SOCIOLINGUISTICS 2
L I N G
2 0 0
4 . 1 2 . 2 3
D R .
C R O U C H
We change registers or speech styles
depending on the social setting
“standard” is often used in
formal settings, like
interviews
STYLESHIFTING
Vernaculars are often used in
more informal settings, like
grabbing a bite with friends
Someone may style-shift within the same
interaction. Why?
Relational roles: friend,
mentor, bad influence
RO L E S
AND
PERSONA
S
Interactional roles: narrator,
answerer, ‘straight man’
Personae: social ‘types’
COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
• Any group of people who jointly engage in meaningful activity
• Families
• Friend groups
• Coworkers
• Professional organizations
• Communities of practice often have their own style
“ S TA N D A R D ”
LANGUAGE
• “The standard is an artificial
language variety that has been
deliberately engineered to function
as the prestige variety and typically
also as a wider means of written and
spoken communications across
social groups that speak different
dialects”
“ S TA N D A R D ”
LANGUAGE
• Standardization is ‘top-down’
• Standards are often
enforced/propagated through the
education system (among other
means)
S TA N D A R D
LANGUAGE
AND
TEACHER
I D E O LO G I E S
(METZ &
KNIGHT
2021)
Based on interviews with 27
English teachers
Key questions
• What do high school English
teachers believe about language, and
what are the components of their
language ideologies?
• How do teachers reconcile
conflicting beliefs about language?
L A N G UAG E I D E O LO G I E S
Beliefs about language and how it operates in society (incl.
moral and political meanings attached to language)
LAN G UAG E
I D E O LO G I E S
Beliefs about language and how it operates in society
(incl. moral and political meanings attached to
language)
• Positionality: how language ideologies arise from
specific social+ positions of those who hold them
• Multiplicity: how people hold multiple,
sometimes conflicting ideologies
• Awareness: how conscious people are of the
ideologies they and others hold
S TA N D A R D L A N G U A G E A N D T E A C H E R
I D E O LO G I E S ( M E T Z & K N I G H T 2 0 2 1 )
Language as it is
presented in schools is
not in line with how
linguists approach
language
Fixed set of grammatical
forms and rules vs.
dynamic, changing,
social/cultural
S TA N D A R D
LAN G UAG E
AN D T E AC H E R
I D E O LO G I E S
(METZ &
KNIGHT 2021)
Understanding the
(sometimes contradictory)
language ideologies teachers
hold and how they deal
with those contradictions is
foundational for integrating
contemporary
understandings of language
with language pedagogy
S TA N D A R D L A N G U A G E A N D
T E AC H E R I D E O LO G I E S ( M E T Z &
KNIGHT 2021)
We know that there’s a relationship between teachers’ beliefs and
teachers’ practices, and that it’s a two-way street
• Beliefs can influence practice
• Experience with certain practices can shape beliefs
S TA N D A R D
LANGUAGE
AND
TEACHER
I D E O LO G I E S
(METZ &
KNIGHT
2021)
We know from previous studies that
teachers hold multiple & contradictory
ideologies about language
One study found that teachers
“struggled with how to uphold the
validity of all language use in a schooling
structure designed to promote the
dominance of Standardized English.”
Studies like the ones we’re discussing here use ethnographic
methods
Ethnography
people in their own environment
(as opposed to, e.g. the lab),
human societies and cultures (from
both outside and inside views)
ETHNOGRAPHIC METHODS
how people interpret their own
behavior
ETHNOGRAPHIC METHODS
Primarily qualitative: interviews, participant observation, openended surveys
Concern with reflexivity
Often very in-depth, long-term research
S TA N D A R D
LANGUAGE
AND
TEACHER
I D E O LO G I E S
(METZ &
KNIGHT
2021)
• Found that English teachers believe that
• (i) they are less judgmental about
language than the rest of society
• (ii) society discriminates against people
who do not use Standardized English
• (iii) students need Standardized English
to be successful in school and work
• (iv) a teacher’s job is to prepare
students to conform to the
expectations of society.