The question of the ages! In our last study group meeting, a teacher talked about an activity she used where she allowed students to write a "Text Message" to her (on paper). The topic, I think, was a response to an earlier activity they had done. She was amazed at the depth of their thinking when not forced to use formal language. The activity sounded fun and productive. I like this activity. It can be used to reach the students, get them thinking, and then slowly transition them into writing Standard English. This sparked a discussion on the future of the English language. We all agreed that we don't want to see formal language change or even disappear, but can the evolution of language be stopped? The use of different discourses by people in different places in society won't change, will it? So what will happen? Maybe the discourses will become even more diverse. What we as teachers must do is try to continue to teach a standard by which the different segments of society will continue to be able to communicate. I don't think it will ever come to the point of losing formal English altogether - at least I hope not. All we can do is try to teach them what we know, stand up for our pedagogical beliefs, and keep on truckin'. My grandmama used to say, "Just do the best you can with the sense you have, and let God take care of the rest."
Vicky J
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I think that as teachers, we are always having to come up with something to 'engage' the students and to draw them into learning. This is no exception. It brings something they are 'into' into the classroom. You could develop this by rewriting into standard English and see if texting uses standard grammar and so on. But would this have the same impact as 'forbidden' texting?
This is a great idea to let students use "their" language to express their thoughts and opinions and then help them to transform into Standard English. Here is another idea how to show students social differences of language and bring up a discussion about how social changes in our life influence our language and about the importance of Standard English. Give students a statement and ask them to write how the same statement would sound if said by a teenager, a president, a child, their parents, foreign exchange student etc.
You all bring up a lot of great points here, and I hope my previous post didn’t come across as sounding too pessimistic about the future of the English language or too oppositional towards incorporating these new discourses that sprout up every few months. I do truly enjoy the idea of accepting various registers into student work, because learning is more genuine when performed within pre-existing schema. I suppose the root problem that was bothering me was how to balance the standard and the dialectical, and how to go about bridging that gap so that students can move towards an understanding of formal English. I think Yelena’s suggestion of asking students to reword statements from the viewpoints of different people is excellent because it asks students to consider what they already know about registers, thus accessing those pre-existing schema. I think I’ll try this activity myself and see what I can discover about my students and their relationships to their own language.
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