Codeswitching: Tools of Language and Culture Transform the Dialectically Diverse Classroom
Wheeler and swords discuss methods that teachers use to try to teach students to speak in Standard English, which they explain is more accepted in the academic world than the informal dialects which students unavoidably bring to school with them. Their purpose for this discussion is that oft times, teachers don’t realize that by correcting a student's informal speech, they are calling a student’s native or home language wrong or erroneous. In doing this, they disintegrate any chance at establishing good rapport with their students and also make these students resistant to learning. They quote Smitherton: “[W]hen you lambast the home language that kids bring to school, you ain just dissin dem, you talking bout they mommas!” Students take those kinds of criticisms personally, so teachers need to approach teaching standard english with sensitivity and careful consideration. Their conclusion is that contrasting formal and informal language is a good way to teach students what type of language is appropriate in what situations. Swords introduced this idea to her students and avoided offending their cultural identities. She explained to students that certain kinda of language are appropraite in certain situations, just like certain clothing is appropriate to wear in certain situations. She did some translation exercises with the class and they learned to codeswitch between formal and informal situations when they needed to. Furthermore, if a student forgot to codeswitch, he or she could be prompted to codeswitch and correct themselves.