In this lecture discussing a case study on second, third and fourth-grade students, the subject of dialect awareness was elaborated upon, particularly in the differences between 'School English" and "Home English" seen by English-speaking elementary school students. In essence, it was determined that students are able to often switch dialects between school and home English appropriately given their context. This leads to the conclusion that students are dialect-aware; they are able to know how to speak when they are at home and at school, and switch between them accordingly. This is also linked to stronger academic performance, and greater use of school English forms in contexts outside the school (and in written language).
These interventions were conducted on a group of second-, third- and fourth-grade students that taught a specific grammatical structure and noted the specific differences between home and school language, as well as other types of interventions. This was performed on a class of mostly African-American students, for the purpose of teaching them how to use dialect awareness and apply it to written performance and language. In general, the students who experienced the dialect awareness intervention achieved higher editing scores than the control group.
Dialect awareness is an absolutely important aspect of communication, as well as sociology - understanding the different uses of language both written and spoken that exist, and how they change from setting to setting, are vital ways to improve education and communication methods between those of different cultures and who use different dialects. This intervention in particular denotes the importance of dialect awareness in changing vernacular between settings; this also translates well to the field of education, as instilling dialect awareness seems to be directly linked to greater academic performance. Applying dialect awareness to written language is also a good way to allow for adaptability of individuals, as they continue along their education, to using more formal English (school English) in appropriate settings.
As it relates to African-American studies, this intervention (and the concept of dialect awareness) seems particularly important. In order to learn how best to communicate with each other, dialect awareness is necessary - primarily African-American communities will speak in different dialects (typically African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)) than in white or other communities, and vice versa. The controversy stated in the lecture about the appropriateness of dialect awareness - namely, that asking people to change their dialect (which they may identify with as they get older) merely underlines systemic problems with race and inter-community relations in American - is very interesting, as it posits that people should learn to speak one particular way in order to gain employment, have closer relations with peers outside their isolated communities, etc. It also brings up issues of poverty, as it is stated that low-income communities may be less aware of the uniqueness of their dialect, as they have not been exposed to other ways of speaking as often.
In short, the importance of dialect shift and dialect awareness is made clear in the study based on its academic and educational performance, but might bring up issues of cultural and dialect-based identity, particularly older students and individuals. However, the advantages of greater exposure to 'school English' is noted in the study to bring greater educational and language-related benefits to these students.
Works Cited
Thomas-Tate, Shurita. "Dialect Awareness Intervention in Second, Third, and Fourth Grade
Students: A Preliminary Investigation." 2012. Lecture.
