Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study explored pre-service teachers’ knowledge and awareness of dialectical code switching in classroom settings. A Likert-type scale survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted as part of an embedded, mixed-methods research design. Twenty-two undergraduate students responded to the online survey and 28 volunteered to be interviewed by the researchers. Results indicated that pre-service teachers have limited knowledge of code switching but felt that nurturing a relationship with students, understanding their cultural backgrounds, and paying careful attention to linguistic differences can help students feel empowered and ultimately lead to successful learning experiences in the classroom.

Keywords

African American English Standard American English dialect literacy teaching code switching

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anthony

T. D.

Kritsonis

W. A.

(2006). Bilingualism and how it impacts the African American child. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED492546.pdf

Baugh

(1999). Out of the mouths of slave: African American language and education malpractice. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Bol

Berry

R. Q.

III . (2005). Secondary mathematics teachers’ perception of the achievement gap. High School Journal, 88(4), 32-45.

Brennan

(2018, April). The code-switcher. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/toc/2018/04/

Cazden

C. B.

(2001). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Chaney

(2014). Bridging the gap: Promoting intergenerational family literacy among low-income, African American families. The Journal of Negro Education, 83(1), 29-48. doi:10.7709/jnegroeducation.83.1.0029

Charity

A. H.

(2008). African American English: An overview. Perspectives on Communication Disorders and Sciences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations, 15, 33-42.

Charity

A. H.

Scarborough

H. S.

Griffin

D. M.

(2004). Familiarity with school English in African American children and its relation to early reading achievement. Child Development, 75, 1340-1356.

Christian

(1997). Vernacular dialects in the U.S. schools. Retrieved from www.cal.org/resources/digest/christ01.htm

10.

Cochran-Smith

(2004). Walking the road: Race, diversity, and social justice in teacher education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

11.

Cole

Duncan

L. G.

Blaye

(2014). Cognitive flexibility predicts early reading skills. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 565. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00565

12.

Craig

H. K.

(2016). African American English and the achievement gap: The role of dialectical code-switching. New York, NY: Routledge.

13.

Creswell

(2015). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

14.

Dandy

(1991). Black communications: Breaking down the barriers. Chicago, IL: African American Images.

15.

Dillard

J. L.

(1972). Black English: Its history and usage in the United States. New York, NY: Random House.

16.

Fasold

R. W.

Labov

Vaughn-Cooke

F. B.

Bailey

Wolfram

Spears

A. K.

Rickford

(1987). Are black and white vernaculars diverging? American Speech, 62(1), 3-80. doi:10.2307/454555

17.

Fitzgerald

Graves

(2004/2005). Reading supports for all. Educational Leadership, 62(4), 68-71. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec04/vol62/num04/Reading-Supports-for-All.aspx

18.

Fryer

R. G.

Levitt

S. D.

(2006). The Black-White Test Score Gap through third grade. American Law and Economics Review, 8, 249-281. doi:10.1093/aler/ahl003

19.

Garcia Coll

C. T.

Lamberty

Jenkins

McAdoo

H. P.

Crnic

Wasik

B. H.

Garcia

H. V

. (1996). An integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children. Child Development, 67, 1891-1914. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01834.x

20.

Gatlin

Wanzek

(2015). Relations among children’s use of dialect and literacy skills: A meta-analysis. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 58, 1306-1318. doi:10.1044/2015_JSLHR-L-14-0311

21.

Gatlin

Wanzek

(2017). Elementary students’ use of dialect and reading achievement: Examining students with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 84, 97-115.

22.

Gee

J. P.

(2015). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (5th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

23.

Glaser

Strauss

(1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago, IL: Aldine.

24.

Godley

A. J.

Carpenter

B. D.

Werner

C. A.

(2007). “I’ll speak in proper slang”: Language ideologies in a daily editing activity. Reading Research Quarterly, 42, 100-131.

25.

Godley

A. J.

Sweetland

Wheeler

R. S.

Minnici

Carpenter

B. D.

(2006). Preparing teachers for dialectically diverse classrooms. Educational Researcher, 35(8), 30-37.

26.

Goodman

(2006). Language study in teacher education: Exploring the language in language arts. Language Arts, 84, 145-156.

27.

Greene

D. M.

Walker

F. R.

(2004). Recommendations to public speaking instructors for the negotiation of code-switching practices among Black English-speaking African American students. The Journal of Negro Education 73, 435-442.

28.

Hall

D. T.

Damico

(2007). Black youth employ African American Vernacular English in creating digital texts. The Journal of Negro Education, 76, 80-88.

29.

Hecht

Collier

Ribeau

(1993). African American communication: Ethnic identity and cultural interpretation. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.

30.

Horton-Ikard

Miller

(2004). It is not just the poor kids: The use of AAE forms by African-American school-aged children from middle SES communities. Journal of Communication Disorders, 37, 467-487.

31.

Huttenlocher

Vasilyeva

Cymerman

Levine

(2002). Language input and syntax. Cognitive Psychology, 45, 337-374.

32.

Iruka

I. U.

Morgan

(2014). Patterns of quality experienced by African American children in early education programs: Predictors and links to children’s preschool and kindergarten academic outcomes. The Journal of Negro Education, 83, 235-255. doi:10.7709/jnegroeducation.83.3.0235

33.

Kagan

(1992). Implications of research on teacher belief. Educational Psychologist, 27(1), 65-90.

34.

Kainz

Vernon-Feagans

(2007). The ecology of early reading development for children in poverty. Elementary School Journal, 107, 407-427.

35.

Karlin

(1985). Intonation in oral reading and reading comprehension. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 25, 168-175. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol35/iss3/3

36.

Koch

Gross

Kolts

(2001). Attitudes toward Black English and code switching. Journal of Black Psychology, 27(1), 29-42. doi:10.1177/0095798401027001002

37.

Ladson-Billings

(2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

38.

Littlewood

(1984). Foreign and second language learning. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

39.

McCardle

Scarborough

H. S.

Catts

H. W.

(2001). Predicting, explaining, and preventing reading difficulties. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 16, 230-239. doi:10.1111/0938-8982.00023

40.

McLoyd

V. C.

(1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist, 53, 185-204. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.53.2.185

41.

Moll

L. C.

(1989). Teaching second language students: A Vygotskian perspective. In Johnson

D. M.

Roen

D. H.

(Eds.), Richness in writing: Empowering ESL students. New York, NY: Longman.

42.

Myers-Scotton

Ury

(1977). Bilingual strategies: The social functions of codeswitching. Linguistics, 193, 5-20. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ173759

43.

Naremore

(1980). Language variation in a multicultural society. In Hixon

T. J.

Shrieberg

L. D.

Saxmon

J. H.

(Eds.), Introduction to communication disorders (pp. 176-212). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

44.

Pajares

(1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62, 307-332.

45.

Pearson

B. Z.

Conner

Jackson

J. E.

(2013). Removing the obstacles for African American English-speaking children through greater understanding of language difference. Developmental Psychology, 49, 31-44. doi:10.1037/a0028248

46.

Pittman

R. T.

Malatesha Joshi

Carreker

(2014). Improving the spelling ability among speakers of African American English through explicit instruction. Literacy Research and Instruction, 53, 107-133. doi:10.1080/19388071.2013.870623

47.

Siegel

(2007). Creoles and minority dialects in education: An update. Language and Education, 21(1), 66-86. doi:10.2167/le569.0

48.

Smith

(2018, January). Renewing hope with English literacies: Insights from middle schoolers. Literacy Today, 35(4), 34-35.

49.

Smitherman

(1977). Talkin and testifyin: The language of Black America. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

50.

Terry

N. P.

(2012). Examining relationships among dialect variation and emergent literacy skills. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 33(2), 67-77.

51.

United Way of America. (2010). Illiteracy: A national crisis, United Way’s Role: A report. University Park, PA: Author.

52.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (1996). Reading literacy in the United States: Findings from the IEA Reading Literacy Study. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs/96258.pdf

53.

Vacca

Gove

Burkey

Lenhart

McKeon

(2015). Reading and learning to read (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

54.

Vygotsky

L. S.

(1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

55.

Young

T. A.

Hadaway

N. L.

(2006). Supporting the literacy development of English learners. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Gauging Pre-Service Teachers’ Awareness of Dialectical Code Switching in Classroom Settings

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References