RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2009)

I do the same thing! I find myself constantly correcting how students speak. It drives me crazy as well...especially if I know I have taught a lesson on a specific gramatical rule. I like how you said that when you're one-on-one with a student that you don't always correct their mistakes. I think that this helps you become a more approachable teacher to the students. I also liked that you made the distinction between dialect and grammar. I think there is a huge difference here. I, as well, will never correct a student's dialect, but would definitely correct their grammar.

At the school I teach we have a high population of ELL students. I cannot imagine what it would be like trying to learn a new language and have someone correct everything I said incorrectly. Some of those students would never say anything if this was the case. I think this is a clear reason why we have to be careful at what point we correct and how often. I think a great way to model correct grammar is to say back what the child says to the teacher, but using correct English. This way, the child doesn't realize he or she is being corrected, and the child hears it spoken correctly. Great point about dialect and grammar.

I have a mixed group of ESL stduents and African American. When working with my students on writing, I notice a lot of my students write how they speak, without an ending to a word (-ed or -s) or wrong diagraphs. In the beginning of first grade, I do not correct these mistakes, instead I might do what Heather mentioned and say back to them what they said, but the correct way, or hope that they will develop a better sense of langauage as they learn to read. At about half way though the year, if a child has not picked up on these concepts though hearing correct grammer and seeing/memorizing words in their reading, I will start to correct them in their writing. I will ask them which sounds better and read their sentence, and then read the sentence the way it should be written. The majority of the time they catch their own mistakes and fix them without me saying anymore. I do not think this belittles the child in any sense, because they are eager to learn and feel confident that they were able to pick the correct way to word their expression. With that being said, I also think the way you build a relationship with your students can assist a teacher in making correction without a child losing self-esteem because of it.

I have a similar population at my school that Dana has. There are many cultures represented in my school, mostly Hmong and Hispanic. Since I have taught kindergarten for many years, I see the children as they enter school for the first time. They only have one language, and it is their native tongue. Many of them know little or no English at all when they walk through my door, and often their parents do not speak English either. I do not speak any other language, so communicating with them at all is difficult. I can't even imagine how scary it must be for the children who are nervous about coming to school anyway for the first time to get here and not be able to talk to anybody!! I have been in numerous workshops about how ESL children learn best, and the common theme seems to be that they learn best by being immersed in the language rather than being taught in isolation. I personally think that ESL children do need instruction in isolation, as well as immersion in the language in the regular classroom. I think both aspects are important to their acquisition of English. For me, it's more of an issue that I am trying to model the language rather than correcting their mistakes. Some are afraid to speak in class, probably because they are nervous about making mistakes or perhaps just simply that they don't know how to say what they want to say.

Like it or not, we live in a society that does place a high importance on being able to speak correct English. It may not be fair, like many other things but it is the way things are. I think in our culture we have come to place an association between intelligence and oratorical ability, as the article stated. As teachers, I think we have to acknowledge this fact whether we agree with it or not, and help our children understand that being able to speak "proper English" is a tool that will help them get where they want to go in life. If we can find a way to help our kids know how to code switch and that we respect their home language, and help them learn to speak acceptable English at the same time, then I think we will have achieved a lofty goal.

Lorie Hedrick