Varieties of English

Teachers who are involved in developing a child’s English need to give some thought to linguistic variation within English itself and mythology surrounding the prestige form. The issue of Standard English as opposed to other varieties of English can perhaps be compared to one of those visual brain twisters – white shape with a black surround that could be two human profiles, or could be a vase. The cost of this high status language variety has been the stigmatisation of the other regional and ethnic varieties of English. The criterion of logic was also invoked when assessing the language development of Black English Vernacular speakers in New York. Importance of linguistic awareness when dealing with non-standard dialects in the classroom has been demonstrated by Cheshire’s work on Reading school children. Recognition where appropriate of differences between the language varieties of children, or between them and the teacher, and respect for all varieties of language, is probably sufficient at this stage.