AAVE Grammatical Features Worksheet
Instructions: You will be presented with either an AAVE sentence or a sentence en Standard English and you must translate the sentence into the opposing dialect and give the reasoning for the translation. An answer sheet will be attached.
AAVE: “She don’t believe nothing I tell her”
SE: _______________________________________
Reason:
AAVE: “She keep her distance. I keep mine”
SE: _______________________________________
Reason:
AAVE: “I ain’t there yet”
SE: _______________________________________
Reason:
AAVE: ____________________________________
SE: “We were watching television”
Reason:
Answer Sheet
AAVE: “She don’t believe nothing I tell her”
SE: “She doesn’t believe anything I tell her”
Reason: Multiple negation
AAVE: “She keep her distance. I keep mine”
SE: “She keeps her distance, and I keep mine”
Reason: Third person singular “s”
AAVE: “I ain’t there yet”
SE: “I am not there yet”
Reason: Usage of “ain’t”
AAVE: “We was watching television”
SE: “We were watching television”
Reason: Generalization of “is” and “was”
Monday, April 20, 2009
DW4b Part 1
Report: Five Steps to Incorporate AAVE into Your Lessons
Released April 2009
African American Vernacular Enligsh (AAVE) has been widely discriminated against in the United States. In order to become the nation we are perceived to be, we must learn to acknowledge other dialects other than Standard English, the only dialect deemed to be appropriate. And it starts in the schools, which is where we must learn to teach and understand AAVE. Kids speak their home language with their friends, then they struggle in school and often times fail out. Only 56% of African American students graduate from high school due to the discriminating of AAVE and their lack of code switching. This statistic demands that we change the status quo. We need to revamp our vision of AAVE and also learn how to accept it starting with educational policy.
Educational policy can take several forms, it can be in the form of writings, such as literature and scholarly essays, or it can be teaching K-12 students, or it can go as far as college classes such as an Ebonics class. Teaching the development of AAVE and appreciating it in the high school years may prove to be very effective, as most kids are easily persuaded by their teachers at this point. The first step is educating the teacher, one of the biggest obstacles teachers face while dealing with AAVE is ignorance. People tend to make bad judgments about linguistic features associated with AAVE. Teachers should educated themselves about the apparent stereotypes of AAVE and then learn to combat them by working in the students home language, which will in turn help them achieve academic success. This is the first step in attempting to change the status quo of only 56% of African Americans graduating from high school.
The second step is incorporating multiculturalism into the classroom, In order to have AAVE in the classroom; we must first create a learning environment which emphasizes diversity in language, experiences, and culture. Kim Brian Lovejoy integrated this into his classroom by allowing his students to bring in nonmainstream varieties of writings and speech. This allowed for in depth class discussion, as well as cultural and linguistic learning. Multiculturalism makes school more relevant and effective for minority students, thus increasing their ability to succeed and have successful lives and careers. Educators must not give their students a one-sided view of the world as they are doing now, and that they should be given more cultural opportunities.
The third step is to create a learning environment rich in oral language, reading texts aloud to students can help immerse them into a learning environment that is rich in oral language. The way a student speaks and is spoken to is very closely related to the way a student writes, so if one can illustrate that AAVE is a natural way to speak, then the student will feel more comfortable using AAVE in the classroom. In-class debates, readings, and discussions can help integrate the students into the oral classroom environment and puts an emphasis on the home language. Knowing the structural differences between AAVE and Standard English is a very useful concept to teach students, as discussed in the fourth step of this plan; emphasizing and demonstrating code switching in the classroom.
It is true that not every language type is useful in every situation, some situations call for more formal speaking while others have a more laid back setting. And it is important to know when and how to do this. When teachers work with students to contrast the differences between non-Standard English and Standard English, students are less likely to use AAVE in their academic writing. And research by Rickford’s proves this, when students were taught the structural differences, their writing in Standard English improved by 59%. This 59% increase in writing is something that is at the core of getting African Americans a higher graduation rate and thus changing the status quo.
The fifth and final step of the plan is to allow students to write like real writers, educators need to teach students how to write to different audiences. Different audiences react differently to each writing techniques and each is effective in a different way. When students are aware of their intended audience, they can critically reflect on their choice of words. Educators should make students aware of how to change their writing based on who they are trying to write to. This would help in many facets of revamping our views on AAVE, this will help African American kids get into college with better writing skills, it will help them get scholarships that require essays because they can write better, it will help them gets jobs, and overall help them earn a better lifestyle. This five step plan is a good start to revamping our educational policy and helping our African American students with AAVE, and also helping our teachers teach and deal with AAVE more effectively.
Released April 2009
African American Vernacular Enligsh (AAVE) has been widely discriminated against in the United States. In order to become the nation we are perceived to be, we must learn to acknowledge other dialects other than Standard English, the only dialect deemed to be appropriate. And it starts in the schools, which is where we must learn to teach and understand AAVE. Kids speak their home language with their friends, then they struggle in school and often times fail out. Only 56% of African American students graduate from high school due to the discriminating of AAVE and their lack of code switching. This statistic demands that we change the status quo. We need to revamp our vision of AAVE and also learn how to accept it starting with educational policy.
Educational policy can take several forms, it can be in the form of writings, such as literature and scholarly essays, or it can be teaching K-12 students, or it can go as far as college classes such as an Ebonics class. Teaching the development of AAVE and appreciating it in the high school years may prove to be very effective, as most kids are easily persuaded by their teachers at this point. The first step is educating the teacher, one of the biggest obstacles teachers face while dealing with AAVE is ignorance. People tend to make bad judgments about linguistic features associated with AAVE. Teachers should educated themselves about the apparent stereotypes of AAVE and then learn to combat them by working in the students home language, which will in turn help them achieve academic success. This is the first step in attempting to change the status quo of only 56% of African Americans graduating from high school.
The second step is incorporating multiculturalism into the classroom, In order to have AAVE in the classroom; we must first create a learning environment which emphasizes diversity in language, experiences, and culture. Kim Brian Lovejoy integrated this into his classroom by allowing his students to bring in nonmainstream varieties of writings and speech. This allowed for in depth class discussion, as well as cultural and linguistic learning. Multiculturalism makes school more relevant and effective for minority students, thus increasing their ability to succeed and have successful lives and careers. Educators must not give their students a one-sided view of the world as they are doing now, and that they should be given more cultural opportunities.
The third step is to create a learning environment rich in oral language, reading texts aloud to students can help immerse them into a learning environment that is rich in oral language. The way a student speaks and is spoken to is very closely related to the way a student writes, so if one can illustrate that AAVE is a natural way to speak, then the student will feel more comfortable using AAVE in the classroom. In-class debates, readings, and discussions can help integrate the students into the oral classroom environment and puts an emphasis on the home language. Knowing the structural differences between AAVE and Standard English is a very useful concept to teach students, as discussed in the fourth step of this plan; emphasizing and demonstrating code switching in the classroom.
It is true that not every language type is useful in every situation, some situations call for more formal speaking while others have a more laid back setting. And it is important to know when and how to do this. When teachers work with students to contrast the differences between non-Standard English and Standard English, students are less likely to use AAVE in their academic writing. And research by Rickford’s proves this, when students were taught the structural differences, their writing in Standard English improved by 59%. This 59% increase in writing is something that is at the core of getting African Americans a higher graduation rate and thus changing the status quo.
The fifth and final step of the plan is to allow students to write like real writers, educators need to teach students how to write to different audiences. Different audiences react differently to each writing techniques and each is effective in a different way. When students are aware of their intended audience, they can critically reflect on their choice of words. Educators should make students aware of how to change their writing based on who they are trying to write to. This would help in many facets of revamping our views on AAVE, this will help African American kids get into college with better writing skills, it will help them get scholarships that require essays because they can write better, it will help them gets jobs, and overall help them earn a better lifestyle. This five step plan is a good start to revamping our educational policy and helping our African American students with AAVE, and also helping our teachers teach and deal with AAVE more effectively.
Monday, April 13, 2009
DW4a
This semester has been centered on the fact that AAVE is discriminated against across almost all aspects of life and in many situations. My project 4 will be focused on how AAVE is followed by racism and discrimination, I will give four templates for this project and I will closely relate them to the racism and discrimination associated with AAVE.
The first template I will use is the compare a paper written in AAVE versus a paper written in Standard Enligsh and see how they would be graded and assessed. I will show how the paper written in AAVE will be graded poorly compared to the paper written in AAVE. Research from the last few papers suggests that it will not be hard to find evidence of this unfair grading scale. I will show the grammatical differences between AAVE and Standard English and how the sentence structure is different. AAVE has been shown to be used effectively in academic papers if used slightly and not obviously, such as repetition and talking directly to the audience using “we” and “you”.
My second template will feature a mock Facebook homepage or AIM messaging box and have one person talking in AAVE and the second person not being able to understand it. Previous interviews seen in class will be my evidence for this template. It is well known that many people think less of those who speak AAVE and I will show that in the messages from the second person. The AAVE speaker will be typing to defend his dialect and the other person will be attacking it.
My fourth template will be a collage showing how AAVE speakers are deemed uneducated and unsophisticated. There will be two sides to the collage, one showing the negative views of AAVE and another showing how AAVE is just as sophisticated and acceptable as Standard English. I hope to be able to educate the public about AAVE and how it is just as acceptable and Standard English, debunking the myths about AAVE and the stereotypes surrounding it.
My fourth and final template will be a magazine article that discusses pedagogy and teaching AAVE in the academic environment. My last paper will be the main source of my knowledge for this part of the project. I will primarily use the “Five Steps” I described in my third paper and use this magazine article as a way to educate society and more specifically teachers on how to deal with, accept, discuss, and incorporate AAVE in the classroom.
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