With
our last lecture on pragmatics and our readings on language acquisition, I
became interested in relating my previous post on the legitimacy of AAVE in a
real-world context, and to explore its application in linguistics to ethnicity
and educational problems in my community. I
want to explore the affects of introducing a non-standard dialect, such as
AAVE, into the world of children’s picture books to terminate the positive
feedback loop of misdirected Black youths at an early age, because "when it comes to young, African American men, the numbers are staggering and the reality is sobering" (Tamika Thompson, Outcomes for Young Black Men)Ironically,
these negative effects can be defined as a positive
feedback loop.
And, this “positive” feedback stops with
AAVE in picture books.
Picture books are key to a child’s development. Those that incorporate language should be “exposing kids to complex language and
sentences” (Anita Silvey, Make Way for
Stories, 3), but languages of all types. “Our children need picture
books—all kinds of picture books” (Silvey, 3). Children’s picture books are
essential in language development. And this interplay between text and art
transitions the child “from what they have—visual activity—to what they lack,
verbal activity” (Silvey, 3). Verbal activity can be constructed around the
illustrations and the narrative already provided on the page. Picture books also help children find meaning within their
own life. “Children can pore over emotional situations contained within picture
books that may help to relieve personal frustrations, or they can encounter
exciting and imaginative experiences way beyond their own environment or even
their dreams” (Opal Dunn, Learning English
Through Picture Books). Early on, if the story does not translate to the young reader,
because it is not relatable or incomprehensible by the reader’s standards, then
they lose interest in reading. Consequently, evading basic developmental skills
of speech by way of picture books, key to a child’s development.
The prejudice and discrimination
that non-standard dialects face, the lack of minority authors that grew up
speaking that non-standard dialect (because they were either taught SE and
deserted their original non-standard dialect or gave up on learning SE
altogether and therefore may have given up on school and reading, etc.), the
school system (prescriptive grammar, which is the opposite of AAVE and other minority
language variations) – have influenced the prevalence of non-standard dialects
in picture books, and what that means for child development. Especially for
those who speak the non-standard dialect at home or in their everyday life
outside of an academic setting, where Standard English and prescriptive grammar
is hammered home in classrooms.
Due to the dominance of prescriptive grammar and Standard
English in picture books many of our Black youths struggle with literacy, and
there is a certain sense of “empowerment that seems to go along with it” (Fredric Field, Bilingulism in the USA, 225). AAVE in picture books has the power
to give back the self-assurance young Black people lost in the American
education system. “It’s a familiar refrain in American education:
African-American children score lower on standardized tests, graduate high
school at lower rates, and are considerably more likely to be suspended or
expelled than the general population” (Ed Finkel, Black Children Still Left Behind). A big part of these statistics
deals with literacy. But, what does
it mean to be literate in America? The education system seems to paint the
definition as the ability to just read and write in American Standard English.
Though, beyond the definition of literacy, there is
also “a host of related issues, in particular, the assumed links between
literacy and intellectual capacity (cognition)” (Field, 225). Maybe this is why
young Black children feel discouraged and incompetent. There is this myth that
literacy is standard reading and writing in SE, and if you are unable to
accomplish this you’re incompetent. A lot of “black students, particularly
boys, [are] being erroneously shunted to
special ed because they’re behind in reading,” and in addition they develop
behavioral disorders due to this mislabeling (Finkel). “If you’re behind two or
three years in reading…[then] you’re labeled as learning disabled…You’re told
you’re a dummy. You get angry about that. And then you’ve been labeled a
behavior disorder” (Finkel). What next? I can tell you, it doesn’t get much
better from here. This is a realization of the negative progression of a positive feedback loop. The mistreatment
of literacy in the education system inhibits those Black youths that cannot
perform under the structure of a Standard English-run organization due to their
sole familiarity with the BE dialect, which in turn makes them question their
intelligence and their culture, makes them feel uncomfortable in the academic
realm, and hold a negative view towards school and learning. These same
discouraged children grow up into discouraged adults, who can have children
that go through the same negative progression. And, it only gets worse with
time, unless we can either dissociate this myth that literacy = intelligence,
or that Standard English = literacy, which in turn = intelligence. Or, even better yet, make
the association that AAVE can = literacy & intelligence.
Everyone should have an equal opportunity to experience
that warm comforting feeling of a good picture book they can read by themselves
for their personal enjoyment and growth. AAVE is a method educators (parents,
teachers, authors, etc.) can use to relate to the Black children that grow up
with the dialect. Picture books such as, Yesterday
I had the Blues by Jeron Ashford Frame and Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka put this claim to the test. These titles
incorporate AAVE consistently throughout their book, and are especially
effective when read aloud.
Yesterday I had the blues is a colorful illustration of one boy’s
distinctive blues, “not the rain on
the sidewalk blues,” and, “Not even the Monday mornin’ cold cereal instead of
pancakes blues.” He had the “deep down in my shoes” blues, the “go away Mr. Sun
quit smilin’ at me blues.” But today he is feelin’ the greens, “runnin’ my
hands along the hedges” greens, “the kind of greens that make you want to be
Somebody.” It reads like spoken word
poetry, with soulful and vibrant sketches of day-to-day moods, ultimately
rejoicing the constant “golden”
(color) of family. Yo! Yes? takes a
different tactic in word visualization, keeping it short & sweet at 34
words between two characters. An African American boy and a Caucasian boy
exchange words on the street. The entire dialogue can be condensed to one or
two words from each boy, but these monosyllabic exchanges produce a full story.
Yo! Yes? and Yesterday I had the Blues both affirm the non-standard dialect in
their speech. The blues is written in the dialect phonetically like, “smilin’”
or “lookin’” instead of “smiling” or “looking” and it re-explores the
spoken-word poetry that became popular in the underground Black community in
the 1960s. While, the African American character in Yo! Yes? begins the beautiful exchange between soon-to-be friends
with “Yo!”, Black slang for “hello!”
Given the multicultural society that we live in
today, the key is to include those picture books with a non-standard dialect
like AAVE in the curriculum. If people do not see the books, if they are not
promoted in the media, then how can they benefit Black youths in literacy and
the general educational purposes of embracing diversity? It is necessary to
change the academic curriculum so that it includes more diversity in its
school’s picture books. It’s the small changes that can make a big difference.
With relatable characters that look like them, sound like them, and express
themselves in fun and artistic ways, Black children can also begin to navigate
a revealing and thoughtful path of sharing their views. Hopefully, this can
redirect that “negative” loop of uneducated Black youths who feel they have no
say in a world dominated by SE speakers, into a “positive” loop of educated,
confident, articulate Black youths with a diversity of colorful opinions about
the important topics of today’s world and a curious thirst for the bigger
questions in life, while expressing themselves in whatever manner they choose
to, be it AAVE or SE. Everyone can contribute to this more open and understanding environment to the
unique, but natural arrangements of AAVE, among
other language variations.
It is a process in which the effects of a
small disturbance on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the
perturbation. That is, A produces more of B, which in turn produces
more of A. In summary, a positive feedback enhances or amplifies an effect
by it having an influence on the process, which gave rise to it. In contrast, a system in
which the results of a change act to reduce or counteract it has negative
feedback. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_feedback)
