This is a draft position on Standard English as worked out through much
discussion by the New Public Grammar group and presented to the ATEG
conference this past July.
   This fits in well with our recent discussion on "code-switching" as an
approach to non-standard dialects. I think we are looking for a more
comprehensive exploration of language for all students, but
"code-switching" would fit as a step toward accomplishing the goals set
out below for a particularly at-risk community. Rebecca's program both
affirms the value (and rule-driven) nature of community languages and
helps make Standard English more explicit.
   Here's the draft position. Comments, of course, are welcome.

ATEG Scope and Sequence Project     July, 2006

Position on Standard English

1)  Each student has a right to the tools necessary to a confident and
competent public voice, including an understanding of Standard English.
   a)  We define Standard English as the language of mainstream American
public life.  It is not inherently better or more “correct” than
minority or regional dialects, but valuable in being the shared
language of public life.  Community languages that differ from it
should be thought of as valuable community languages and important
resources, as nonstandard, but not incorrect or wrong.
    b)  Standard English is better described by the corpus grammars than
by the prescriptive handbooks, which are often at odds with current
practice and generations behind.  It is a living, viable, changing
language, not a rigid and set one, and it gets much of its vitality
from the contributions of a diverse people. Students should have a
deep enough understanding of language to weigh prescriptive advice.
Students should be encouraged to look closely at the work of writers
they admire. They should understand that Standard English includes
many levels of formality and that language conventions differ widely
in different public domains.
    c)  Written languages require somewhat arbitrary conventions for the
representation of language in a written form, and students should have
the tools necessary for mastery of these.  This includes standardized
spelling, including spelling that shades into syntax. It also includes
a deep enough understanding of syntax to fully understand the syntax
based conventions for punctuation.  We do not believe most people can
master punctuation on the basis of intuition or “feel”, especially if
those are meant to lead toward conventional  choices defined in more
analytic ways. This also includes attribution conventions, which are
important tools in ensuring honesty and integrity in the language of
academic and public life.

Craig

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