RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

I was amazed and fascinated by the three readings. Me being, a white American and growing up in a predominately white schools and church setting I had not thought about the perspectives that Dowdy and Deplit took in Ovuh Dyuh and No Kinda Sense.

I find it very distressing that Dowdy felt that she had to play a part to fit into society that she could not be herself through speech. She states “ One not only had to look the part, light skinned, chemical curls for a coiffure, but one had to sound the part, perfect British diction” This notion of not being able to be yourself and having to play roles to fit in to society is very difficult. When a child has to play that role they never really find who they are. Always having to pretend and be something that they are not because society says that is who they should be. I understand that in certain situations proper English should be used. There is also a time that students and children should be allowed to be free with their speech and let their guard down. When playing with friends or having causal conversations with parents and even teachers children should be allowed to express themselves though informal language. Why always so prim and proper?

In the article No Kinda Sense Deplit talks about “Code Switching” a strategy that her daughter has learned at a young age by listening and communicating with others. I believe in today’s society some students have a difficult time with the concept of code switching. They have difficult time learning when they should switch the way they speak according to their circumstances. I may only see this in my kindergarten classroom. I have observed my students and I can see that they speak differently according to where they are and who they are with. Fox example I have higher economic students in my class that will speak in code or slang on the playground with friends but in a classroom their use of language is very formal. I also have students that speak with informal language and slang in any given situation. I have noticed that most of those students are from lower economic backgrounds and their speech is not based on their ethnicity. It is based on what they learned from parents and what they lacked from their parents. I am sure that a teacher in a different school may see something very different from what I have observed. But when you work in a high economic school speech patterns are not really divided by ethnicity they are divided by economic status.

The article on Mrs. Obama sounding like a white girl is very true. I do think society elects people and puts people in high powered positions based on their poise and speech patterns. I don’t think that just because someone sounds proper they should be classified as sounding like a white person. There are plenty of people in society of all ethnic backgrounds that understand how to use proper English and know when they should “act formal versus informal”. Just because someone uses proper English does not mean that they talk like a white person. I believe people in the public eye should be able to use proper English. Who wants a person representing Americans whether they are white or African American that can not speak clear and with intelligences? Also think that people in the public eye play to the audience that they are speaking to. That is the way that people relate to and reach others by making connections.

Angie Somers