Vernacular Dialects Essay

510 Words3 Pages
Vernacular Dialects Eaven Defense February 28, 2012 Dr. Bonenfant Applied Linguistics (5:00-7:30) There are various reasons why students come into today’s classroom not speaking Standard English. Some reasons may be because students are new to the country and are only fluent in their native language or their native language is the only language spoken by their parents and in the home. For students whose primary language is English, there are many different accents that affect how words are pronounced due to the different regions around the United States. I personally believe that it is important to teach Standard English in the classroom because that is the native language of the United States. Many students, who aren’t from the states, have parents who have brought them here to better themselves and they must be efficient in English in order to communicate successfully here. Variation in dialect may affect a student in reading because of the language rules that were taught to them many years ago in their native language. The way that a letter or a word may be pronounced in their native can be pronounced totally differently in the English language. Students may tend to get annoyed or aggravated by the change which may hinder their ability to learn the new language. Teachers can promote dialect diversity by having students list different names for an item used by many cultures. For example, students from other countries or cities can tell the class if there is a difference between ‘soda and pop’ or ‘bag or sack’. According to the article, this allows students to think comprehensively and it also promotes critical thinking and the opportunity to compare culture differences. A student’s cultural and language background ultimately influences how successful they are. When students enter school without any education, it is difficult for

More about Vernacular Dialects Essay

Open Document