“I still think there's a need for proper, academic, Standard English”: Examining a teacher's negotiation of multiple language ideologies

Publication date: February 2019Source: Linguistics and Education, Volume 49Author(s): Megan M. WeaverAbstractTo better understand writing teachers’ language ideologies and how they might challenge or support the implementation of Student's Right to Their Own Language (SRTOL) tenets in the classroom, this study examined the articulated language ideologies of a college writing instructor. In particular, I investigated how the instructor negotiates multiple language ideologies, including standard language ideology as well as more critical beliefs regarding language, to voice an appropriateness-based stance toward language variation. Such a stance views linguistic codes as appropriate in certain contexts and inappropriate, or unsuitable, in others. By voicing an appropriateness-based stance before and after her participation in professional development workshops designed to further develop instructors’ critical language awareness, the instructor illustrates the complexity of enacting the tenets of SRTOL, even after engaging in reflexive analysis of her own language beliefs. To conclude, I suggest that the development of critical language awareness necessitates continual challenge and support if SRTOL is to move from theory to praxis in education.
Source: Linguistics and Education - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research