Issues surrounding Linguistics situations in our school/classroom

 

Language has a central role in all aspects of our work as school teachers, including lesson delivery, dispute resolution, and achievement celebration. However, the linguistic situation I witness on a daily basis is much more intricate than "teaching English" or "learning to read." Reflecting the diverse cultural and language backgrounds of pupils, it's a lively, occasionally difficult blend.

·       Code-switching

Code-switching is the practice of alternating between dialects or languages based on the circumstances. Many pupils attempt to utilize formal English at school while speaking informal Creole at home. Although this ability demonstrates adaptability, it can also lead to misunderstandings, particularly when pupils utilize informal phrases in official writing assignments or tests. For example, at home the child may say “Me nah know” but at school we expect them to say “I don’t know” Their goal is to learn when and how to use appropriate English. They may find it complicated when reading and writing, even though it's a skill. The teachers goal is to assist Pupils in recognizing when each language style is suitable without making them feel as though their native tongue is "wrong."

·       Social and emotional impact

Language has an impact on children's self-esteem in addition to their academic performance. Pupils may experience shyness, embarrassment, or even loneliness if they find it difficult to communicate in English. They might hold back from asking for assistance, speaking up, or participating in group activities. This may eventually result in low motivation, low self-esteem, and poor academic achievement. It is important as teachers to make sure each pupil feels valued regardless of their English level.

For example, a day I asked my class a question during a Reading lesson. They are required to answer questions in a complete sentence. I called on a child who gave me a one-word answer but it was the correct answer. I reminded him that his answer needs to be in a complete sentence. He then looked down at his desk and said nothing after. Later when I asked him why he didn’t answer in a sentence, he said he didn’t know how to form the sentence in English and was afraid that he said it incorrectly. After that I would assist pupils to form their sentences when they need help.

 Limited Assistance for Language Development

Teaching is not all about content in this year and age as there are multiple voices in the classroom that echo in various, distinct languages and dialects. Teaching is more an act of translation, connection and cultural sensitivity. One of the most significant issues I observed in my class and more so, across classrooms in the school is the lack of a structure support system that allocates assistance to pupils to develop their language skills. This is in regards to those, especially, who are not proficient in the standard English. The lack of formal programs or resources available equates to pupils not being able to close the gap between the learning of standard English required at the school and the diverse, rich language they use at home to interact with others around them.

The lack of a dedicated language intervention which may be in the forms of literacy boosters, second-language sessions and even small group interventions can be designed and structured in such a way that it focuses primarily in language development. As such, pupils struggling with learning or comprehending to the rules and forms of English have no alternative but to try keep up with the pupils that are moving at a faster pace with the curriculum even though it’s evident that they need additional scaffolding.

Another aspect of this issue is the lack of training that many educators like myself have gotten. This poses as a problem when pupils need help to switch from vernacular to stand English. The majority of us depend on our personal experiences, informal tactics learned from the years of being an educator on the job, or merely through trial and error. Workshops and development sessions for professional development for the main reason of concentrating on second language acquisitions techniques and skills, methods of integrating home languages into the classroom without compromising the growth of the standard, academic English are desperately needed by educators.

The criticalness of this situation can be deciphered and related through the lens of Stephen Krashen’s Monitor Model and Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. Krashen highlights that language acquisition is most triumphant when pupils are exposed to a more comprehensible input that is just a little above their current level (i+1) and he further emphasizes the presence of emotional barriers like anxiety should be kept low in order from pupils to grasp the new information. Therefore, without structure programs and supportive and/or collaborative techniques, pupils face the harshness of complex English forms raising their affective filters and thus, hampering natural language acquisition. On the other hand, Vygotsky argues that learning, inclusive of language development, is a more social process that takes place within the ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development). This makes reference to the fact that teachers must provide proper scaffolding to learners. However, school fail to provide systematic language support and as such pupils lose important opportunities for proper guidance thus they struggle to bridge their current abilities to academic expectation.

In conclusion, limited support for language development creates an imbalance in the learning environment with educators, at many times, not understanding to make balanced. Pupils are at risk in developing their English proficiency as they may not get intentional support due to the lack of knowledge and effort from the teachers who cannot adapt to their linguistic needs. Pupils face the consequences of not knowing to code switch properly or apply the rules of standard English. Addressing this problem with language building activities and workshops will allow pupils to respond to teaching with confidence and disallow the risk of underachievement in the classroom.

Assessment Challenges

In my experience as a seasoned Grade Six teacher, assessing pupils properly is one of the most difficult things I have had to do in a linguistically diverse classroom especially when it involves prepping them to sit the standardized NGSA assessments. It is a popular assumption that pupils are proficient in standard English for the tests they have to write however, it is very different in the classroom. Majority of my pupils have the basic knowledge of standard English but they still struggle with the complicated of tasks such as the higher terminologies and difficult phrases used in the exam questions. This is due to the fact that more than half of the classroom come from a Guyanese-speaking Creolese household hence their rich dialects mirror words that they are accustomed to hearing daily in their lives.

 The language barriers are noticed to affect their academic performance and there have been times where I observed a few pupils to be well aware of the answers on the topics we have covered in all core areas but they still perform poorly in tests, where NGSA questions are recycled, because they simply cannot comprehension to the questions asked. It is overwhelming as a teacher to know their potential but seeing their struggle with standard English. My expertise and knowledge allow me to incorporate different styles of teaching such as group work, comprehension strategies, oral presentations, art activities and importantly, one-on-one discussions. I understand fully that these strategies may not be adequate and proper in assessing their knowledge accurately but it gives them a confidence boost and indicates to them that their knowledge and opinions are valid even though their English is flawed.

 A need for more inclusive assessment tools are required and urged because the system is too focused on standardized tests that do not reflect the linguistic reality of the Guyanese classrooms. Pupils should not be made to fit into a box due to their broken English, instead the system should fairly judge pupils on how well they can fluently express themselves in a language that they are familiar with and not on how well they can put it over to look good on paper.