Watch Your Language: Teaching Standard Usage to Resistant and Reluctant Learners

     The personal essay "Watch Your Language: Teaching Standard Usage to Resistant and Reluctant Learners", by Mark Larson, (1996), suggest that there is an alternative way to teach standard English so that students are more receptive to the lessons being taught.  Larson develops this by first giving an account of his experiences as a student in a remedial English class while in high school, and how it impacted him, he then transitions into his experiences as a teacher at the same school and how his style of teaching changed to meet the needs of the student.  His methods encourage students to write their truth, but also recognize that errors can jeopardize their intention, and he also wants them to be able to function in the real world.  This is a great essay for teachers and students alike, for teachers it provides a different perspective that can assist them in their efforts to connect with students; for students, it gives understanding to knowing what you bring to the table has value, but you need to be able to communicate outside of your community.

     This thought provoking essay cause me to reflect back to my junior high school days when I was placed in a remedial reading class.  I ended up in there due to the fact I did not like reading aloud and the teacher assumed it was due to poor reading ability.  Often times, too much emphasis is placed on the method of standardized teaching and not the student.  These methods are often employed without any thought to the issues students are dealing with at the time.  Larson gives the impression of a teacher who has a passion for not only teaching the lesson, but also assuring that the student is aware of their own value and that they have a voice.  He stresses the importance of being an "effective" writer, making informed choices about which language code is best suited for whatever particular audience they may be speaking to. 

     Larson's essay challenges us to rethink the conventional ways standard English is taught in the classroom.  Just teaching the rules and regulations without allowing for the different variations of application and implementation of said rules can and does at times put students on the defensive.  Larson suggests that we should "support the language each student brings to school", (93), according to Larson, each student is a expert of his own language code.  He takes the focus off the prescriptive rules of grammar and places it on the descriptive rules of what people actually say.  He recognizes the importance of the prescriptive rules so that the students have the necessary tools to properly analyze their work, but to also appreciate and explore the many differences in writing and observe the effectiveness of it.