User:Elli207/Code-Switching

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African-American English and Standard English[edit]

Children growing up in African American communities, who natively speak African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), acquire a kind of bilingualism (or bidialectism) when entering mainstream American classrooms. Teachers and academic expectations they encounter require them to use standard, higher-prestige linguistic features for school assignments and classroom participation, often effectively leading these students to develop an ability to code-switch rapidly between nonstandard AAVE and standard English features. This can pose a processing obstacle for some students who have to navigate subtle grammatical differences between the two varieties of English when interpreting prompts and instructions (see, e.g., Terry, et al., 2010 on past tense copula was/were). Age is a significant factor in determining how many AAVE forms vs. more standard forms are produced by a given student with a significant downshift in classroom AAVE production occurring around the transition from preschool to kindergarten and first grade. Craig and Washington (2004) found a reduction in five out of six morpho-syntactic characteristics studied across the transition from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten including null copula, zero articles, zero past tense, zero plurals, and zero prepositions. The bidialectism developed by these children offers similar advantages to other kinds of bilingualism including increased executive function and advances in critical thinking. As an example of this code-switching in action, see the following transcript of Rachel Jeantel's testimony in the trial of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin below. This transcript was analyzed in Rickford and King (2016); the bolded elements represent places where initially a null copula (indicated by the symbol ∅) was used which was switched to an overt copula ('s) when asked for clarification by the court reporter:

Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda: Okay. And after he used, pardon my language, he said, 'Oh, shit', what happened then?

Rachel Jeantel: The nigga ∅ behind me.

Court reporter: I'm sorry, what?

Jeantel: [Slowly, deliberately] The nigga's behind—the nigga ∅ behind me.

African American English the Invariant "be"

The structure of African American English differs significantly from standard English, particularly in the use of the Invariant "be." An illustration of this distinction is evident in its application for habitual or repeated actions. In instances involving actions in the present with subjects other than "I," the use of a form of "be" is omitted. For actions in the past tense, "was" or "were" is employed, while present tense questions utilize a conjugated form of "be." Questions pertaining to habitual actions employ the combination of "do" and "be." Notably, the Invariant "be" also serves to indicate future actions, wherein it may be optionally combined with an auxiliary. Unlike the verb "to be," the Invariant "be" lacks variant forms such as "is," "are," or "am".

For Example, the American English sentence "First day I walk in the door, there she was" transforms into "First day I walk in the door" in African American English. This alteration serves to clarify the action, emphasizing its singular occurrence.

Getting to know the African American English is very important because many African American students use this English in class and then often get told to use the standard English forms. The invariant be is also considered a code switching because you technically switch in between two languages. Even though these languages are almost the same there are still some grammatical differences that makes the African American English its own language.

Code switching in the classroom

Code switching in the classroom can be challenging because it's not just about translating words from one language to another but also about adapting to a different set of cultural norms. Students begin to assimilate into this American Culture in order to fit in with other students. The way students talk, learn, and think begins to change because they start learning what is the "correct" way of speaking. Things like plurals, nouns, or verbs are things that schools implement onto students but is it important to understand how difficult it can be for students to learn an entire language where there are different rules.

Henry Lawert emphasizes how "an effective knowledge of English is not as universal as many of us would like to believe." Schools are prepared to teach children but what happens when the child isn't prepared because English isn't their primary language or they are not yet confident in considering themselves fluent. From speaking Spanish at home to coming back to school, having to speak English can be challenging and confusing. When switching languages, it can become difficult for a child to understand what is going on in the classroom and might be at a different pace than other students. Teachers start to label children as "inadequate" or "behind". As a result, children start feeling resentment towards their own culture and begin to think their native language is inferior or invalided. With an average classroom class being 30:1, it can be difficult to receive help from a teacher, and even more difficult when the student is a non-English speaker.  Students start to feel discouraged and it can become harmful for them because these are children that are still developing and finding their sense of self.

Some teachers considered Code-switching as useful in the classroom. Because it helps students that don't speak standard English as their first language feel more welcomed in the class and also learn the material easier. It also helps with learning a new language since you can guess what the word means our of the context you get from the text. The teachers just have to consider that if they use two languages in their class room or do code switching they have to make sure that the students actually understand what the teacher is talking about. To do so they usually shorten their material to cover and rather give them the basics and let them learn the rest by themselves.

There is a lot of pressure that students have to conform to one language over the other. For some people it tends to lead to a feeling of disconnection to their own culture, which leads to an idea that because students choose to learn English (or any language other than their native tongue), or because it is required of their education, there is this sort of betrayal to their culture. It can be completely isolating when English not one's first language because in America, language is everything. There is this sense of feeling lost and feeling the need to hide their cultural identity. Many educators have argued that in a classroom, all cultures should be celebrated and students should feel like they are fully accepted and valued for who they are.