To Encourage Students To Write Freely, In Their Natural Voices

By Author: George Cloony
Total Articles: 24
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I invite students to explore their language as they write, the language that is most natural and comfortable, as well as the varieties they know or have heard but may not have used as writers. This is their opportunity to write about topics that matter to them in ways that seem fitting and natural. I bring in samples of writing I've collected showing different genres and styles—samples for analysis and discussion, illustrating different genres of writing as well as dialectal varieties (e.g., ads, blogs, IMs, cartoons, dramatic dialogue, letters to the editor, excerpts from fiction such as Alice Walker's The Color Purple, excerpts from nonfiction such as Lee Tonouchi's Da Word). I want students to sample the range of their choices (see, e.g., Lovejoy). Julie Hagemann, in "A Bridge from Home to School: Helping Working Class Students Acquire School Literacy," writes about an overt pedagogy that values the home language Tag Heuer Replica of nonmainstream English users, but she places all the emphasis on code-switching, making students aware of their language and ...
... how it varies from Standard English, and she argues that doing so makes students less defensive about their language and more open to learning the conventions of academic English. This is a useful strategy for some kinds of writing, but I would argue that we need to make explicit how students can use their language without all the fuss about code-switching.

I'm not suggesting that this kind of writing replace more formal writing in which students learn the forms and conventions of academic writing. I devote most class time to these more formal kinds of writing, and I make it clear to students that code-switching in writing is often necessary. But I don't think it's irresponsible to talk about "Englishes," varieties of English students use every day such as African American language, teen dialect (public), or a variety associated with instant messaging, and to encourage writing in which they get to use Englishes other than Standard English.

When we discuss samples of writing in my class, we talk about writing as situated, as having a context, and the writer's choices as purposeful. We talk about Standard English, or edited American English, and varieties of English that do not conform to such rigid expectations and yet communicate powerful meanings. I want students to understand that language is rich and multifaceted, capable of expressing complex meanings in diverse ways. These varieties have traditionally been barred from the classroom, varieties that reflect students' textual worlds, and in my approach, they form the basis for instruction in academic writing.

The following are some samples of writing that I use to open discussions of language and difference:

I walked into the room. My drawer was open. Something was lying beside it. White. That's when I saw it. The torn sock. My brand new one. I searched the room. Behind me. Then in front. Finally, I spotted her. She lay on the other side of my bed. Ah, Hah! Her tail was down and her face was stained in guilt. It was Ecstacy, my pit bull. Another pair of my new socks bite the dust!—DH, student writer

Laurie wuz my friend, not by choice, more by default. She came our school from Oregon fourt' grade time. Since den da teachers always put us together in da smaht group. I mostly only talked to her in class, recess time I cruised wit my friends. We got along pretty good, except fo' da fack dat she wuz competitive, dat wuz one of her idiosyncrasies. Das my new word I wen learn.—nonfiction, from Tonouchi's Da Word.

FR. HI-SPD INT. SND. MSGS. FASTR. GR8!— text from an advertisement for Holiday Inn in Time magazine It fascinates me how differently we all speak in different circumstances. We have levels of formality, as in our clothing. There are very formal occasions, often requiring written English: the job application or the letter to the editor—the dark suit, serious-tie language with everything pressed and the lint brushed off. There is our less formal out-in-the-world language—a more comfortable suit, but still respectable. There is language for close friends in the Tag Heuer Replica Watches evenings, on weekends—blue-jeans-and-sweat-shirt language, when it's good to get the tie off. There is family language, even more relaxed, full of grammatical short cuts, family slang, echoes of old jokes that have become intimate shorthand—the language of pajamas and uncombed hair. Finally, there is the language with no clothes on; the talk of couples—murmurs, sighs, grunts—language at its least self-conscious, open, vulnerable, and primitive.—nonfiction, from MacNeil's "English Belongs to Everybody".

With the exception of the student sample, all of these are published works, and they serve to expand students' perceptions of "good writing" as well as their understanding of language differences and their power to communicate.