How Language Influences Writing

In chapter five on "What Do Teachers Need to Know about Linguistics," Lindemann makes an interesting statement, "By what standards should we judge student writing? Is it an English teacher's primary responsibility to teach standard English?

These are interesting questions, because I have often wondered about how to teach and to grade a student, who's writing and first language, may not be English. Sure, I understand that the standard and dominant language is English, but as the chapter highlights, language itself changes over time. So the question that comes to mind is what exceptions should a teacher make, if any, when it comes to language?

In answering these questions, I am thinking about the Black English course I took during my undergraduate studies. I always felt that any vernacular other than standard English was considered inappropriate or a lazy form of speech. Once I understood that Black English is also a rich language or as Dr. Z likes to say, "infinitely rich," I learned not to equate standard English to other languages, only that it is different.

So, in an attempt to answer the below questions, I realize that I have no definitive answers, only my opinion.

What Standards should we judge student writing? My first thought would be to judge by English writing standards, however, after reading this chapter it is proven that language changes and modifies itself, so why shouldn't the teacher make modifications as well. I guess the most effective measure would be to judge every student by the same standard in order to maintain uniformity and to also create a process in which to manage time. In this case and based on our discussions in class about the rubric, if the language or even slight grammatical variations do not distract the reader, how much do your penalize the student for this, especially if the student has a first language that is not English?

Is it an English teachers' primary responsibility to teach standard English? I believe this is true. Why? We live in a country where English is the primary language and in order to reach a larger audience, I believe that it would be a disadvantage not to teach standard English. For example, Chinua Achebe wrote both in his native Nigerian language and in English. Why? I believe he wrote in English to reach a larger audience. If he only wrote in his native language, then he would limit his audience to those who only spoke his language. By writing in English, his literature and his intended message to the reader is widely heard. I believe it is a teacher's primary responsibility in order to give the student every advantage.

I believe that Lindemann says it best when she states "As English teachers, we have no hope of halting or hastening innovations in language, but if we understand the factors that underline language change and explain them to our students, they may learn to regard language as a resource they can manipulate to express themselves to others." I understand this to mean that by understanding how language changes, we can use these changes to demonstrate to students that they are not limited, but rather they have an array of choices by which to express themselves. This is especially important in my initial question about how to teach a student(s) whose first language is not English.