In Ebonics: A Case of History, Ernie Smith explains that language served as an educational barrier to him that caused him to view the education system in a negative way. On page 21 of the text, however, Smith also says that language was the key to his survival. His language helped him both in the streets and in the postsecondary education he decided to pursue. Like the narrator in “Ovuh Dyuh,” Smith was taught how to “code-switch” or speak in two different dialects– a term Mary brings up in her analysis of chapter one. Mary asks the question, when non-native English speakers code-switch to Standard English are we more judgmental toward their speech or writing? In English 3015, my professor presented us with two essays in which we were expected to indentify the more effective. The first was written by a poor speller. The second essay was written by a student who used Standard English. Before the class discussed the essays, half of the class leaned toward the first while the other half, the second. During discussion, my peers said the second essay was redundant, not well put-together, and ineffective in supporting claims. On the contrary, the first essay established support for its claims, had a timeline flow, and a distinguished argument. Half of the class felt the first essay was ineffective simply because its lack of Standard English. When we read more into the strengths and weaknesses of each essay, many students realized that their bias toward the lack of proper English used in the first essay caused them to believe it was ineffective. In actuality, the essay itself was well put-together and was the more effective piece of the two. As my example points out, we often evaluate speech and writing for grammatical correctness. What we need to be paying attention to instead is the importance and meaning of a speech or essay.
Interesting connection re: spelling and our tendency to pay more attention to the superficial aspects of language than to deeper structures or content.
...it's a good idea to write your posts in a word processing program (MS Word has a "blog post" template that is ideal) before posting. That will allow you to save your work and avoid the extraordinarily frustrating experience of hitting the wrong key just before publishing a post and losing at all (not that I'veever made such a rookie mistake, of course).
...if you're having trouble posting an inquiry or response, you can print out your paper and bring it to class in order to receive credit. I'll still ask you to post it to the blog once we fix the problem, but that way you'll still receive full credit.
Inquiry papers should each be a new post, and should be labled with the number as well as whatever title you like. For example: "Inquiry 1: life in two languages" or "Inquiry 1: Dowdy's 'Ovuh Dyuh'"
1) Summarize the argument or the thesis of the reading in 1-2 sentences.
2) Pose questions that the reading raised for you.
3) Speculate on the answers OR the context of the questions (why they matter, who they matter to, what's at stake, etc) OR delve deeper by asking more questions.
response guidelines
Your response papers should be in the "comment" section of the inquiry paper to which you are responding.
1) Read a classmate's inquiry paper that has not yet been responded to.
2) Summarize the argument or thesis of the assigned reading.
3) Address your classmate's question(s) using what you've learned from this and other readings. You may not feel confident in your answers; that's okay. Speculate, brainstorm, explore, pose other questions, relate it to your life experience, expand on the stakes of the questions, etc.
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ReplyDeleteIn Ebonics: A Case of History, Ernie Smith explains that language served as an educational barrier to him that caused him to view the education system in a negative way. On page 21 of the text, however, Smith also says that language was the key to his survival. His language helped him both in the streets and in the postsecondary education he decided to pursue. Like the narrator in “Ovuh Dyuh,” Smith was taught how to “code-switch” or speak in two different dialects– a term Mary brings up in her analysis of chapter one. Mary asks the question, when non-native English speakers code-switch to Standard English are we more judgmental toward their speech or writing? In English 3015, my professor presented us with two essays in which we were expected to indentify the more effective. The first was written by a poor speller. The second essay was written by a student who used Standard English. Before the class discussed the essays, half of the class leaned toward the first while the other half, the second. During discussion, my peers said the second essay was redundant, not well put-together, and ineffective in supporting claims. On the contrary, the first essay established support for its claims, had a timeline flow, and a distinguished argument. Half of the class felt the first essay was ineffective simply because its lack of Standard English. When we read more into the strengths and weaknesses of each essay, many students realized that their bias toward the lack of proper English used in the first essay caused them to believe it was ineffective. In actuality, the essay itself was well put-together and was the more effective piece of the two. As my example points out, we often evaluate speech and writing for grammatical correctness. What we need to be paying attention to instead is the importance and meaning of a speech or essay.
ReplyDeleteInteresting connection re: spelling and our tendency to pay more attention to the superficial aspects of language than to deeper structures or content.
ReplyDelete