Language Prejudice and What Schools Can Do About It

In this article in Teaching Tolerance, Walt Wolfram describes a study in which 3-5 year-olds preferred a Standard-English voice to a voice with an African-American dialect. “Children acquire attitudes about language differences early and these attitudes quickly become entrenched,” says Wolfram. “While other forms of inequality, prejudice, and discrimination have become widely recognized and exposed in recent decades,  language prejudice is often overlooked and, in some cases, even promoted.” 

Part of this comes from children being taught Standard-English conventions – certain words and usages are “correct” and others are “incorrect.” Another part comes from regional dialects and stereotypes that accompany them. “New York regional speech is often viewed as aggressive and rude,” says Wolfram. “Southern speech might be seen as backward and ‘country.’ Voices in television cartoons frequently portray villains as accented speakers of English. Standard English is reserved for superheroes and winsome characters.” 

These stereotypes need to be challenged, says Wolfram, and he describes a middle-school curriculum piloted in North Carolina. Students were taught about regional dialects and shown the snap judgments they made when they heard a voice on the phone. They learned that dialects aren’t sloppy versions of Standard English but follow consistent rules and logic. For many minority students, the curriculum was the first time a teacher had told them that their dialect was not “broken” and that using it didn’t mean they were less intelligent. 

“[T]o understand language,” says Leatha Fields-Carey, a North Carolina teacher, “is not only to know how to speak and write ‘Standard English’ correctly, but also to value the rich tapestry of language in all its forms.” 

Wolfram suggests three steps that teachers can take to chip away at language prejudices their students may have:

• Regularly expose students to language differences. Get them connecting with students in different parts of the country via Skype and discuss different dialects and pronunciations.

• Challenge assumptions about language differences. If a student says that another student’s pronunciation or word choice is “weird” or “funny,” initiate a discussion.

• Put language differences in context. In history and ELA classes, students can learn about the cultural roots of language differences. 

“Sound Effects: Challenging Language Prejudice in the Classroom” by Walt Wolfram in Teaching Tolerance, Spring 2013 (p. 29-31), spotted in Education Digest, September 2013 (Vol. 79, #1, p. 27-30) http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/general/Sound_Effects.pdf

From the Marshall Memo #503