Johanna:

One article is much too little to prove that code-switching in school 
would solve the African-American language problem. But let's assume 
that African-Americans are discriminated in school because teachers 
do not switch code between Ebonics and Standard English. Wouldn't it 
be also true that all children who do not speak Standard English as 
their first language or dialect are also discriminated when teachers 
do not switch code between the students'L1 of first dialect to L2 or 
second dialect?

What would happen in New York City if a "code-switch" proposal would 
be implemented? There are at least 50-70 ethnic groups which speak 
their own languages or dialects. Should the New York City board of 
education provide teachers who would be able to switch code with all 
the students who speak a different language or dialect in the various 
schools of the city? 

And what would happen if a teacher had in his or her classroom three 
or four students who spoke a different foreign language? Should the 
teachers be obligated to speak those same languages in order not 
to "discriminate" the students? 

We are running into an insurmountable logistics problem. The code 
switching suggestion cannot be applied because of lack of resources 
and because it would turn the public schools into a Babel Tower. The 
only viable solution is Standard English immersion.

Eduard 



On Sun, 3 Sep 2006, Johanna Rubba wrote...

>This article appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education. You have 
to 
>log in with a password to read it, so I guess I will violate 
copyright 
>and just copy the text into this message.
>
>Friday, September 1, 2006
>
>Brief Intervention Improves Achievement of Students Subject to 
Negative 
>Stereotyping, Study Finds
>
>By RICHARD MONASTERSKY
>In a striking experiment about stereotypes and academic achievement, 
>African-American seventh graders performed better in school months 
>after they were asked to spend 15 minutes thinking about their 
identity 
>and values.
>
>The results of the study, published in today's issue of the journal 
>Science, demonstrate how racial stereotypes can adversely affect 
>minority students and how simple interventions can partly counteract 
>those stresses, researchers said on Thursday.
>
>"It shows that their academic performance is tied to these 
pressures, 
>and it gives us a better understanding of what's going on with 
minority 
>students," said Claude M. Steele, a professor of psychology at 
Stanford 
>University and director of its Center for Advanced Study in the 
>Behavioral Sciences, who was not involved in the new study.
>
>The experiment was led by Geoffrey L. Cohen, an associate professor 
of 
>psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Julio 
Garcia, 
>an associate research scientist at Yale University. The team worked 
>with 243 seventh graders in social-studies classes at a suburban 
school 
>in the Northeast, the location of which the researchers did not 
>identify because they are continuing their work there. The 
researchers 
>split the students into two groups and gave them different writing 
>exercises. Students in one group were asked to read a list of 
values, 
>pick the most important, and then describe why they made their 
choice. 
>Students in a control group read the same list of values, selected 
the 
>least important, and then described why their choice might be 
important 
>to another person.
>The students completed the assignment in class at the beginning of 
the 
>fall term, and the researchers followed the progress of those 
students. 
>At the end of the year, African-American students who had written 
about 
>their most important values had better grades than did African-
American 
>students in the control group. The difference was about one-third of 
a 
>grade point on a four-point scale, where an A is a 4 and a D is a 1.
>
>White students who wrote about their most important values did not 
show 
>any significant difference than white students in the control group.
>The researchers were so surprised by the results that they repeated 
the 
>experiment, waiting a year to get more data, Mr. Cohen said on 
>Thursday. "We wanted to make sure it was replicable and reliable," 
he 
>said.
>
>The study fits into a body of research about the stresses caused by 
>negative stereotypes that are attributed to a group. That effect, 
known 
>as stereotype threat, was first described by Mr. Steele and his 
>colleagues. The effect happens when a person is concerned -- either 
>consciously or subconsciously -- about being a member of a group 
that 
>is perceived as being inferior in some way. Researchers have 
>demonstrated the effect in minority groups, women, and nonminority 
men, 
>in settings as diverse as academic tests and miniature golf.
>
>The new study differs from most previous work because Mr. Cohen and 
Mr. 
>Garcia tested their intervention in the field, rather than in a 
>laboratory setting in a university.
>
>In the classes where the recent study was conducted, the achievement 
>gap between African-American and white students was three-quarters 
of a 
>grade point, so the experimental intervention reversed 40 percent of 
>the gap, the researchers report. "These results suggest that the 
racial 
>achievement gap, a major social concern in the United States, could 
be 
>ameliorated by the use of timely and targeted social psychology 
>interventions," Mr. Cohen and his colleagues conclude in their paper.
>
>Mr. Steele said the intervention had an effect because it 
accomplished 
>what good teachers routinely do: affirm students' sense of 
themselves 
>and convey that they are valued. The results of the simple 
assignment 
>are "dramatically encouraging," he said. But more research is 
needed, 
>he said, before teachers could start implementing those strategies 
in 
>the classroom.
>
>Mr. Cohen agreed, saying he would not yet recommend trying to 
>incorporate such interventions into schools. "This is not a silver 
>bullet," he said. "We don't know how far this goes, whether it 
>generalizes to urban settings or predominantly minority settings."
>In a commentary also in Science, Timothy D. Wilson, a professor of 
>psychology at the University of Virginia, praises the new study but 
>warns against overemphasizing the importance of stereotype 
threat. "The 
>achievement gap is surely caused by multiple factors, including 
>poverty, racism, and lack of parental involvement," he wrote.
>
>Following are more details of the experiment led by Mr. Cohen and 
Mr. 
>Garcia:
>Students were asked to select from a list of values the ones that 
were 
>either most important or least important to them. The list included 
>athletic ability, being good at art, being smart or getting good 
>grades, creativity, independence, living in the moment, membership 
in a 
>social group (such as your community, racial group, or school club), 
>music, politics, relationships with friends or family, religious 
>values, and sense of humor. Excerpts from responses the students 
gave 
>follow:
>
> From African-American students who were asked to write about why 
>certain values were important to them.
>"My friends and family are most important to me when I have a 
difficult 
>situation that needs to be talked about. My friends give me 
>companionship and courage. My family gives me love and 
understanding." 
>(female)
>
>"Well being a great athlete and hitting the book are really the most 
>important things in my life. I'm a great athlete when it comes to 
>sports like basketball and football but when it comes to school I 
try 
>and try to work as hard as I can to go to college and to make my 
family 
>proud." (male)
>
> From African-American students in the control group, who were asked 
to 
>describe why values that were least important to them would matter 
to 
>another person.
>"Athletic abilities may be important to someone who comes from an 
>athletic family. They probably feel that everyone wants them to live 
up 
>to the capabilities of your family member(s). It may be important to 
>someone else because they are trying to live up to your dream of 
>becoming a football player, basketball player or whatever. This is 
not 
>important to me because I want to be a pediatrician or lawyer." 
>(female)
>
>"This value [being good at art] would be important to someone else 
>because they might be good at that. They might best at it or the 
might 
>be happy when they do it." (male)
>
> From European-American students who were asked to write about why 
>certain values were important to them.
>"This value [music] was important to me when I tried out for stage 
band 
>or when I am at a concert. This was also important when I have to 
play 
>for a grade. The reason why this is so important is because I love 
>playing all 3 of my instruments because I picked alot of the harder 
>instruments so it is more of a callenge. Such as my tenor saxophone 
I 
>practice every night because I love the way it sounds. Same for my 
bass 
>that I just started playing about 3 months ago." (male)
>
>"The value of having close relationships with friends and family is 
>important during school because that's where you are 75% of your 
life. 
>Peers are a big issue. Friends mean the world to me because I always 
>know they are there for me." (female)
>
> From European-American students in the control group, who were 
asked to 
>describe why values that were least important to them would matter 
to 
>another person.
>"Art may be very important to someone else because maybe that person 
is 
>very artistic. They may like to draw many pictures and love the 
subject 
>during the school year. They might also like the experience of 
learning 
>in a totally different area. That person might also believe that Art 
is 
>essential to calm them down; make them relax. They might love the 
>feeling of how the pencil, pen, marker, or crayon feels in their 
palm. 
>Art might be the best way for them to express themselves. Sometimes, 
>that person might find it eaisier to understand themselves best with 
>Art. They might feel drawing is just fun." (female)
>
>"Art would be important to someone who wanted to be an artist when 
they 
>grow up. Being in a membership to a social group is if you planned 
>helping your community all the time or if you wanted to start a 
club. 
>Music would be important to someone who wanted to teach music write 
>mosic or be a rock start. Politics would be important if you wanted 
to 
>be a politican and get into that kind of stuff." (male
>
>Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
>Linguistics Minor Advisor
>English Department
>California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
>E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>Tel.: 805.756.2184
>Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596
>Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374
>URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
>
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