Code Switching In Dennis Baron's 'Hooked On Ebonics'

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REFUTATION: Although code switching and language alternation has been researched there are still many opposed to the idea of integrating it in the classroom. Dennis Baron’s “Hooked on Ebonics” explores the negative effects the Oakland California school district experienced when they endorsed Ebonics as a separate language. The resolution declared Ebonics as a “genetically-based” (Baron) language of the American American students in the district, and not as a dialect of English. In the case of the Oakland School Board, teachers taught Ebonics as if it was a foreign language, instead of integrating the two languages. Both the American public and the United States Department of Education condemned their actions. The pubic reacted to the “declaration …show more content…

Code switching can occur not only during social situations where the same language is spoken, but ethnicities may be different. Kumea Shorter-Gooden, co-author of “Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America,” and chief diversity officer at the University of Maryland argues that code switching is used for survival, stating that its roots date back to pre-antebellum slavery times. Modern examples include people of color in predominantly white cultures or women in male-dominated situations, have had to “quickly figure out ‘How do I manage?’ and read situations that ‘they weren’t set up for in the first place,’” (O’Neal). Caucasians, who may normally speak in Standard American English, can be perceived as racist if they use AAVE. This is because whites have not had to communicate using AAVE in order to survive in society, unlike African-Americans and other people of color that feel pressured to use SAE to fit into society. When Caucasian people use AAVE, it can sound forced or offensive. In contrast, African-Americans who use SAE may be perceived as more intelligent and better fitting into society if they code-switch from AAVE to SAE. Also, problems can arise in the classroom, where many young people who are competent in English and children who have not been sufficiently exposed to both languages (Pfaff). One mainstream example is trying to “sound white.” Speaking “proper,” or Standard American English, in black or ghetto areas can get you bullied (O’Neal). In contrast, sounding “black” in white places can make you feel “alienated and unheard,” (O’Neal). Rather than fulfilling a new role, code switching marks these conversational functions. In addition, code-switching research focuses usually on the code-switcher, but not how it influences the person, or persons, for whom the code switching is

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