The , written by the Writing Study Group of the 起点传媒Executive Committee, pinpoints 11 key issues in the effective teaching of writing. Over the next few weeks, we will unpack each one. This week, we will look at:
鈥淟iterate practices are embedded in complicated social relationships.鈥�
The teaching of writing should assume students will begin with the sort of language with which they are most at home and most fluent in their speech. That language may be a dialect of English, or even a different language altogether. The goal is not to leave students where they are, however, but to move them toward greater flexibility, so that they can write for wider audiences.听Read more from and about contexts of language.
鈥溾�� shows how to affirm and draw on the dialect diversity of students to foster the learning of Standard English. Based on insights from applied linguistics, an elementary teacher and university professor show that when African American students write “My goldfish name is Scaley” or “I have two dog and two cat,” they are not making mistakes in Standard English. Read more in this .
Great Expectations is rich in dialogue and in the dialect of the working class and the poor of Victorian England. What does Dickens reveal about his characters using dialect? Read more in 鈥溾��.
Students explore the idea of “different Englishes” by reading Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and writing literacy narratives about their own use of different language for different audiences and purposes in from ReadWriteThink.org.
Honoring students鈥� home dialect is a complex task when preparing them to take state writing听tests that require the use of Standard English. Working with students who had failed the test听and were in danger of not receiving a diploma, the author of 鈥溙�� created a supportive learning environment in which students could develop linguistic and mechanical fluency.
How do you use the in your classroom?