonics Resolution was in effect in the 1990s, points out the tendency for teachers to negate AAVE speakers’ language features in writing with a “fix something that is wrong” ap-proach (Miner, 1997). Instead, she recommends translating AAVE features in formal writing contexts into Standard English (SE). Similarly, it is necessary to provide a balance of informal writing contexts that value AAVE features, along with formal writing opportunities that call for scaffolding toward Standard English features in a manner that is nonthreatening (Hill, 2009, 2010). Secret additionally recommends exposure to read-alouds of literature with authentic AAVE and SE features to ensure exposure to both lan-guage registers while explicating distinctions.

This article will offer a variety of code-switching pedagogies for middle level students that are guided by three mentor texts. Woodson’s (2009) Peace, Locomotion will include conceptual-ized pedagogies. The remaining two mentor texts were facilitated in my practice among my middle level students and during my research with a seventh-grade English teacher who en-acted code-switching pedagogies: Curtis’s (1997)

The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963 and Fleisch-man’s (1997) Seedfolks, respectively. Although the mentor texts and code-switching pedagogies are situated in AAVE and SE, it is possible to transfer teaching strategies to other varieties of English. (SE and academic English will be described in-terchangeably).

Code-switching PedagogiesCode-switching pedagogies call for employing the use of home language to facilitate infor-mal and formal contexts for writing and speak-ing (Delpit & Dowdy, 2002; Adger, Christian, & Taylor, 1999; Ladson-Billings, 1995). Thus, code-switching pedagogies involve navigating different registers of the same language.

AAVE can be differentiated from other dia-lects of English; therefore, its systematic gram-matical and phonological features define AAVE as a variety of the English language (Rickford & Rickford, 2000). AAVE is recognized as the “pri-mary language of African American students,” which should be considered in “facilitating mas-tery of English language skills” (Rickford, 1999, p. 1). Rickford and Rickford (2000) contend that AAVE features are detected in the speech pat-terns of working class speakers in urban areas. Moreover, many speakers of AAVE do not em-ploy its features all the time, nor do all African Americans speak AAVE.

Balancing formal and informal writing op-portunities enhances awareness of their distinc-tions and appropriate contexts (Delpit, 2006). Delpit claims that access to Standard or academic English promotes access to the culture of power and enhanced educational attainment.

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Hill | Three Mentor Texts That Support Code-Switching Pedagogies

Nonstandard writing features are informed by students’ social worlds (Dyson, 2002). Code-switching pedagogies are aligned with standards devised by the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English (Greer, Smith, & Erwin, 1996), in which teach-ers develop a respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects, which tacitly includes AAVE speakers and other varieties of English. Moreover, IRA and NCTE standards promote multiple purposes for writing across a variety of audiences.

Carrie Secret is a notable teacher in Oakland, California, who employed code-switching peda-gogies while the Ebonics Resolution was in effect (Miner, 1997). She embraced her preadolescents’ home language by distinguishing between spo-ken sounds and grammatical features embedded in their home language and SE. Rather than as-sume a corrective approach, she determined her students responded better upon distinguishing between appropriate contexts for employing Standard and nonstandard English. She read aloud literature grounded in the African Ameri-can linguistic tradition, along with literature with SE features. Similarly, she provided formal and informal contexts for writing and speaking.

Baker (2002) led her high school students’ negotiation of academic, home, and professional varieties of English to embrace different regis-ters. She contends that students will more likely pursue formal, academic English if they partici-pate in nonthreatening contexts for examining variations of English.

Wheeler & Swords (2006) suggest modeling corresponding grammatical features in AAVE and Standard English. Teachers must support an understanding of appropriate contexts for employing Standard and nonstandard English, rather than imposing that AAVE is incorrect. For instance, the third-person plural pronoun followed by was (they was) is a grammatical fea-ture of AAVE (Rickford & Rickford, 2000) that corresponds with “they were” in Standard Eng-lish. Rather than deeming “they was” as an error,

a teacher must distinguish between appropriate formal and informal contexts for writing.

Mentor TextsPeace, LocomotionPeace, Locomotion (Woodson, 2009) tells the story of Lonnie Collins Motion, also known as Locomotion, a pre-adolescent who lives in foster care. The novel is a collection of Lon-nie’s letters and poems to his sister, Lili, who lives with another fos-ter family. He assumes the role of “remem-berer” and informs her about his life ex-periences while they are apart. His language is a combination of SE and AAVE. The varieties of English require a close teacher-led analysis to in-form writing or discussion about corresponding features and contexts for usage.

Throughout most of the text, Standard Eng-lish features are present, in addition to their AAVE equivalent. To illustrate, it would be prudent to analyze Lonnie’s standard and non-standard use of subject and verb agreement. For example, “we were” is employed when he writes about “Before Time,” but on occasion, he writes “we was” in the present time. The invariant be, which calls for actions that occur habitually (Rickford & Rickford, 2000) is used each time he refers to his friends. The first occasion appears at the beginning of the novel: “your homeboys be slapping your back and saying ‘good shot’” (p. 6). Conversely, Lonnie uses “is” and “are” con-ventionally throughout the text, as he hopes for a future with Lili and explains his daily experiences (see Fig. 1). The corresponding grammatical fea-tures can undergo teacher-led modeling, com-mensurate with Lonnie’s emotions.

The letters and poems are written by Lon-nie, which presents the potential for initiating letter- and poetry-writing topics. Topics for let-

Although the mentor texts

and code-switching pedagogies

are situated in AAVE and SE,

it is possible to transfer teach-

ing strategies to other varieties

of English.

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ter writing might include Lili’s response to one of Lonnie’s letters, while employing both SE and AAVE. Lonnie’s depiction of Lili’s voice reveals use of SE. AAVE features can be detected on one occasion with the omission of “are”: “Sounds like you in love, big brother” (p. 55). Their use of lan-guage presents the possibility of raising aware-ness of AAVE speakers who do not speak AAVE all of the time. Students can be encouraged to write a letter to a distant loved one, to Lonnie, or to Lili with SE and home language features. Students can be encouraged to write poems with similar language features from Lonnie’s perspec-tive or their own, while using the poems as men-tor texts.

Wheeler and Swords (2006) recommend teacher modeling and comparing and contrast-ing grammatical features across registers. Such an analysis calls for explicitly recognizing that no variety of English is superior to another, and to instill respect for language variation

The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963 (Curtis, 1997) presents an intimate portrayal of the Wat-son family during the civil rights movement. Ad-olescents will likely relate to the presence of the family’s idiosyncrasies. The author’s purpose is to deeply connect the reader with the four Wat-son children to instill an understanding of indi-vidual victims of the 16th Street church bombing in 1963.

The language features consist of SE, AAVE, and the dialect spoken in the southern states. The epilogue is written in SE and is an exposi-tory text. The language features that characterize the narrative and epilogue are a basis for analy-sis and discussion, and the distinctions can guide narrative and expository writing.

The initial chapter is appropriate for read-ers theater. Active participation in readers the-ater and a teacher’s act of distinguishing between registers can assist students’ familiarity with the

cOnnEcTIOnS fROM READwRITEThInk

Dialect Detectives: Exploring Dialect in Great Expectations

Great Expectations is rich in dialogue and is written in the dialect of the working class and the poor of Victorian England. The things characters say and how they speak is one of the ways in which readers get to know them. What does Dickens reveal about his characters using dialect? This ReadWriteThink.org lesson is based on the different words that appear in the first book of the novel. It will help students develop a comfort level and confidence in dealing with unfamiliar dialect words and phrases.

This lesson uses Great Expectations as an example, but this activity is effective with any work of literature in which dialect is important.

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/dialect-detectives-exploring-dialect-30869.html

Lisa Finkwww.readwritethink.org

SE AAVE

is and are (used when Lonnie hopes for a future with Lili) The invariant be (used when Lonnie refers to habitual interactions with his friends)

They/we were (Before Time and present time) They/we was (used interchangeably during present time)

figure 1. Organizer to model corresponding standard and nonstandard registers

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sounds of SE and AAVE features. Enhanced familiarity with the author’s craft as a result of readers theater participation is a catalyst for writ-ing a weird family story in the student’s home language, particularly in the spirit of the Wat-sons. Students will be entertained by the story of Byron Watson’s lips frozen on the family car’s exterior rear-view mirror and will likely attempt to top it with stories from their own families. Fig-ure 2 shows a sample organizer from a former student.

figure 2. One student’s organizer to guide a family story (refers to Michael Jackson’s P.Y.T. [“Pretty Young Thing”], 1982)

figure 3. Expository text organizer to guide SE acquisition

Upon identifying the weird family scenario, the organizer guides students’ selection of words that demonstrate home language features. Although the novel uses “we were” conventionally, the student utilized her home language. Students can be invited to perform their stories with their classmates in order to demonstrate and embrace varying home languages. Cultivating a mutual respect for varieties of English provides nonthreatening contexts for exploring language and writing.

The epilogue is appropriate for ex-pository writing in SE. To facilitate ex-pository writing, middle level students can document the involvement of the youth in the 16th Street congregation, which was a catalyst for the bombing. Students can document facts from the epilogue into an organizer (see Fig. 3).

The first column in Figure 3 is intended to support the middle level students’ attempts at expository writing features in their own words, without copying directly from the text. If initial jottings demonstrate nonstandard English fea-tures, the teacher or peers can provide feedback to scaffold toward standard language features. The middle column is intended to assist with the understanding of distinctions between formal and informal registers. Modeling with the or-ganizer requires an instructor to explicitly stress appropriate conventions for formal and informal contexts.

SeedfolksSeedfolks (Fleischman, 1997) tells the story of a vacant lot in a work-ing class, multiracial Cleveland neighborhood plagued by resi-dential flight. Kim is a Vietnam-ese girl who plants lima bean seeds in honor of her deceased father. Each subsequent chapter is told from the perspective of a character in the neighborhood

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who assumes a role in transforming the vacant lot to a community garden. Each character’s speech represents a different variety of English reflect-ing his or her ethnic background. One suggested writing opportunity would be to write a Seedfolks chapter where students can employ their home

language. Students can be guided toward having their chapter take place between characters in the novel and describing their interactions along with their contribution to the garden.

Figure 4 is a sample draft from a seventh-grade classroom where code-switching pedago-

gies were employed. The middle level student utilized AAVE and SE features, while addition-ally drawing from what Delpit (2006) would re-gard as a sophisticated cultural literary tradition. A Terry McMillan flavor can be detected in this excerpt: “I quickly pulled out my new cell phone and chirped my best friend Monique, that girl has good timing because when I called she was just gettin’ out of the shower” (Hill, 2008, p. 15). Seedfolks is an ideal mentor text because of the potential for exploring multiple varieties of Eng-lish.

ConclusionEach recommended mentor text provides the po-tential for code-switching pedagogies for teach-ers of AAVE speakers and others who speak a nonstandard variety of English. Young adoles-cents can refer to the nonstandard English vari-eties in the texts to guide their use of language features to construct informal contexts for writ-ing. In addition, exposure to standard language features in the texts serves as a guide for writing in SE. When formal and informal writing oppor-tunities are balanced and no variety is superior to another, students are more aware of appropriate contexts for writing.

The following list offers suggestions for teachers who wish to use code-switching in their classrooms:

• Select appropriate mentor texts with au-thentic code-switching features.

• Construct formal and informal writing con-texts that correspond with the context of the mentor texts.

• Maintain an understanding of the rule-governed properties of AAVE and other varieties as they intersect with Standard English. Rickford (2000) is a good resource for explicating grammatical AAVE features.

• Never negate a young adolescent’s language features. Instead, value features for informal writing contexts, while referring to them as a foundation for scaffolding toward corre-sponding, standard grammatical features.

• Model and design appropriate organizers to assist in distinguishing corresponding gram-matical features between Standard English and other registers. Wheeler and Swords (2006) provide appropriate tools.

• The time frame for application should be a year-long effort that coincides with the use of the mentor texts and corresponding writ-ing topics.

• Emphasize that everyone code-switches for appropriate contexts, not just language minority students.

When formal and informal

writing opportunities are

balanced and no variety is

superior to another, stu-

dents are more aware of

appropriate contexts for

writing.

figure 4. A student’s original Seedfolks chapter (excerpt)

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ReferencesAdger, C. T., Christian, D., & Taylor, O. (1999). Mak-

ing the connection: Language and academic achieve-ment among African American students. McHenry, IL: Center for Applied Linguistics and by Delta Systems.

Baker, J. (2002). Trilingualism. In L. Delpit, & J. K. Dowdy (Eds.), The skin that we speak: Thoughts and language and culture in the classroom (pp. 49–62). New York, NY: The New Press.

Curtis, C. P. (1997). The Watsons go to Birmingham—1963. New York, NY: Yearling.

Delpit, L. D.(2006). Other people’s children (2nd ed.). New York, NY: The New Press.

Delpit, L., & Dowdy, J. K. (2002). The skin that we speak: Thoughts and language and culture in the classroom. New York, NY: The New Press.

Dyson, A. H. (2002). The brothers and sisters learn to write: Popular literacies in childhood and school cul-tures. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Fleischman, P. (1997). Seedfolks. New York, NY: Scho-lastic.

Greer, M., Smith, R. S., & Erwin, L. (1996). Standards for the English language arts (Joint publication of the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English). Newark, DE, and Urbana, IL: IRA and NCTE.

Hill, K. D. (2008). Providing access to standard and nonstandard writing conventions: How a teacher encouraged his students’ use of literate identity. Perspectives on Urban Education, 5(2), 1–25.

Hill, K. D. (2009). Code-switching pedagogies and African American student voices: Acceptance and

resistance in an affluent suburb. Journal of Adoles-cent & Adult Literacy,53, 120–131.

Hill, K. D. (2010). Code-switching pedagogies and African American student voices: Acceptance and resistance in an affluent suburb. In R. M. Bean, N. Heisey, & C. M. Roller (Eds.), Preparing reading professionals (2nd ed.; pp. 249–262). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Jackson, M. (1982). Pretty young thing. On Thriller [CD]. New York, NY: Epic Records.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of cultur-ally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 465–491.

Miner, B. (1998). Embracing Ebonics and teaching Standard English: An interview with Oakland teacher Carrie Secret. In T. Perry & L. Delpit (Eds.). The real Ebonics , debate: Power, language, and the education of African American children. (pp. 79–88). Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Rickford, J. R. (1999). Language diversity and academic achievement in the education of African American students. In C. T. Adger, D. Christian, & O. Tay-lor (Eds.), Making the connection. Language and academic achievement among African-American students (pp. 1–30). McHenry IL: Center for Applied Linguistics and by Delta Systems.

Rickford, J. R., & Rickford, R. J. (2000). Spoken soul: The story of Black English. New York, NY: John Wiley.

Wheeler, R., & Swords, R. (2006). Code-switching: Teaching Standard English in urban classrooms. Ur-bana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Woodson, J. (2009). Peace, locomotion. New York, NY: Puffin Books.

K. Dara Hill is an assistant professor of reading and language arts at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, where she prepares pre- and inservice teachers for culturally responsive

reading pedagogies.

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10 Three Mentor Texts That Support Code-Switching Pedagogies · 6/3/2013 · switching pedagogies for middle level students that are guided by three mentor texts. Woodson’s (2009)