CNU professor, former student publish book on
teaching Standard English in urban schools
News Release - May 24, 2006
Contact:
Karen L. Gill
Office of Communications and Public Relations
karen.gill@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
 The new book "Code-Switching," by CNU professor Rebecca Wheeler and Newport News teacher Rachel Swords, is available online at www.ncte.org or by calling (877) 369-6283 or (800) 369-6283. |
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — When African-American students write or say “Mama jeep is out of gas” or “The Earth revolve around the sun,” many teachers assume their students have problems with possession or don’t know how to make subjects and verbs agree. But 40 years of linguistic research has shown that the students actually are writing or speaking correctly in the language patterns of their homes and communities. In a new book, a Christopher Newport University faculty member, along with a Newport News teacher who is one of her former students, advocate a new approach for helping students learn Standard English by building on their linguistic knowledge from home. Rather than drilling the idea of “Standard English” into students by labeling their home language as “wrong,” Rebecca S. Wheeler and Rachel Swords recommend that teachers show students how to recognize the grammatical differences between home speech and school speech so that they can choose the language style most appropriate to the time, place, audience and communicative purpose – a process labeled code-switching. |
Wheeler and Swords’ book, “Code-Switching: Teaching Standard English in Urban Classrooms,” was published in April 2006 by the National Council of Teachers of English, the national professional organization for teachers.
Swords, a second- and third-grade teacher at Newsome Park Elementary School in Newport News, and Wheeler, an associate professor of English at CNU, began collaborating in 2001.
Swords had already been teaching for about three years when she returned to study for her Master of Arts in teaching degree at CNU and learned about code-switching in Wheeler’s class.
“She began applying the material in her classroom brilliantly,” Wheeler said. “I realized how talented, independent and creative she was, and I told her, ‘we’ve got to write an article together,’ ” Wheeler said.
In addition to that original article and their recently published book, Wheeler and Swords are now working together with other scholars on supplemental material to accompany the book.
And, they’ve had other successes. Swords has found code-switching to be an efficient and successful method for teaching Standard English, as has research on the teaching method. “Our work together has led to a profound transformation in her classroom,” Wheeler said.
“Code-Switching” provides teachers with step-by-step instructions and numerous code-switching charts that can be reproduced for classroom use. It is available by calling (877) 369-6283 or (800) 369-6283 or ordering online at www.ncte.org.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Luter School of Business and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.