The Effects of Training in Linguistics on Teaching: K-12 Teachers in White Mountain Apache Schools
LESSON ABOUT FORMATION OF PLURALS AND PAST TENSE AND THE RELATIONSHIP (OR LACK THEREOF) BETWEEN ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
In addition to presenting sociolinguistic information related to bilingualism, bidialectalism, codeswitching, linguistic borrowing, languages in contact, etc., Dr. Riegelhaupt also discussed 1) the differences between oral and written language and 2) the formation of standard English plurals and past tenses and their corresponding oral and written forms in Apache English. The presentation was done in a participatory manner; students related a personal vignette about linguistic situations they had experienced. Non-Apache teachers had moved great distances from home; some were from the eastern and southern United States and one was an ESL learner herself, from Korea. Stories about how dialects from certain parts and/or populations were totally unintelligible, and how funny people sound, were frequent.
One of the most shocking and immediately effective lessons for this population of teachers was about the various differences between spoken and written English, in all areas including phonology, syntax, the lexicon, discourse organization, levels of formality, etc. For example, teachers always insist that the plural is formed by adding the letter “s” and that the past tense is formed by adding “-ed” (Leap, 1992) Sometimes, teachers who are second language learners of English have learned themselves that this is just not the case. After presenting a short lecture on the role of voicing, and allowing them to experience vibrations in their throats, when pronouncing voiced consonants in voiced and unvoiced consonant combinations, they begin to develop an understanding about plural and past tense formation in English based on linguistic rules rather than written, prescriptive grammatical rules. For example, the plural in English, according to these teachers, is produced by adding either an “s” or an “es” to the end of a noun. We challenge that by having them find out the truth about the formation of the English plural in speech. We present them with a list of words and have them listen carefully to their plurals. They soon hear the difference between a final /s/ a final /z/ and a final /iz/. We then have them discover the rule for themselves. They are shocked. One teacher shared with the class how she had reprimanded her students more than once for not paying attention to how a word sounded; she told them that if they’d only listen they would hear the distinct sound of an “s” at the end of a word when made plural. What she now realizes, and what was an immediate “ah ha” was the fact that she was totally wrong and so sure she was right. This teacher did return to her class to share with them this new found knowledge; they had been right in their analysis that written language was not a replication of oral language, at least not in English! Another student with a similar reaction said, “You mean we’ve outright lied to our students. No wonder they’re all mixed up. How can they trust us? How come we never learned this stuff before?”
After processing the importance of voicing in English, teachers were encouraged to uncover how to form the regular past tense in English. Again, they were shocked to find out that what they thought they knew about the language they had been speaking all their lives was not true.
Students were asked to investigate the phenomena of voicing and its relevance to the Apache language. They also were asked to find out how Apaches formed plurals and past tenses. This information, brought to the next class, served to further illustrate both characteristics of Apache English and bilingualism and languages in contact.
As a final step to this lesson, participants were given a game called MadGab, a game where combinations of letters are divided into “what appear to be words” on cards. The cards must be read aloud rapidly to one or more other players, according to how they are spelled. MadGab is a great way to illustrate the difficulty in expecting that English writing has an exact sound/letter correspondence.
The comments found below are reactions to this lesson.
8.1 Teacher A
Proofreading student work will never be the same for me after the lesson when Dr. Riegelhaupt used the cards with clever sayings to demonstrate the creative ways to read copy that would otherwise be unintelligible. Many times my students have written their ideas in ways that made perfect sense to them, but were like Greek to me. I now know that I was looking for their “mistakes” without really looking for the meaning of what they were trying to say. I caught the obvious attempts, but really didn’t look for any meanings that might be more obscure. Each time I find such examples in the future, I will see it as an opportunity to help them improve their “academic English” skills.
8.2 Teacher C
Our conversations about language have caused my students to ask, “Why don’t we write like we talk?” To help answer this question I have purchased the game that Dr. Riegelhaupt demonstrated in her lecture. I’m hoping the game will help prove some of the reasons why verbal language is different than written language.
8.3 Teacher I
The one other thing that interested me in the last lecture was the difference between written word and spoken word, and the “correctness” of each. What I hear sometimes in school is not correct; a lot of what I see is not written correct. It kind of goes along with the “Rez” talk mentioned above. Our kids need to learn that it is important to speak correctly and write correctly, depending on the situation, e.g., job or college interviews and writing letters or resumes.
8.4 Teacher L
The last thing I will mention is the complexity and weirdness of the English language. Dr. Riegelhaupt’s example of ghoti, pronounced fish, and the way sounds can affect the spelling of words, was enlightening. In the class following this lesson, one high school English teacher reported that she had totally changed her attitude about her students’ English. She confessed to them what was really going on in the formation of English plural and past tenses. Since her attitude began to change, she reported that her students written production had dramatically improved and that their oral participation had increased considerably. “They knew I understood them now,” she shared with the our class, “Now we can laugh together at how difficult English really is! And they know that they have to learn the standard if they want to go to college.” This dream was far closer to becoming a reality now.
