Blog #4.4 Question: As composition teachers how should we accommodate “students' right to their own language?” What exactly is this "right"? What might "one's own language" really mean, especially in today’s multilingual/multi-dialect/multicultural student populations?

Accommodating a students' right to their own language means we are not forcing the dominant cultural paradigm on our students in our classrooms. We are making room for everyone and respecting and celebrating difference. We can demonstrate how Standard English is one dialect of many, and we can open up and unpack the concepts and ideologies that go along with the use of Standard English -- also holding it under a microscope to show our students that even Standard English itself has its own sub-dialects. We demonstrate that its use and understanding is a tool for empowerment and self-efficacy, but that using it does not mean we must shed our own identities and cultures in order to use it.

Defining "one's own language", today, in the United States can be quite difficult, when we realize that there are so many dialects within use -- just within the English language itself, and that we have many students who have an accent, but who only speak English. Many of our students may only speak English but may be multi-dialect or have an aural ability with another language, yet only speak English. Many students find themselves using several dialects at once: code-meshing (blending dialects) without even realizing it. For example, one of my tutees is Filipino and he himself talks about his various uses of English, along with Tagalog, when speaking with his family and friends or talking at school or writing.

"My parents speak Tagalog and I understand exactly what they are saying, but I respond in English. My parents, even though they only speak Tagalog, understand English perfectly. At school and speaking with teachers, I am more formal with how I talk. I use proper English. With my friends, I mix it up. I might say a word in Tagalog without thinking. I might say a black word. I know some Spanish and Chinese. Others say words in Spanish or Chinese. Some of my friends speak black. Its all good. We understand each other."

Observations like this, from our students, are a key to understanding how we ourselves can adapt and make the classroom a more welcoming place for our students.