Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Inquiry 2: "Teachers Attitudes Toward AAL"
In Jones’ paper on the attitude teacher’s have about African-American language she uses various studies to examine the beliefs many teachers carry into the classroom concerning AAL. One thing that stuck out to me during my reading of the text was the fact that, “very few teachers held the belief that AAL is simply a lazy form of English…but they seem to feel it is not productive in school.” After reading that, I had to ask myself why this was so. If AAL is a completely legitimate language I feel it should be respected in a classroom setting. I would also have to ask how they know AAL would not be productive in school if they never institute it. I feel teachers should try everything in their power to close the achievement gap and I believe the acceptance of AAL is a legitimate attempt. To say that AAL is a valid language while saying that it doesn’t belong in the classroom is blatant discrimination. Another question that arises is: Why do the teachers feel LWC is the language students should learn? If teachers can accept that there are many different languages why is it so hard to allow a variety of languages in their class? Obviously, LWC being the most common language of American business and politics can better suit students in the future. Is this what school is designed for; to make students better able to fit in the status quo? Sadly, I feel this is the current state of education and until we make education a means for becoming independent thinkers capable of changing the norm we will continue to have this problem. Although I think AAL should be incorporated, I can understand (but not agree with) their decision to acknowledge AAL but keep it out of the classroom. Teachers are trying to prepare the students for the “world” and unfortunately AAL is not included in most aspects of American life. It seems like the problem of AAL is a necessary evil until we are able to change the structure of daily life. I see this happening with Spanish. As it is becoming used more in business and politics, schools are allowing Spanish to be incorporated in their classrooms.
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Shuaib Meacham's article "The Clash of 'Common Senses': Two African American Women Become Teachers" describes the difficulties that two African-American women faced while in pursuit of becoming teachers. Linda faces discrimination as a speaker of AAL, and Tanya faces a seemingly separation from her Black Culture as a speaker of SE. Linda must overcome “common sense” (as described by the author) and prove that speakers AAL are capable of intelligence, academic potential, and “doing quality work”. Tanya on the other hand must overcome the perception that she cannot be “professionally competent, be a speaker of Standard English, and still be Black” (201).
ReplyDeleteI agree that if AAL is proven to be a valid language, why are we not incorporating it inside the classroom? Growing up, when new students came to school speaking other languages, the teachers were so accommodating to their linguistic “incompetence”. Why is that most teachers do not show the same compassion for speakers of AAL? Is because they expect those speakers of AAL to automatically know better? Meacham’s story about Linda makes it clear that a person can grow up speaking AAL their whole life without knowing that some people consider there to be a more “correct” way of speaking. I agree that it is not only discriminatory to not include AAL of any kind in the classroom, but it also has damaging effects upon the students that are singled out for speaking “different”, such as Linda. Those speakers of the AAL dialects may begin to see themselves as “flawed”, as Meacham says Linda felt. I feel, and I think other teachers and future teachers would also agree, that I would never want to make a student feel as though he/she is flawed or inadequate. I think that it is certainly one of the effects of keeping AAL totally outside of the classroom.
You hit on several really important notions here: "Why is that most teachers do not show the same compassion for speakers of AAL?" It's pretty remarkable how differently AAL is treated by most Americans--both who speak it and who don't--from other dialects and languages. The difference gives us a pretty stark view of our history as a nation and some issues that we're still struggling with. Good inquiry and response.
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