David Kime [#4]

During my freshman year of high school, I had an English teacher who stood by the concept that communication does not have a standard. Or, rather, that as long as the information is understood, then delivery didn't necessarily matter. For instance, is "vernaculate" a word? Doesn't matter, as long as the point is made, as long as the receiver of the message understands what is being said. 

These statements from MSU and the CCCC reminded me of this particular moment in high school, and a potentially surprising one to learn in an English classroom. The sentiment has stuck with me over the years, and I can't help but feel how true that remains. A "standard" or "academic" English/language seems largely out of place in a world where language constantly evolves and changes from individual to individual. Alongside its racist implications, standardization limits expression, limits the ways we can feel free to articulate ourselves. Really, this comes down to a need for a meeting point between writer and audience, nothing more. 

Now, I say this with a grain of salt... and I say this as a white male, who group up in a predominantly white school district. From the time we enter the education system, "standardized" English feels so heavily ingrained into us, that it can often feel hard to separate it from our own level of language comprehension. I suppose my question is... how do we go about tutoring in a language when we have been subjected to such a perspective? What are some best practices to mediate between understandability/expression and an audience that might be a stickler for "proper" English?

Comments

  1. C OSeptember 22, 2020 at 7:47 PM

    I feel that a good way to give people the opportunity to appreciate a non-standardized-English perspective would be to encourage them to learn other languages not just in school, but throughout the whole of their lives. Although it is a huge commitment, doing so would directly disabuse them of the notion that their own way of saying things is the only correct way. If such a huge commitment isn't feasible though, perhaps a less-strenuous way of gaining that perspective would be to encourage the reading of translated literature in general.

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