Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page

Inviting the Mother Tongue: Beyond “Mistakes,” “Bad English,” and “Wrong Language”

Elbow , Peter. Inviting the Mother Tongue: Beyond “Mistakes,” “Bad …www.compsavestheworld.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/files/2010/01/Inviting_mothertongue.pdf.

Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words

This article explores the internal conflict of wanting students to conform to the mainstream rules of standard English and wanting them to have the creative freedom to explore outside of the “rules”. The conflict stems from wanting students to know how to write and correctly conform to the rules of Standard Written English. Wood offers concrete solutions to the problems and points out how students of color are often penalized for “wrong” language and how that fails to get to the actual root of the problem. Wood goes on to explain the array of problems that arise from Standard Written English and comes to the realization that the foundational reasoning in this is that Standard Written English is no one’s mother tongue. Additionally, there is a need for the usage for the copy-editing approach. My reaction is that this article inadvertently addresses the cultural layers that lead to problems within the different usage of Standard Written English.

Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.

Standard Written English (SWE): “The written language of power and prestige”

Links: things that are related to one another, and not necessarily a cause-effect of one another. “Links are not chains.”

Softening: “letting students off the hook and condoning ‘cheating’”

AAVE: “African American Vernacular English”

How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?

From my own research, Standard Written English (SWE) usually correlates to privilege. Those who come from higher classes within American society usually are more well-versed in SWE than those who are not; it is systemic. I thought of this when Wood talked about how students of color are often criticized for using it “wrong” from “white liberal teachers”.

Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.

Statistically, how does one’s socioeconomic background influence the way in which they use Standard Written English? Is there any direct correlation?