In class last night, we discussed how people would, as teachers, deal with a situation in which a student said "I finna..." rather than... well, honestly, I forget exactly how "I finna" translates to my use of the English language. Confessions of a Suburban-Raised White Girl: I had never heard "I finna" before class last night. I think it was something along the lines of "I'm going to," perhaps derived from "I'm fixing to." (But this is exactly the point, isn't it? Even though I am unfamiliar with this particular word choice, I can use context clues to determine what the phrase means. And, if not, I can acknowledge that it differs from my own linguistic tendencies and politely ask a student to clarify.)
Personally, I would not correct this student in front of the class, would talk to him or her on the side and say that I respect his or her language and culture, but that there is power in learning to speak with ease using academic English. It might be unfair that a people are judged by their linguistic styles, but it is also reality. If this really bothers a student, it is a great opportunity to say, "Yep, this is the pits. Now adapt to the situation, and go to school to do research in ethnolinguistics, and raise awareness about how damn unreasonable it is."
We talked about how cultural sensitivity is important with this issue. To tell a student that he or she is speaking poorly, we are also telling that student that his or her family and community are speaking poorly. This is, of course, highly divisive, even if it is not so intended. And here is where I run into a personal conflict.
Marcia Farr's paper, "Literacies and Ethnolinguistic Diversity: Chicago" provides a fascinating history of ethnic and linguistic changes in Chicago over the past two to three centuries. Farr went on to discuss how (some) Latina adolescents go into chat rooms in order to explore socially because they aren't allowed out as their brothers are, and in these chat rooms they are found out as not living in Mexico City because of linguistic differences. It is not the linguistic issue that caught my eye here, but the idea that the girls are not allowed out when the boys are. It is very difficult for me to see this as anything other than sexism.
I deeply wish to be a culturally sensitive teacher. I am also a woman in STEM, armed with the knowledge that exposure to feminism is part of what helps to motivate young women to pursue their scientific interests (especially in math and physics). If a student indicates in a piece of writing or some other work that she experiences these gendered differences in treatment, how can I push back against these limitations without being wildly insensitive to cultural practices and indicating that her family and culture are somehow "wrong"?
This is an interesting point that you've brought up regarding respecting someone's culture and at the same time pushing for gender equality. In many cultures, I've seen that "roles" are very important and not necessarily the rights that may be infringed upon. However, I think that as long as the educator doesn't have gender stereotypes, the student won't associate with that "role" in the classroom in a negative way. Youth have many different identities within different environments and although they may have a "role" at home or with the context of their culture, that may not necessarily translate in the academic setting. If a student does bring up the fact about women being in the field of math/science I may draw upon my own experiences as an example to help relate to the student as well as give examples of other mathematicians/scientists of their culture and of varying genders. I don't think it will be necessary to completely convince the student of your position but to offer a different side to the story to help open up their mind. However, communication is needed in all aspects of life and therefore, this aspect of culture probably permeates into the academic setting more than other aspects of culture. Therefore making sure that we are cognizant and respectful to the student regarding their speech it would help to better our relationships with the students. Mostly just my opinions and I haven't read much research to back it up except the fact that students have many different identities in various environments and that a student's culture is a positive asset that they draw upon.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a more conservative view on language, especially on slang like "finna" in any sort of educational setting. But after Mr. Kushner's class and ED-445, it's become clear to me that language should server the purpose of communication, and if the slang succeeds at communicating the student's thoughts, then nitpicking on their word choice seems petty. Going off of what Mike famously said is "Money Talk" I think it's a great tool to teach the kids, to code switch. Like we discussed in class, it's okay if the students use casual language in casual settings as long as they are prepared to enter the adult world with the language that will help them succeed.
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