The purpose of education is to expand, rather than limit the growth potential of a child. However, that does not mean that the child has to entirely abandon his or her cultural, social, or geographic 'way of being' in the world. Language is contextual -- just as a teacher does not use as formal a tone with his or her family as he or she does with a class, a child can use slang and other localized forms of speech with his or her peers, but needs to know how to use Standard American English to function in an academic environment.
What are the advantages of obtaining language samples from a child in a conversational rather than...
They may be more creative and less self-conscious in their use of language. Some
language disorders, like stuttering, may disappear when the child is not nervous. On the other hand, the use of non-standard English may be so common in informal interactions that the child has trouble switching from one mode of speech to another, and has difficulty communicating within an academic, but not a
social environment. This is important for a teacher or a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) to know.
