This assignment demonstrates ways in which I developed my thinking of language of literacy in this course. This essay required me to summarize texts and identify rhetorical situations.

 

 

My revisions are numbered and color-coded on each paragraph. For the intro, I presented a stronger argument and defined standard language ideology. I provided another example of Standard English’s influence on the media in the first body paragraph. For BP 2, I replaced the word “circled” with the term “centered on”. I also explained Jenkins’ elitist viewpoint. For BP 3, I explained who Wolfram suggests should enroll in the dialect awareness program and replaced the word “commenced” with “connects”. A few words were added to my conclusion. I also made the necessary changes to my Works Cited page.

The Truth behind learning Standard English Revisions

       Although English is a primary language in the U.S. there are many variations of English that are spoken. We become accustomed to communicating in different ways despite the grammatical errors and what not that may come with it. (1) Two major components of today’s society, education and the media alter our ability to remain comfortable with our variations of English. What we hear and see in the media and what is taught to us at school has impacted how we view the English language and when to use Standard English in a public setting. These are two dominant clouds that hover on millennials since we are participants of the education system and media outlets. People of my age should pay attention to this topic as well as any older adults who care to continue to comfortably use any variation of English to communicate with younger people. After learning about the ins and outs of U.S. millennials learning Standard English through external research I’ve realized the immense impact the infusion of the U.S. education system and media has on our lifestyle and how students are affected by the standard language ideology in today’s society. (2) Standard language ideology consists of the notion that Standard English is the best and only viable option to communicate with. Especially in public settings. This differentiates from the less formal, comfortable and respectable language we utilize.

Students my age are accustomed to engaging with the media by way of social media and the broadcasts of TV networks. We are able to communicate with an informal language on social media. However, whenever we pay attention to a news broadcast we end up listening to news anchors that use Standard English. (1) Political settings such as debates and news conferences also utilize Standard English. We put typical teenage slang to the side and pick up a more formal version of the English language. Robert MacNeil, a renowned journalist and novelist does a great job explaining this. In MacNeil’s “English Belongs to Everybody”, he argues “It might also be argued that more Americans hear more correct, even beautiful, English on television than was ever heard before.” (MacNeil, Robert 38) He establishes an argumentative tone to keep the audience engaged. He believes that Standard English has a place in society but we should feel free to be creative with the language. We get sucked into the English spoken on TV which influences our ideology on what is formal, informal and what type of English to speak depending on the setting. We become self-conscious when speaking to each other but English should be a simple task. Furthermore, a different view is presented by Dr. Carole Cobb an expert on learning Standard English regarding people who are learning English and facing disadvantages. In “Who Are Standard English Learners?” Cobb says, “Standard English learners have been academically under-served in both K-12 and post-secondary educational settings.” (Cobb, Carole 1) This gives more of an incentive for these people to grasp and follow Standard English since they’re learning it and it’s what surrounds them by way of their education and the English speaking media that they may pay attention to. If one were to stand in the shoes of a Standard English learner it should be easy to realize that there is a silent pressure to master this variation of English in this society and fit in based on what students are learning in school and listening to on TV.

The U.S. education system influences our standard ideology by placing an emphasis on needing Standard English to succeed in the real world. A lot of our standardized tests and lessons are (1) centered on mastering Standard English. MacNeil emphasizes this by stating, “There are very formal occasions, often requiring written English: the job application or the letter to the editor—the dark suit, serious tie language” (MacNeil, Robert 37) There is a need to learn Standard English because it may affect your future lifestyle so it is embedded in school lesson plans. Also, there are scholarly authors such as Rob Jenkins that believe learning Standard English should be mandatory in schools across the country. His reasoning explains how different people around the country speak in different ways so Standard English could become a language that connects everyone in terms of communication. In the beginning of this essay I discussed different people speaking in different variations of the English language. (2) Although Jenkins’ viewpoint may sound a bit elitist due to the lack of empathy towards people who don’t excel in using Standard English and the belief that Standard English of all types of English could unify us. There is a method to his madness. “Standard American English is no better or worse than any other language or dialect, but it is the one by which educated Americans communicate in the workplace. “(Jenkins, Rob 1) This is something that may influence the whole country if people decide to conform to Jenkins’ beliefs.

Different authors pose different viewpoints on the necessities of learning Standard English and the influences our education system and the media pose. One author, Walt Wolfram a well-known scholar who specializes in social and ethnic dialects of Americans presents a more defensive argument. In his article “Everyone Has an Accent” he discussed how some U.S. students are forced to lose their accents with mixed results along with possible solutions to this mess. “But present studies of dialects in the United States actually show that, despite forceful efforts to rid students of their variant speech patterns, some dialects are becoming more, rather than less distinctive.” (Wolfram, Walt 41) “The goal of these “dialect awareness” programs is straightforward: to provide accurate information about the nature of dialect different and promote understanding of the role of dialects in American society.” (Wolfram, Walt 42) His purpose is to make readers aware that it is OK to keep your accent in terms of reading and speaking English and we should educate those who ignorantly continue to negatively judge one’s accent. He establishes an informative tone with an audience mixed with different accents and races. Wolfram creates a comfortable situation where a Standard English Learner can keep their accent while learning and not feel pressured by our education system to make an unnecessary adjustment. (1) Wolfram suggests that people who have trouble accepting and differentiating different dialects should enroll in the dialect awareness program. The defense of Standard English learners (2) connects with Dr. Ogo Okoye-Johnson’s “Intangible Heritage of Standard English Learners: The “invisible” Subgroup in the United States of America? Implications for closing the Achievement Gap.” Johnson says, “The persistent glaring gap in the achievement levels among student subgroups in the U.S. K-12 public schools that is apparent in standardized tests data has been expertly documented over many years.” (Okoye-Johnson, Ogo 1) Johnson sides with Wolfram on this particular topic.

All in all, through external research we’ve viewed different viewpoints on the topic of Standard English learners and the impact our media and education system has on today’s (1) students’ use of Standard English in private and public settings.

 

WORKS CITED PAGE

 

 

Cobb, Carole, “Who Are Standard English Learners?” Equity Alliance.

www.nuisileadscape.org 22, August 2012

Jenkins, Rob, “We Must Help Students Master Standard English” The Chronicle of Higher     

      Education www.chronicle.com 10, April 2018

MacNeil, Robert, “English Belongs to Everybody”, Canada, 1989 page, 37-38

Okoye-Johnson, Ogo. “Intangible Heritage of Standard English Learners: The “Invisible”

Subgroup in the United States of America? Implications for Closing the Achievement

Gap.” SAGE Open, vol. 1, no. 1, 2011, pp. 1–7

Wolfram, Walt, “Everyone Has an Accent”, Teaching Tolerance, North Carolina, 2000, page

41-42

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pZa6R3rmRQ

 

 

 

Reflection

       Some of the insights I gained during this phase was the negligence that Standard English learners experience in today’s society and how it can go unnoticed through the whirlwind of our education system and media. I also realized how frequently people my age use informal English on a day to day basis. I also have gained an appreciation for the opinions of some of these authors and the empathy they demonstrate towards Standard English Learners, specifically MacNeil and Wolfram. Some concepts that impacted my learning include evidence and synthesis. In this phase I learned to connect the evidence provided by multiple authors in the same topic to make my writing legitimate. Also, the concept of the audience has been a great impact because I have to adjust my work based on who the audience is so that they can understand and respond my work. A Course Learning Goal that helped me with this assignment was to “Gather, Interpret, assess and critically evaluate information and arguments from a variety of sources and points of view.” Because some of the sources shared similar opinions while others were complete opposites. Another Course Goal that helped was “Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy and bias.”