Sociolinguistics in Education
Spring 2008
Professor Nancy H. Hornberger nancyh@gse.upenn.edu
Office: Room 334
Class list e-mail address: educ546-001-08a@lists.upenn.edu
Blackboard site: https://courseweb.library.upenn.edu
In this course, we explore the educational consequences of linguistic and cultural diversity. The course provides a broad overview of sociolinguistics, introducing both early foundational work and current issues in the field. Topics include language contact and language prestige, multilingualism and language ecology, regional and stylistic variation, verbal repertoire and communicative competence, language and social identity, codeswitching and diglossia, language socialization and language ideology, as they relate to educational policy and practice in the United States and around the world.
Alessandro Duranti (Ed.). (2001). Linguistic anthropology: A reader: Blackwell.
Sandra Lee McKay and Nancy H. Hornberger, eds. (1996). Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN # 0-521-48434-0
Christina Bratt Paulston & G. Richard Tucker (Eds.). (2003). Sociolinguistics: The essential readings. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Bulk pack of * readings available at Campus Copy, 3907 Walnut Street, 215-386-6410.
28 Jan Meeting 1 Language prestige and language ideologies
4 Feb Meeting 2 Language contact and multilingualism
11 Feb Meeting 3 Domains and diglossia
18 Feb Meeting 4 Language change, regional variation, and social stratification
25 Feb Meeting 5 Ebonics (AAVE), creoles and pidgins
3 Mar Meeting 6 Nonstandard languages and bidialectalism /
In-class EXAM & Journal portfolio DUE
10 Mar BREAK - Spring recess
17 Mar Meeting 7 Literacy and social class / Working group project DUE
24 Mar Meeting 8 Language acquisition and socialization
31 Mar Meeting 9 Language, gender, and power
7 Apr Meeting 10 Speech communities and verbal repertoires
14 Apr Meeting 11 Ethnography of speaking
21 Apr Meeting 12 Communicative competence
28 Apr Meeting 13 Codeswitching and stance /
In-class EXAM & Journal portfolio DUE
30 Apr Final essay DUE by noon
Course organization and requirements
Reading assignments are to be completed in advance of the class meeting. You are required to keep up with the readings and participate in class. The readings (and class lectures) are the foundation for the three basic sets of requirements: working groups, weekly journals, and exams.
· Working groups (15% of final grade)
You will each be assigned to a working group of 3-4 classmates. Working groups will be given various in-class and out-of-class assignments throughout the semester. All members of the working group are expected to participate actively and equally in accomplishing the assignments. You will also post your weekly journals to your working group members.
Working group project (10% of final grade) -- Details will be explained in class.
· Weekly journals (35% of final grade)
Journal entries: Mention one idea or one example from the readings and provide your opinion about it. You may reflect on how it relates to your own experience.
Each week you are expected to write one journal entry based on the week's readings, in response to the above prompt. Journal entries are to be 150-200 words long. On each entry, include your name, date and time of the e-mail, and the meeting #. E-mail or post your entry to your assigned working group members by 12 noon the day BEFORE class. Print out a copy of each entry for your journal portfolio (see below). There will be a total of 10 entries, beginning Week 3 and ending Week 12.
Journal responses: Comment on a working group member’s entry and add your own perspective. Compare and contrast.
You are expected to write a total of 4 responses to entries by your working group members, 2 before the spring break and 2 after the break. Journal responses are to be 150-200 words long. On each response, include your name, date and time of the e-mail, and the meeting # for the entry to which you are responding. E-mail or post your response to your working group members within one week from the posting of the entry to which you are responding. Print out a copy of your response, along with the entry to which you are responding, for your journal portfolio.
Journal portfolios: Assemble all your entries and responses in one folder. Please do not use plastic sleeves for each entry, since we will write comments directly on them. We will collect your journal portfolios at the last meeting before the break and again at the last class meeting of the semester. We will return them to you after we have reviewed them. You will be graded on the completeness and organization of your portfolio, the accuracy of your spelling and grammar, and the quality of your comments.
DUE at Meeting 6: Journal entries for Meetings 3-6 and 2 responses (15% of final grade)
DUE at Meeting 13: Journal entries for Meetings 7-12 and 2 responses (20% of final grade)
· Exams (40% of final grade)
There will be two one-hour short-answer mid-term exams and one final take-home essay exam.
IN CLASS at Meeting 6: One-hour short-answer mid-term (10% of final grade)
IN CLASS at Meeting 13: One-hour short-answer mid-term (10% of final grade)
TAKE HOME due by noon on 30 April: Essay exam (20% of final grade)
All assignments must be turned in on time or your grade will be lowered accordingly.
Use APA style for all written work-see Course Blackboard: External Links.
Plagiarism and cheating are not tolerated-see Course Blackboard: Course Information.
You are expected to complete all course work within the semester. If extenuating circumstances require you to take an incomplete, you must request permission to do so from me at least 2 weeks before the end of the semester. To make up the incomplete, you must turn in your work at least 4 weeks before the end of the semester in which you wish to receive a grade. If the work is not made up after 1 year, your incomplete becomes permanent.
Reading Outline
ALL readings (except for Meeting 1) are to be completed BEFORE class meets.
Readings marked with an * are reprints included in the course packet available for purchase.
Meeting 1 Language prestige and language ideologies
English as a world language; standard and minority languages; language attitudes
case: French/English (Canada)
McGroarty 1996 in SALT (Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching)
Lambert, W. E. (1967). A social psychology of bilingualism. Journal of Social Issues, 23(2), 91-109. Reprinted in Paulston & Tucker, 305-321.
*Rubdy, R. (2003). Remaking singapore for the new age: Official ideology and the realities of practice in language-in-education. In A. M. Y. Lin & P. W. Martin (Eds.), Decolonisation, globalisation: Language-in-education policy and practice (pp. 55-73). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Meeting 2 Language contact and multilingualism
Typologies of multilingual nations; educational treatment of multilingualism
cases: Sámi (Norway) & World Englishes
Sridhar 1996 in SALT
Kachru & Nelson 1996 in SALT
*Haugen, E. (1973). The curse of Babel. In M. Bloomfield & E. Haugen (Eds.), Language as a Human Problem (pp. 33-43). New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
*Corson, D. (1995). Norway's Sami Language Act: Emancipatory implications for the world's aboriginal peoples. Language in Society, 24(4), 493-514.
Meeting 3 Domains and diglossia
functional specialization; language maintenance and shift
case: Navajo (US)
McKay & Hornberger 1996 in SALT (Preface).
Ferguson, C. A. (1959). Diglossia. Word, 15, 325-340. Reprinted in Paulston & Tucker, 345-358.
Fishman, J. A. (1967). Bilingualism with and without diglossia; diglossia with and without bilingualism. Journal of Social Issues, 23(2), 29-38. Reprinted in Paulston & Tucker, 359-366.
*Spolsky, B., & Irvine, P. (1982). Sociolinguistic aspects of the acceptance of literacy in the vernacular. In F. Barkin, E. Brandt, & J. Ornstein-Galicia (Eds.), Bilingualism and Language Contact: Spanish, English, and Native American Languages (pp. 73-79).
*McLaughlin, D. (1989). The sociolinguistics of Navajo literacy. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 20(4), 275-290.
* Spolsky, Bernard. (2002). Prospects for the survival of the Navajo language: A reconsideration. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 33(2), 139-162.
* McCarty, T., M. E. Romero, & O. Zepeda (2006). Reimagining multilingual America: Lessons from Native American youth. In O. García, T. Skutnabb-Kangas, & M. E. Torres-Guzmán (Eds.), Imagining Multilingual Schools (pp. 91-110).
Meeting 4 Language change, regional variation, and social stratification
Regional and social varieties (dialects) of English; linguistic variables
cases: regional varieties of English (US)
video: American Tongues
Rickford 1996 in SALT
Labov, W. (1969). Some sociolinguistic principles. In W. Labov, The Study of Nonstandard English (pp. 19-38). Reprinted in Paulston & Tucker, 234-250.
Wolfram, W. (2000). On constructing vernacular dialect norms. In J. P. Boyle & A. Okrent (Eds.), CLS 36: The 36th meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Reprinted in Paulston & Tucker, 251-271.
Meeting 5 Ebonics (AAVE), creoles and pidgins
Origins and characteristics of Ebonics, pidgins and creoles
cases: Gullah (US) & Ebonics (US)
video: The Story of English V: Black on White
Nichols 1996 in SALT
Reinecke, J. E. (1938). Race, cultural groups: Trade jargons and creole dialects as marginal languages. Social Forces, 17, 107-118. Reprinted in Paulston & Tucker, 290-299.
Mitchell-Kernan, C. (1972). Signifying and marking: Two Afro-American speech acts. In J. J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication (pp. 161-179). Reprinted in Duranti, 151-164.
*Dalby, D. (1976). Black through White: Patterns of communication in Africa and the New World. In W. Wolfram & N. Clarke (Eds.), Black-White Speech Relations (pp. 99-138). Washington D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Morgan, M. (1994). The African-American speech community: Reality and sociolinguists. In M. Morgan (ed.), Language and the Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations (pp. 121-148). Reprinted in Duranti, 74-94.
Meeting 6 Nonstandard languages and bidialectalism
Bidialectalism; critical language awareness; critical hip-hop language pedagogies
cases: Ann Arbor (US) & Oakland (US) - Ebonics resolution
video (possibly): Do you speak American? (up north) – Dialect in schooling.
Wiley 1996 in SALT
*Rickford, J., & Rickford, A. (1995). Dialect readers revisited. Linguistics and Education, 7(2), 107-128.
*Alim, H. Samy (2005). Critical language awareness in the United States: Revisiting issues and revising pedagogies in a resegregated society. Educational Researcher, 34(7), 24-31.
Lin, Angel (2006). ELT Rap Workshop powerpoint (on Course Blackboard).
*Alim, H. Samy (2007). Critical hip-hop language pedagogies: Combat, consciousness, and the cultural politics of communication. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education (6),2, 161-176.
BREAK
Meeting 7 Literacy and social class
Restricted and elaborated codes; socialization, social class, and code
cases: social class varieties of English (Britain & US)
McKay 1996 in SALT
*Bernstein, B. (1972). A sociolinguistic approach to socialization: With some reference to educability. In J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in Sociolinguistics: The Ethnography of Communication (pp. 465-497). New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
*Heath, S. B. (1982). Questioning at home and at school: A comparative study. In G. Spindler (Ed.), Doing the Ethnography of Schooling: Educational Anthropology in Action (pp. 102-131). New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Heath, S. B. (1982). What no bedtime story means: Narrative skills at home and school. Language in Society, 11(1), 49-76. Reprinted in Duranti, 318-342.
Meeting 8 Language acquisition and socialization
Deficit vs. difference; situation; educational consequences of language diversity
cases: Kwara’ae (Solomon Islands), Kaluli (Papua New Guinea), Western Samoan
Hornberger 1996 in SALT
*Cummins, J. (1982). Tests, achievement and bilingual students. NCBE Focus 9 (Feb. 1982), 1-7.
Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B. B. (1984). Language acquisition and socialization: Three developmental stories and their implications. In R. A. Shweder & R. A. LeVine (Eds.), Culture Theory: Essays on Mind, Self, and Emotion (pp. 276-320). Reprinted in Duranti, 263-301.
*Watson-Gegeo, K. A. (1992). Thick explanation in the ethnographic study of child socialization: A longitudinal study of the problem of schooling for Kwara'ae (Solomon Islands) children. New Directions for Child Development, 58, 51-66.
Meeting 9 Language, gender, and power
dominance, difference, and dual culture models; sexism and gender-related differences in language; Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
case: white middle class English (US)
video: Deborah Tannen, You Just Don't Understand
Freeman & McElhinny 1996 in SALT
Lakoff, R. (1975), Language and Woman’s Place (pp. 4-5, 28-33, 35). Reprinted in Paulston & Tucker, 203-207.
Gal, S. (1991). Language, gender, and power: An anthropological review. In M. di Leonardo (Ed.), Gender at the crossroads of knowledge: Feminist anthropology in the postmodern era (pp. 175-203). Reprinted in Duranti, 420-430.
Ochs, E., & Taylor, C. (1995). The "father knows best" Dynamic in dinnertime narratives. In K. Hall & M. Bucholtz (Eds.), Gender articulated: Language and the socially constructed self (pp. 97-120). Reprinted in Duranti, 431-449.
Meeting 10 Speech communities and verbal repertoires
Definitional criteria; uses, attitudes, functions of language varieties; style; discourses
cases: Java (Indonesia) & Hmong (US)
Saville-Troike 1996 in SALT
Gumperz, J. (1968). The speech community. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (pp. 381-386). Reprinted in Duranti, 43-52.
*Geertz, C. (1972). Linguistic etiquette. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics: Selected Readings (pp. 167-179). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
*Weinstein-Shr, G. (1993). Literacy and social process: A community in transition. In B. Street (Ed.), Cross-cultural Approaches to Literacy (pp. 272-293). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Meeting 11 Ethnography of speaking
Speech acts and events; system and patterning; participant structures
cases: American Indian English (US) & Chinese (China)
Erickson 1996 in SALT
Philips, S. U. (1970). Acquisition of rules for appropriate speech usage. In J. E. Alatis (Ed.), Bilingualism and language contact: Anthropological, linguistic, psychological, and social aspects (pp.77-101). Reprinted in Duranti, with title “Participant structures and communicative competence: Warm Springs children in community and classroom”, 302-317.
Hymes, D. H. (1972). Models of the interaction of language and social life. In J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), Directions in Sociolinguistics: The Ethnography of Communication (pp. 35-71). Reprinted in Paulston & Tucker, 30-47.
*Cazden, C., Carrasco, R., Maldonado-Guzman, A. A., & Erickson, F. (1985). The contribution of ethnographic research to bicultural bilingual education. In J. Alatis & J. Staczek (Eds.), Perspectives on Bilingualism and Bilingual Education (pp. 157-173).
*Schoenhals, M. (1994). Encouraging talk in Chinese classrooms. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 25(4), 399-412.
Meeting 12 Communicative competence
Linguistic competence and performance; what is possible, feasible, appropriate, done; rules of speaking
cases: English L2 (South Africa) & Spanish L2 (Peru)
video: CrossTalk (inter-ethnic communication in Britain)
Chick 1996 in SALT
Hymes, D. H. (1972). On communicative competence. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics: Selected Readings (pp. 269-293). Reprinted in Duranti, 53-73.
*Cazden, C. (1989). Contributions of the Bakhtin circle to "communicative competence". Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 116-127.
*Hornberger, N. H. (1989). Trámites and transportes: The acquisition of second language communicative competence for one speech event in Puno, Peru. Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 214-230.
*Hornberger, N. H., & Chick, K. (2001). Co-constructing school safetime: Safetalk practices in Peruvian and South African classrooms. In M. Heller & M. Martin-Jones (Eds.), Voices of Authority: Education and Linguistic Difference (pp. 31-55). Westport, Connecticut: Ablex Publishing.
Meeting 13 Codeswitching
Intersentential and intrasentential; situational and metaphorical;
boundary-levelling and boundary maintaining strategies;
'on the spot,' 'in the head,' and 'out of the mouth' factors
cases: French/Corsican (Corsica) & English/Spanish (US Mexican-American)
Schiffrin 1996 in SALT
*Gumperz, J. J. (1972). Verbal strategies in multilingual communication. In R. Abrahams & R. C. Troike (Eds.), Language and Cultural Diversity in American Education (pp. 184-197). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Gumperz, J. (1982). Contextualization conventions. In J. Gumperz, Discourse Strategies. Reprinted in Paulston & Tucker, 139-155.
*Jaffe, A. (2007). Codeswitching and stance: Issues in interpretation. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 6, 53-77.