Double Journal Entry #6

First Speaker

1. Why is this video helpful for teaching in West Virginia? This video is very helpful to West Virginia because of the informal dialect that is very popular in this state. As teachers, if we stay in this state, it is almost a guarantee that we will come across a dialect that is very non-standard every year. This video will guide us on how to deal with this in the correct way.

2. What evidence is presented that supports the credibility of the speaker? She is a professor of English at a university. She has been active in many researches and works on the National Council of English. She also holds many degrees.

3. Describe the traditional approach to responding to student writing? Traditionally, teachers simply correct student writing.

4. Why does the traditional approach not work in improving student writing? This approach does not work often because it focuses on what the student is doing wrong.

5. Name the three strategies associated with the linguistic approach to writing instruction? scientific method, code switching, and contrastive analysis

6. How do you know the cat and Taylor go together? Because Taylor and cat are right next to each other. The owner is stated right beside whatever he/she owns.

7. What is different between the two patterns of possessives for informal and formal English? Informal-the owner plus what is owned. Formal-there is an owner then the apostrophe s before what the person owned.

8. What strategy is being used for teaching the second grade students the different patterns between informal and formal English? Code switching is being used for these second grade students.

9. Describe how the scientific method is used to teach students to code switch. Teachers can collect data by looking at patterns of language that the students use, they can lead students to observe the data and discover/describe the patterns. Students can then check the hypothesis and modify it.

10. What question is being asked to engage students in the comparison and contrast strategy? The question is: What changed?

11. How does code switching support metacognition? Students think about where they are and what they want to do to succeed in this setting.

12. What evidence is presented the code switching approach works? Describe one of the studies? Honey Taylor was an English teacher in Chicago. She discovered that her African American students were failing. She decided to use the traditional approach and contrastive analysis approach to discover results. After one semester with the traditional approach, students produced eight percent more vernacular features in writing. In the contrastive analysis class, students produced a 59% decrease in vernacular features.

Second Speaker

1. How did the students respond when asked how they felt about being corrected when they talked? The students felt stupid, angry, and confused.

2. Give an example of a "fund of knowledge" the teacher drew on to help students learn to code switch? The teacher described informal and formal language by making a comparison between formal clothes, such as something you may wear to church, and informal clothes that you may play outside in.

3. What are some added benefits aside from raising test scores that stem from using contrastive analysis? Added benefits when using contrastive analysis include the fact that students are now prepared to write formally in any needed situation. Students will be better prepared for a job interview and will make a strong impression with their formal writing.

On Your Own

Explain how contrastive analysis for writing instruction is an example of each of these research-based strategies: Generating and Testing Hypothesis, Identifying Difference and Similarities

Generating and Testing Hypothesis is an example of contrastive analysis because it allows students to compare things that are similar, and contrast things that are different. The students become active learners by forming a rule from their findings, and testing if this rule works in other situations.
Identifying Difference and Similarities is an example of contrastive analysis because it encourages the students to make connections through patterns. The students explore similarities and differences on their own, by linking things to knowledge that they have already obtained. Students make new categories for information that may not fit into the already present ones.

References:

Generating and testing hypotheses . (n.d.). Retrieved from        http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/gene.php

Identifying similarities and differences. (n.d.). Retrieved from                 http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/iden.php

Wheeler Rebecca. (Writer) (2007). Teaching standard english in urban classrooms in [Web]. Retrieved from http://forum-network.org/lecture/teaching-standard-english-urban-classrooms