Also, student's vocabulary and formality of speech can and will differ in different social contexts, from school to home to the playground, as indeed does all human speech, as even teachers adopt a greater degree of formality speaking to the principal, to students, and also in their own homes. Why teach standard speech at all? What to do when certain patterns of speech, such as Black English, have different grammatical variations than standard written English? One approach is to stress contextual aspects of speech in education. (Chaika, 1994, p.299) It cannot be denied that job applicants and people are validated and valued differently, depending on how their speech coheres to Standard Written English. Even dialect speakers are evaluated on a valuation gradient, as speakers with certain desirable accents, like a British accent for example, might be esteemed more than speakers with a traditionally Black or Spanish accent, unfairly. (Chaika, 1994, p.382) But this does not mean that teachers need to validate such prejudices within the classroom, indeed teachers can teach Standard English grammar yet still make use of literature that contains dialect, one suggestion offered for coping with the 'Ebonics' debate that began in an Oakland, California classroom. (Adger, 1997)

Sociolinguistics as a study helps teachers escape some of these ethical dilemmas, by stressing that tracing the sociology and the social attitudes to dialects and bilingualism is not done with an aim to pass judgment on the phenomenon of individuals speaking with different accents or speaking more than one language. "Students of sociolinguistics should gain respect for all peoples," says Elaine O. Chaika at the beginning...

(Chaika, 1994, p.5)
Teachers must also remember in their pedagogical approaches that children are not taught their native language, but pick it up through a social process of language acquisition from parents, peers, and their environment.

The process of learning a second language in the classroom may prove more difficult, and can be aided through informal supplementation that makes learning more fun and relaxed. A student with little exposure to English at home may be given instructional videos and books he or she may find interesting to read, and then discuss with the teacher. A student from a heavily dialect-influenced linguistic background should not be judged for his or her speech, but again, could benefit from exposure to outside linguistic influences. Lastly, for older elementary or middle school students, a level of positive rather than negative self-consciousness regarding their dialect and bilingualism may even be helpful, through the use of videos of others or taping themselves and listening to themselves speak, as compared against other regional dialects in California, in the classroom, and in America as a whole. (Wolfram, Schilling-Estes, & Hazen, 1996)

Works Cited

Adger, Carolyn Temple. (Mar 1997) "Dialect Education: Not only for Oakland." Vol. 20. No. 2. ERIC Database. Retrieved 2 Oct 2005 http://www.cal.org/ericcll/news/199703/9703Dialect.html

Chaika, Elaine. (1994) Language -- The Social Mirror: Teaching Methods. Third Edition. New York: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Wolfram, W., Christian, D., & Adger, C. (1996) Dialects in schools and communities. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.