African American Vernacular English,
Code-Switching and the K-12
Inclusive, Multi-Literate Classroom
Drs. Victoria Deneroff,
Rebecca C. McMullen, and Nicholas HelfricK
Georgia College
The Third Annual Middle GA Student Diversity
Conference, Atlanta GA
Outline of Presentation
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Significance of AAVE in the classroom
What does the Literature say?
What should teachers do?
A few Strategies for You
Results and Implications Discussed
Introduction
Today’s world demands a new way of teaching
that is grounded in an understanding of the role
of culture and language in learning (Villegas &
Lucas, 2007).
http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/right
toownlanguage
All students are enriched by learning about the
variety of language expressions.
English Dialects of the U.S.
American English (AmE, AmEng, USEng)
Cultural
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African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)
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Chicano English
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General American
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New York Latino English
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Pennsylvania Dutchified English
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Yeshivish
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Yinglish
English Dialects of the South
Southern English
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Tidewater accent
Virginia Piedmont
Virginia Tidewater [3]
Coastal Southeastern (Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia area)
Cajun English
Harkers Island English (North Carolina)
Ozark English
Piedmont Dialect
Southern Highland English
Florida Cracker Dialect
Gullah or Geechee
Tampanian English
Texan
Yat (New Orleans)
Ocracoke
Code Switching
In linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent
use of more than one language, or language
variety, in conversation. Multilinguals—people
who speak more than one language—
sometimes use elements of multiple
languages in conversing with each other. Thus,
code-switching is the use of more than one
linguistic variety in a manner consistent with
the syntax and phonology of each variety.
What is African-American Vernacular
English?
• AAVE does not have a vocabulary separate
from other varieties of English. However AAVE
speakers do use some words which are not
found in other varieties and furthermore use
some English words in ways that differ from
the standard dialects.
• AAVE has a complex grammar, which includes
rules
Significance of the Code-Switching and
Multi-Literacies
Problem:
Teachers often underrate the reading, writing, and
speaking performances (Wheeler, 2008).
Problems may stem from
• the traditional Language Arts Lens.
• less than adequate teacher prep programs.
Cultural Responsiveness to Teaching
Language Arts: Trends in Research
• Linguistic Insight
– Traditional correction methods (Adger, Wolfram, &
Christian, 2007).
– Teachers’ negative attitudes (Godley et al., 2006)
– Teachers’ lower expectations
– Students’ lower academic achievement
– Trend: Students are following correct language
patterns in their communities (Wheeler & Swords,
2006)
AAVE is a Grammatical Language
Words Directly from African Languages
banana (Mandingo)
yam (Mandingo)
okra (Akan)
gumbo (Western Bantu)
West African Form + West African Meaning:
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bogus 'fake/fraudulent' cf. Hausa boko, or boko-boko 'deceit, fraud'.
hep, hip 'well informed, up-to-date' cf. Wolof hepi, hipi 'to open one's eyes, be
aware of what is going on'.
English Form + West African Meaning:
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cat 'a friend, a fellow, etc.' cf. Wolof -kat (a suffix denoting a person)
cool 'calm, controlled' cf. Mandingo suma 'slow' (literally 'cool')
dig 'to understand, appreciate, pay attention' cf. Wolof deg, dega 'to understand,
appreciate'
bad 'really good'
bad-eye 'nasty look', cf. Mandingo, nyE-jugu 'hateful glance' (lit. 'bad-eye')
big-eye 'greedy', cf. Ibo. anya uku 'covetous' (literally 'big-eye').
What is Code Switching?
Code switching is
• the practice of moving between variations of language in different
contexts (Smith 2002).
• “Latinos are learning English,” he says. “That doesn’t mean that
they should sacrifice their original language or that they should give
up this in-betweeness that is Spanglish. Spanglish is a creative way
also of saying, ‘I am an American and I have my own style, my own
taste, my own tongue.’”
(from: Spanglish, A New American Language : NPR)
• <embed
src="http://www.npr.org/v2/?i=1438900&#38;m=1440675&#38;t=a
udio" height="386" wmode="opaque" allowfullscreen="true"
width="400" base="http://www.npr.org" type="application/xshockwave-flash"></embed>
Three important Elements for Teaching
Code Switching
How should we help students understand and
apply the rules of Standard English?
• Scientific Inquiry
• Comparison and Contrast
• Code Switching as Metacognition
Grammar
Standard English uses a conjugated be verb (called a copula) in a number of
different sentences. (This may occur as is, 's, are, 're, etc.) In AAVE this verb is
often not included. The frequency of inclusion has been shown to depend on
a variety of factors.
In future sentences with gonna or gon (see below):
• I don't care what he say, you __ gon laugh. ...as long as is kids around
he's gon play rough or however they're playing.
Before verbs with the -ing or -in ending(progressive):
• I tell him to be quiet because he don't know what he __ talking about. I
mean, he may say something's out of place but he __ cleaning up behind
it and you can't get mad at him.
Before adjectives and expressions of location:
• He __ all right. And Alvin, he __ kind of big, you know?
• She __ at home. The club __ on one corner, the Bock is on the other.
Before nouns (or phrases with nouns)
• He __ the one who had to go try to pick up the peacock. I say, you __ the
one jumping up to leave, not me.
Grammar 2
Agreement
• SE agreement between the subject and predicate in the present
tense.
• In AAVE the verb is rarely marked in this way. When regular verbs
occur with such -s marking, they often carry special emphasis.
Standard English also has agreement in a number of irregular and
frequently used verbs such as has vs have and is vs are and was vs
were. In AAVE these distinctions are not always made.
Tense and aspect
• The verb in AAVE is often used without any ending. As is the case
with the English creoles, there are some separate words that come
before the verb which show when or how something happens.
These are called "tense/aspect markers".
Verb Nuances
Ricky Bell be steady steppin in them number nines.
She be working all the time.
Grammar 3
Standard English present perfect: He has been
married. AAVE been: He been married.
• "He has eaten his dinner" can be expressed as
He done eat his dinner.
“Ain’t for didn’t”
• I ain't step on no line. I said, "I ain't run the
stop sign," and he said, "you ran it!"
• I ain't believe you that day, man.
Double Negatives
Pilate they remembered as a pretty woods-wild
girl "that couldn't nobody put shoes on.“ (Toni
Morrison, Song of Solomon)
A Five-Step Process to Code Switching
• Informed teachers
Step 1: ask are common error patterns observed
(Aldger et al.,2007).
Step 2: don’t view these as errors.
Step 3: create a code switching chart
Step 4: ask students to compare and contrast the
informal and formal.
Step 5: teach students to assess the needs of the
setting through metacognition.
Code Switching Chart
Informal English
• Taylor cat is black.
• The boy coat is torn.
• Did you see the teacher
pen?
The Pattern
Owner+ what is owned
Noun + noun
Formal English
• Taylor’s cat is black.
• The boy’s coat is torn.
• Did you see the teacher’s
pen?
The Pattern
Owner + ‘s what is owned
Noun + ‘s + noun
Small Group Interactive Activities
• Presented with short oral passages using AA
vernacular English, please interpret them using formal
English.
• Ask students to spend about ten minutes
brainstorming a response to this prompt:
What are the different "languages" you use? When and
why? Consider both reading and writing, and don't
forget about email! If you speak another language,
include it (or possibly them if you know more than
one).
Lesson Plans
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4558
Lesson Plans from Rebecca Wheeler
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroomresources/lesson-plans/exploring-languageidentity-mother-910.html
References
Gee, J. P. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in
discourses. Critical perspectives on literacy and education.
2d. London: Falmer Press.
Gee. J. P. (2004). Situated language and learning: A critique of
traditional schooling. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415317764
Labov, W. (1972). Academic ignorance and black intelligence.
The Atlantic Online.
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/95sep/ets/la
bo.htm
http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/langnet/definitions/aave.
html.
Helfrick Literature Review