Inquiry #5: From the Mouths of Babes

In Victoria Purcell-Gates’s article, she acknowledges the fact that children come to school with some sort of “literacy knowledge.” This is something that I do not think occurs to many teachers. They think of the students coming to them as blank canvases or empty shells. However, these children know things or know that they do not know things. The child’s awareness of what he or she does not know can be built on to create new connections and learn more things. However, as each person differs, it may become increasingly difficult to determine just how much students about literacy and to what extent they know it. How should this be done? A diagnostic test perhaps?

Lack of Experience =/= Lack of Intelligence

Victoria Purcell-Gates' article, "As Soon as she Opened Her Mouth: Issues of Language, Literacy and Power" describes the problem of literacy experience related to learning literacy. If children grow up in a home where literacy is limited, then their understanding of literacy is limited as well, and the degree of understanding is based on the degree of literacy in the home.

My first question in response to this article is this: As middle/high school teachers, how should we be prepared to deal with children who still have not learned literacy? This article seems to be related to grade-school teachers more than secondary school teachers. If students come into our classrooms at 14-17 years old and still have not had the experience with literacy necessary to become good readers who can comprehend large pieces of literature, how are we supposed to deal with that? It seems that it would be very difficult to try to teach someone the skills necessary to keep up in a literature class if they've had experiences like Donny did all of their lives. The only solution I can think of is an enormous amount of supplemental tutoring.

This article actually made me think about possibly going into primary education for the first time in years. I have always considered reading to young children in the home one of the most important responsibilities in raising a child.

Chapter 8 Inquiry

“It is the duty of teachers to guide all students to literacy with equal rigor without ever telling them that the language they speak is wrong,” says Dr. Victoria Purcell-Gates. Dr. Purcell-Gates essay in The Skin That We Speak is about students’ literacy being affected by their income levels and the stereotypes they face because of it. She also talks about how the lack of reading and writing in homes leads to illiterate students. She stresses that stereotypes and teacher attitudes towards poor income students have created a major fault in the education system. She strives to inform the reader that students are marked from the beginning as failures and being ignored by their teachers and school leaders.

Dr. Purcell-Gates brings up a great point about education, “With these socio-politically driven attitudes toward the language that people speak, think with, and learn with, is it any wonder that there is a class difference in learning and achievement? She hits it right on the mark! Students from the middle classes and students from low level incomes receive the same education in public schools. Why then do some excel better than others? Is it the fault or stereotype that the teacher displays? Or is it the lack of effort, perseverance, faith, or determination by the student?

Because teachers put such great effort into the success of their students and should never give up on their students, students are expected to put forth the same effort. While I believe that we should do what we can to help students who want to learn to read and write, sometimes there are students who have no motivation. Once a teacher has done all that he/she can do, the rest of the job is left up to the students. I believe that students need to put forth the same amount of perseverance as the teacher does. Without the student cooperation, the attempt would be a waste of time.

Inquiry Chapter 8

In this chapter we Purcell-Gates discuss the idea of judging a person based on their medium of communication. The boy Donnie's mother is not heard because she is illiterate. While we rarely come into contact with illiterate people in America what is Purcell-Gates trying to say about our judgements?

I think the important thing to get out of this chapter is the idea that behind every aspect of mediums of communication there is the idea of human thought trying to come across. It doesn't necessarily mean to be a lesson about dealing with illiterate persons but really about how valid our judgements are in general regarding human beings given the fact that our mediums are complex and often impossible to communicate the thought that lies within our tiny little brains.

Purcell-Gates is guiding us to look past the medium and try to go further than simply meeting each other halfway. The ability to understand others is deep within us all and all it takes is effort to express thought regardless of the medium or even the existence of a medium. We see man communicate with animals all the time yet there is no understood language between all species. Language is just a devised plan to make communication easier but the only other necessity is the will to communicate, the will to look at every human being as a creature of worth and intelligence.

Ch. 8 Inquiry

As Victoria Purcell-Gates references her two-year ethnography of the white Appalachian family, she expounds on what we already have learned. This being poverty and social status strongly influences their speech and writing, and that their intelligence is how others interpret their intelligence.

Her main point that she pushes is that the children/students need experience the people around them using print, reading, and writing. Children who do not have this in their environment (with emphasis on their “pre-formal instruction years”) will naturally fall behind as it does not open their mind to understand the concepts and purposes of “print” that are essential and that are expected of our society. To me, if a child enters school without having these experiences, it will make learning to read and write as difficult as learning a new language.

She encourages that instead of looking at this problem as a cultural “deficit” is should be looked at as a cultural “difference”. Conceiving the problem in this manner is the difference between seeing a child as inexperienced rather than unintelligent.

The concept of experience does not have its problems only at this young age with this problem. We also see it in the work force. It is ironic how much emphasis and importance is placed on experience while in the field of acquiring jobs, a younger inexperienced but educated person will get the job of higher position before a current employee who is more knowledgeable and more experienced in the field. Would it not make logical sense in terms of the company’s success to have the employee with more experience in the higher position? Whereas the younger and new employee has to learn everything about the company, and gain this knowledge only through experience.

The challenge now is how do we as teachers catch up those students who are in need of these “experiences” in order for them to be able to understand the concepts that will come much more easily and naturally to the students that have had them?

Chapter 8 Inquiry

In Dr. Victoria Purcell-Gates's essay "...As Soon As She Opened Her Mouth!" , the author addresses the issue of language and literacy discrimination, and the power (or lack of power) held based on literacy level.

Dr. Purcell-Gates talks most specifically about a boy named Donny, who gets to second grade and cannot read or write beyond his own name. Neither of his parents can read or write either, and we learn that they both dropped out of school in 7th grade. Donny's mother recognized that her son's inability to read and write was leading him down the same path, and she fought for the school to help her son learn better so he could make a better future for himself as a literate citizen. However, because of her illiteracy she was written off as ignorant, and her concerns were unaddressed. It stunned me that his teachers had no concern for whether or not he ever learned to read.

I thought that this probably wouldn't be too much of an issue for me as a teacher, because it's unlikely that I would get a student in my classroom who doesn't know how to read or write. However, Donny's parents made it all the way to 7th grade and still didn't know how to read or write. So that left me wondering, how do you encourage a student who has never learned to read? As teachers, we have a social responsibility to invest in our students for their academic success, but if no one else has done that before middle school, where do we begin? We talked in class last week about being step focused, and pushing students who are behind to their next step, not necessarily to where the school or state says they need to be. It's sad to think that a student would be pushed along to middle school without someone really teaching him to read, but it happens, and we have to be prepared to deal with that.

Chapter 8 Inquiry

In chapter 8 of Lisa Delpit’s The Skin That We Speak, Purcell-Gates addresses the issue of language discrimination. She describes the situation, but notes, “this reality continues despite what appears to be clear identification of the problem and billions of dollars spent by national governments and internal agencies.” So if the problem has already been identified then what can we do to fix it?

According to Gates, many children start school with some “literacy knowledge” which is usually acquired at home through interaction with family members who are literate. The experiences children have with language are directly connected to their culture. Gates questions whether teachers can observe these differences without believing these children are unable to learn or are incompetent. She recognizes that, “whether or not we interpret differences among children—or adults—as deficit or difference depends primarily on our preconceptions, attitudes toward, and stereotypes we hold toward the individual children’s communities and cultures.”

Our attitudes are sociopolitically driven towards language, and that is something we must learn to identify and examine in ourselves if we are to change the way we teach. In addition “teachers and schools must accept, believe, and act upon the belief that children of poverty are learners have been learning since birth, are ready to learn at anytime, and will learn.” Gates believes if we accept and promote this idea, we will turn the focus from the child that is not learning to the teacher’s instruction.

Most of us are planning to teach secondary education, which means that by the time our students reach high school they should already know how to read and write. So if for some reason we encounter a student who lacks these abilities, how can we help them without putting the rest of the class behind? How would you handle a situation like this? If a student had made it that far without learning, then what can we do to help them catch up?

Victoria Purcell-Gates’s essay in Lisa Delpit’s The Skin That We Speak discusses the relationship between class, language, and literacy. Purcell-Gates explains that when children enter their first day of school the children bring some sort of “literacy knowledge” with them, whether their knowledge is vast or not. This “literacy knowledge” comes from the child’s experience. Donny, one of the students from Purcell-Gates’s study, was from Appalachian parents whom could neither read nor write, and therefore Donny struggled to grasp the concepts of written communication. Purcell-Gates explains that this is no fault of the child or the parents, but only the result of his lack of experience and exposure with written language. Purcell-Gates suggests that educators view children like Donny as having cultural differences and not as deficit. When an educator views a child as deficit, “it easier to write him off” and claim the student is not capable. Instead, Purcell-Gates believes we should consider the student’s “difference” which will cause the educator to reflect on the student’s experience.

Purcell-Gates provides a list of three things teachers can do to help. First, the teacher must “accept, believe, and act” that “children of poverty are learners, have been learning since birth, are ready to learn at anytime, and will learn.” Purcell-Gates believes that when teachers follow this belief the teachers will reflect on their instruction methods rather than “shrugging off” a child’s future. Second, Purcell-Gates says it is important to accept the child’s language as the language that the child can begin learning with. Third, teachers must realize that students will use the appropriate language for the appropriate social context if it is known. This concept applies to written language as well.

After reading this essay, I wondered where does this leave us as secondary education teachers? This article primarily focused on younger children, and the article says that both Jenny and her husband dropped out of school in 7th grade due to their illiteracy. How can we help these students by the time they reach us? Obviously, we should refuse to let the child fail, but how do we go about doing that? How do we help keep these students from dropping out? Especially if this student is in a classroom with other students whose performances are fine.

Chapter 8 Inquiry

Victoria Purcell-Gates's essay, "'... As Soon As She Opened Her Mouth!': Issues of Language, Literacy, and Power," is an argument for the education of those students with dialects marked as incompetent. Through the story of a young Appalachian boy, Donny, and his mother, Jenny, and Purcell-Gates's own experiences, she conveys that such dialects do not mean a student cannot learn.

Purcell-Gates believes these students are not given the chance to learn; these students are permitted to fail. They come from homes where there is little literacy experience. In Donny's case, because both of his parents cannot read, he, too, cannot read. Donny has not grown up observing and listening to fluency in the English language. He cannot comprehend the connections between how he sounds and how the phonetics of a word sound, just like his mother.

This is no fault of Donny's parents; "this is not a deficit theory, nor is it placing the blame on the children, their parents, or their homes." (128) Purcell-Gates gives the reader an example of Phil from either the desert of Palestine or a rural village in Afghanistan. Phil enrolls in drivers ed. Though a fluent speaker of English, Phil fails the exam because he has no experience actually driving a car. He is a product of his experience. If Phil were given the opportunity to have such experiences as stopping, starting, and driving a car, he would have done much better in the class.

Most important in my reading of the essay was the section labeled "What Schools and Teachers Can Do." Purcell-Gates gave the reader two tips: (1) "Teachers and schools must accept, believe, and act upon the belief that the children of poverty are learners, have been learning since birth, are ready to learn at anytime, and will learn," and (2) "it is necessary to accept their language as that with which they learn, and use that language to help them begin their education."

My question after read this essay are these: I plan to teach English at the 8th grade level. Should a student enter my class who has routinely been passed from graded to grade without ever having learned to read, what do I do? How can I possibly catch the student up on a lifetime worth of learning in a year's time? How is such a thing be allowed to happen? Are other programs in existence to aid such students?

inquiry 5

Chapter eight by Victoria Purcell-Gates opened my eyes to see how our society views those who are less fortunate. She mentions that people, even teachers, classify those who are lower class as students who are incapable of learning in the classroom, whereas those students who are considered middle to upper class are capable of learning in the classroom. I know this appears to be an obvious issue, but sometimes what goes on around us is the very thing we are less aware of.

I am aware that society classifies people. We all do it whether we mean to or not, but it never crossed my mind that teachers do it too. I suppose it is common sense because teachers are people too, but a teacher is also suppose to be a neutral ground and safe place to rely on. I believe that as future educators we MUST strive to eliminate this idea that teachers classify their students. I want my students to know I have confidence in each of them, and that I do not care how much money their parents have or do not have. I want to help those who are struggling to find a balance to learn how to read and write.

It is important that we recognize that some students just do not have the means at home to practice reading and writing. That is where our job becomes important. We have the means to be creative and give students books to read and to encourage our students writing. We have the ability to introduce students to different genres, and we can show our students how to have fun writing. I strongly believe that is one major aspect of our job we MUST NOT ignore. Just because a student does not have this prior knowledge, does not mean he/she is incapable of learning new genres and styles of writing. Therefore, we should not label these students as such.

Even though we should not label students, is it possible to remain neutral? It’s not fair to the entire class to hold back for another student, so what do we do? How do we balance helping each student so everyone increases his/her knowledge, even though each student is on a different level? Is it possible to reach the stars or do you have to settle and realize some stars need a little a more gas than others?

Inquiry 5

In Victoria Purcell-Gates chapter, she follows a young, illiterate boy—Donny—and his illiterate mother; she documents the stereotype of their “hillbilly” accent at school. It is such a shame that a teacher gave permission to fail to a student. The teacher heard Donny’s mother speak and right away, she dismissed Donny as a child who is unable to learn how to read or write. Donny did not make any progress in school, and the teacher did not even seem to notice Donny’s lack of knowledge. Jenny, Donny’s mother, constantly went to the teacher begging to help give Donny a better life than she had growing up, and it was as if the teacher simply ignored her request. Why is it that no one listened to Donny’s mother? It is because she had the same hillbilly accent that a close-minded individual would view as ignorant. I am completely floored to read about a teacher who did not care about a student because of his dialect. A teacher’s job is to teach, and nowhere in the definition does it say only to students who have previous knowledge of reading and writing. How can a teacher really not care about the success of her student?

So what can we do as future teacher to change this? We must not let stereotypes haze our view of teaching. Every student is unique and has different learning styles. I want to be sure that I can cater to children’s different learning styles so that I can give them a full education. We must take a stand and help all students even those who seem like they cannot be taught.

Ch. 8 Inquiry

Victoria Purcell- Gates’ chapter “’… As Soon As She Opened Her Mouth!’: Issues of Language, Literacy, and Power” describes how dialect determines how most individuals view another person’s ability to learn. She provides reasons why this notion is inaccurate and damaging. She also supplies the reader with ways to educate students that suffer from this stereotype.
I think her distinction between deficit and difference is helpful in understanding how to approach the disparity that exists in the acquisition of reading and writing skills. Her research suggests that a student’s success in the first two years of formal education is highly contingent upon that student’s previous exposure and experience with language. She claims that students from “economically stressed homes” have less experience with language than those from middle-upper class homes (126). This lack of experience in the home creates substantial obstacles for students who are attempting to gain “conceptual knowledge of written language” (127). This lack of experience with language does not represent a deficit, especially not one that is irreparable. Purcell-Gates insists that neither the parent nor the student is to blame for this lack of experience. It is unfortunate to learn that because students from lower-economic backgrounds are expected to fail that schools are “unconcerned about [their] failure to learn” (130). These “diminished expectations” stem from the notion that students that come from poverty are unable to learn (133).
Purcell- Gates insists that teachers must raise their expectations under the assumption that all children are ready to learn. If a student fails to learn then the teacher must look reflectively at their pedagogical strategies instead of relying on “prejudicial stereotyping” that marginalizes students (140). A teacher must also recognize that just because a student speaks a non-standard dialect does not mean that they are incapable of communicating with standard written language. It is the teacher’s responsibility to provide the student with the experience they may lack and to give them formal instruction.
How can we simulate the pre-formal experience of language in a secondary classroom? How can we convince administrators that expectations and subsequent responsive amelioration of language issues should be equal for all students? How do we instill in children of poverty that they are learners when society tells them they are not?

Chapter 8 Inquiry

Chapter eight of, The Skin That We Speak by Victoria Purcell-Gates focused on how many people, even teachers, associate class with achievement. In other words, some people feel that lower-class students are incapable of learning in the classroom, where as upper-class students are capable. As many of you would agree, this stereotype needs to be eliminated because it’s false on so many levels.

The author of this chapter explains that experience gives students a basis for learning. Students who are exposed to reading and writing before they enter kindergarten have prior experience to build their new knowledge upon. Students who do not have the same home experience may struggle to catch up to the levels of the other students; however, the important point here is that students who have not had home literacy experiences are not incapable of learning. As teachers, we need to introduce these students to different forms of reading and writing that they have not seen before they entered school, so that they can understand what it means to read and write. Just because they were not able to gain this knowledge at home, does not mean that we should label these students as incapable of learning.

What does this mean for us as secondary teachers? If students have had less experience reading and writing when they reach our classrooms, how can we help them? Can we help them as much as their elementary teachers helped them? Can we have just as much impact on these students as their elementary teachers might have had?

Is there a specific Workplace Language?

In Judith Baker's Trilinguilasm, Baker talks about her classroom experiences in studying her students' home languages along with her students. She describes how her students feel more comfortable learning Standard English once they realize how their own home languages fit into their lives and that these forms of English are not unwelcome, only that there is a difference and there is a certain time to use them.

Baker brings up that there is not specific term for the language that we use in the work place. She calls it a technical kind of language that may be specific to each profession. (At least that's what I think she is saying.) I found that her experiments in getting her students to speak in a work-place manner resulted in the students speaking formal English. What is the difference between our work-place speak and formal English, then? Is it perhaps the level of respect one might use when speaking to a superior; or is it the manner one uses when presenting a project? Is the work-place language that the students used any different from formal English or their home languages or street talk? Some of the scenarios did include students using non-formal English, after all. I consider language used in the workplace SE, usually, unless the workplace is one that is very comfortable and relaxed where SE would not be necessary. What differentiates a work-place language from a form of English that is already used elsewhere? Considering the many types of workplaces, I personally do not think that there can possibly be one specific term for language in the workplace.

Inquiry 4: Trilingualism

Judith Baker created a system of teaching that allowed the students to feel comfortable and retain their own personalities in the way that they speak by giving them the opportunity to teach one another about their “home languages”. She broke down the English language into three different sections: home, formal, and professional.
Her method of teaching English seems to be effective because the students understand why they should learn formal English and they don’t feel pressured, demeaned, discriminated against. This new outlook on teaching brought a few questions to mind. Why do students automatically feel that formal English is a threat to them? When we, as teachers, allow our student to bring their “home language” into the classroom, where do we draw the line for their freedom, we wouldn’t want them to become disrespectful. Sometimes, in the home, children are allowed to talk about sex, drinking, violence, and drugs. When giving students freedom, we wouldn’t want to put ourselves in a situation where we could get in trouble. Baker said that you can’t “pretend” to have compassion and understanding of a student’s “home language”, we will have to truly embrace their differences. But who are the real discriminators? Is it the teacher, another student, or are the student subconsciously discriminating against themselves? Or is it a combination of the three? Another question that came to my attention was are students discouraged by formal English because they are taking English class and they think that that class should come naturally to them because they speak it, and are they getting discouraged by the difficulties they encounter?

Inquiry #4: Trilingualism

Judith Baker’s “Trilingualism” depicts her experience in trying to relate her students to the different codes of speech she feels they need to survive in life. Through various experiments that cause them to look at and consider the language they use, Baker helps her students understand the difference between the language used for home, academics, and the professional world.

The work presented in this article really excited and intrigued me. Through the activities, she is allowing the students to see the importance of standard English and their own social languages in the world, instead of just telling them, “You need to learn standard English.” I think the students took an interest in it because their thoughts and opinions were validated, encouraging them to participate. What is more, students see not just how distant authority figures and strangers might view their language, but also how their peers react. I liked that Baker’s exercises taught that there is more than just “proper English” and bad English. The English spoken at home, in whatever dialect it may be, is accepted as appropriate there, as that is where it is used. Students are also introduced to the fact that different areas of business may require a different set of appropriate dialogue.

From the article, it seems clear that Baker’s students are coming to appreciate their language and others. However, there are students who feel differently about where some languages should be used. Specifically, for one experiment, a student posed as a junior executive presenting an advertisement plan in her home language. While some of the students felt this was inappropriate, others thought that it was fine and that it sounded like a good advertising strategy. In such a situation, I find the end results difficult to understand. I wonder, do her students realize that they may not have a choice as to where which dialect is accepted? Just because the speaker may feel that a dialect closer to home would be fine for one situation does not mean that the mass majority of mainstream culture accepts it, and therefore it is inappropriate. Students admit that some dialects do not seem appropriate for certain situations. But do they understand why those dialects do not seem appropriate beyond a simple “It’s not very professional” or “It does not sound proper”? Or, perhaps, are these questions queries that they are too young to reflect upon?

Inquiry 4- Judith Baker

In Judith Baker's essay "Trilingualism" Baker addresses the three types of English that she has observed all English speakers speaking-- "home" English, "formal" English, and "professional" English. As an English teacher at an urban high school, she has developed a system of accepting and teaching acceptance to the different dialects of English spoken in her classroom, which starts with a personal language evaluation project.

When reading this essay, I was amazed at how effective the language project was for her students. She wrote it moved students to consider problems they may have with writing or speaking, and also gave the students in her classroom a better understanding and acceptance of each other. I think what I've taken most from this essay is that it is very possible and beneficial to support and accept students' language and culture while also encouraging them to learn "standard English". It's also possible to openly and tactfully discuss code-switching for formal, professional, and familiar situations.

The biggest question for me from this essay is how could I apply this same practice in an ESL classroom? My goal is to teach English as a Second Language, which is tricky because often the students in ESL classes don't have much grasp on English at all, so what's an effective way to teach English to non-speakers while still respecting their culture?

inquiry 4- Baker

In this section we see an English teacher with a new point of view. She looks at her students as experts in certain fields and allows them to teach what they have learned. She gives them the freedom to choose what they wish as far as subjects go. Could their possibly be some drawbacks to this technique?

I think his style is very dangerous but in it is in a way that education should be. When she allows the students to keep their own language and also learn about other subjects like computers she runs the risk of the students not learning anything due to laziness. I don't think it is realistically very dangerous though. Young humans, I believe, have a natural desire to learn everything about something they are interested in. Proof for this is evident everywhere around us, from teens mastering difficult computer programs and operations to kids learning complicated tricks on skateboards. By allowing students to learn whatever they have an interest in we may have less experts in regurgitating information for a ninth grade geography test, but we may have more experts in technological innovation. 

Is it possible that the whole creation of controlled learning is more of a hinderance to actual learning?

Chapter 4 Inquiry

Chapter four features Judith Baker, a high school English teacher working with students on the theory of language. Her methods and techniques are simple, yet effective in teaching students to comprehend and enjoy the many types of English that we speak. Baker has been working with students on developing skills in three different forms of English that she believes every American should learn. They are: “home” English or dialect, “formal” or academic English, and “professional” English. She believes, “ … that if I can make this ‘trilingualism’ explicit and if I can motivate students to want to learn these ‘languages,’ these three forms of English, then I can enable them to master the actual differences between them.” Baker emphasizes that this theory or method should not and cannot be used by teachers who do not truly respect the “home” language of their students. Students, or kids in general, are very perceptive and can tell when people are not being genuine or sincere; this method could totally backfire if applied by the wrong person.

One thing I loved about this teacher was the way she chose to implement her theories into actual lessons and projects. Having students examine their speech and the different forms of English they use is a great way for them to learn about each other and themselves. I really agree with Baker’s ideas and believe we need more teachers like this. Being judgmental or forcing children to learn what we deem as Standard English is not going to change anything. It’s already been done and it hasn’t worked, so maybe the time has come for a reform in English education.

Do you agree with Baker’s theories about language? What are your thoughts on the categories or forms of English she presents in this chapter?

How could a teacher implement these techniques into a lesson when the school may require or enforce teaching according to standardized tests?

Would a project like the one Baker gives her students even be beneficial in a school where the students are predominately white or black, etc.? As in if they all had similar backgrounds would it still be interesting?

Inquiry 4: Judith Baker

After reading Judith Baker’s chapter, I found myself wondering how educated my English teachers had been on this subject of speaking different “Englishes.” I wish that my teachers had had a more open mind about these things. I wonder then if this was the case, my classmates and I wouldn’t have such linguistic insecurity, and we would be able to spit out what we are trying to say in a clear and forthright manner.

Judith Baker’s ideas build upon Lisa Delpit’s that we read in chapter three. They both have the same notion that “When formal English no longer threatens to demean them, students are more willing to master it.” However, she brings us insider her classroom to show us her teaching techniques and strategies to make students feel less insecure about their own language and more willing to learn “standard” English. I found her projects and studies interesting as she delves and further questions the influence of standard English on dialect speakers. She shows us how important this is in the students’ making the decision for them to learn Standard English. As teachers of English, we will constantly have to remind ourselves of these facts. How can we keep these ideas in the forefront of our minds and remain open to the different dialects of our students while teaching them the rules of grammar and the “correct” way to speak and write?

She pinpoints the three main “forms” of English of which we’ve been speaking in class, her “trilingualism”; which is home, formal, and professional English. We learn to code switch between these three forms and become more aware of them as we get older. Is this a natural instinctive learning? I have observed a few instances where there are those who are less aware of code switching. Is it something also taught?