I really enjoyed reading Smitherman’s “Raciolinguistics, “Mis-Education,” and Language Arts Teaching in the 21st Century”. In fact, we discussed languages, race, dialects and their connections to culture and identity in my class last Monday. Having read this article now, I feel like I didn’t quite get to where I wanted in class with the discussion…
A lot of what Smitherman writes about hits close to home (I come from a country in which speaking English or French is considered, for most people, elite, and speaking Arabic is not; something which continues to drive many people away from the Arabic language and from mastering it. This is also tied to colonial history–French was the official administrative language in Lebanon under the French mandate).
To remain brief, my question is about the minimum level of English grammar we should maintain as teachers in English courses. How do we differentiate between bad grammar that’s a result of a problem in schooling versus a cultural presentation of a language, such as AAL? Should there be any distinctions or not? What is this ‘way forward’ that Smitherman talks about, in practice (and apart from raising awareness about the importance of the different English languages, for instance)?
On peer reviewing: I was unable to access your handouts, Dan, or Lisa’s “Style Imitation”. I did look at Lisa’s “Editing Like A Pro”. I found it to be very helpful, and I think students will too. It answers their questions of ‘i dont know how to edit’ in a practical and straightforward way. I will be using it in class for the next two essays!
(Sorry, can’t figure out how to add a category! I can only see ‘uncategorized’ as an option)