by Anastacia Clementson
The profound influence of language in education is not inherently equitable; rather, it functions as either an advantage or a hindrance depending on the dominance of the language of instruction and the inclusive nature of the educational system.
For High School I attended one of Guyana’s best. I remember once visiting local businesses with members of the school’s running club to fill our raffles. We were seeking funding for an international running competition. One of the stops was a barbershop, I unfortunately spoke first very casually (creole), trying to blend in. However, this proved obviously wrong as the looks I got were not encouraging.
My colleague followed up with standard English & got a more attentive reaction from them. My colleague later explained that since we were in the uniform of one of the prestigious schools in the country they expect the wearers of it to behave & speak “better” than themselves.
Guyana is a former British colony, so English is indeed the standard language. However, due to the mixing of many dialects of different ethnic groups, spoken English is in no way standard in the rural areas. My family is from one of those areas. I went to school in the city which adjusted my speech somewhat to a closer version of standard English but I have also experienced moments where my ability was questioned due to my way of speaking not being on par with the accepted English of that particular area/ community.
In this paper I will explore the influence of language on education using the works discussed in class; ‘Mother Tongue’ by Amy Tan, ‘My Fair Lady’ by George Bernard Shaw, ‘Beats that Defy Boxes’ by Reggie Watts & ‘Nobody Mean More to Me Than You & the Future Life of Willie Jordan’ by June Jordan. Here we will analyse the advantages & disadvantages of language & how that relates to their dominant or non-dominant status in society.
Language as an Advantage to Education
Tan does indeed educate us on the Chinese perspective where her mom is used as a great example with her experiences with the stockbroker, the doctor, etc.
Using Tan’s stories as a reference we see how she was taught at home. We see her family’s own form of education where she learnt quite early on the importance of blending in & it became as normal for her as turning a page in a book. However, Tan did also comment how her mom’s own non-standard way of speaking did affect her own interpretation of the English Language, especially when she was taught in a very American school. However, this is Tan’s experience & I think it helped her to be the writer she is today.
It is similar to Amy Tan’s mom in ‘Mother Tongue’; because her English is not considered “standard” she is perceived to be lacking intelligence. In Tan’s personal essay we learn how the doctors, bankers, and even the store clerks treated her mother with dismissiveness or outright disrespect because her English was not up to par. This directly shows how a non-dominant language can lead to negative societal perceptions.
Tan’s own references to the way her mom speaks indicates that this had given her discomfort as a student as well. One can imagine being the middleman when her mom speaks with her teachers or when parents do not include her in activities.
This doesn’t only isolate the parent but the student too as the home sets the benchmark for all future interactions with the school & learning in the whole. Tan has mastered the English in her field but I think this is mostly due to her mom’s own knowledge & persistence, even if she wasn’t taken seriously. Tan admits that learning English was not easy for her & once again her mom’s own limitation here would have contributed.
So, we see that learning standard English allowed Tan to make a name for herself as a Novelist. While her home language did affect her classes & perhaps some aspects of her social experiences, I stand with the argument that Tan benefited more due to this personal way of communication as it added personality & life to who she is now & allowed her to create her current prize winning novels. Tan’s writings reflect the many Englishes that people speak, giving life to the Chinese-American diaspora. This is her contribution.
Language as a Hindrance to Education
However, considering the power dynamics at play in society, English is the chosen language of communication in America & the world over. Not being able to speak it, does leave one at a disadvantage travelling, in meetings, making a sale & yes at school.
George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion adaptation, My Fair Lady, was set in the era of Edwardian London. In the film we have the female lead, ‘Eliza’ who is considered limited due to her speech that does not fit the determined upper-class standard of Britain’s English. Due to this limitation Eliza can only sell flowers in the market as she was rejected when applying for jobs due to her cockney english.
That era did not afford Eliza the formal education Amy Tan had access to. Professor Higgins became Eliza’s way to learn but as with the education system in some instances, his teachings can be considered quite superficial. It presented her as gentry but did not teach her the knowledge of the gentry as there was no formal schooling to understand the various social interplay of the rich or their various interests.
Shaw understood this exclusion from that aspect of society, he was an Irishman who found his way working in London & went through similar experiences like Eliza where he was judged lacking from the way he spoke. However, his improved diction did allow him to get himself in the door which allowed him to further develop himself in his chosen field. Maybe from these experiences he was an advocate for self-development & had lobbied for the reform of the English alphabet to fit a more universal interpretation (inclusive).
His play is filled with satire exposing the silliness of the supposition that a change in speech makes you accepted by the ‘gentry’. In the film we see Eliza learn their way of speaking & is indeed still denied. She becomes isolated from the people she knew, her family, as they now see her differently due to her new way of speaking. Thus, Professor 
Language enables Inclusivity in Education
Due to the acknowledged flaws discovered in the education system in regards to equity, particularly when it comes to welcoming students who may not speak American english. Inclusion has become the prescription policy where students are either encouraged & given the needed tools to learn English in order to keep up in class or students are allotted Teachers who speak their language. An example is the English as a Language classes across New York City.
To expound on this I listened to Reggie Watts TED Talk video, ‘Beats that Defy Boxes’. The video is a subtle but moving revolt against any kind of structure, lines, standards. There is the chosen medium to communicate & the listener & speaker who has opted for it.
Watts, a Comedian, Musician, beatboxer & actor is an artist & that in itself sets the stage for us to understand that he is saying nothing but yet so much. His actions, words, and music are all open to our own interpretation. However, no structure is the main theme in the various sections of his spiel.
He takes us through a rhythmic documentary of the different ways we all communicate. Whether it be through our different languages, music types, instrument, dancing or just a hum (sounds). We say a lot through these intentionally & not so intentionally; for instance, the tapping of our fingers as we wait or the mating sounds of the crickets (cats). They all are saying something if we wish to listen / observe.
There is no single, dominant language of instruction. He fluidly shifts between various accents (British, American, French, etc.), uses nonsense words to speak philosophically in a loop, combines seemingly unrelated phrases, and incorporates vocal sounds, beatboxing, and musical loops too. This isn’t about mastering a specific, recognized language or medium for a particular purpose; it’s about demonstrating the inherent flexibility and arbitrary nature of linguistic structures & using this to reach the target.
Watts’ education is based in the arts, his entire life has involved music since growing up with his artistic parents. It is quite obvious that they have influenced his life greatly & that is their own medium of their intimacy, their home language so to speak. But Watts’ “advantage” isn’t solely this but also from his innovative and boundary-pushing use of vocal expressions.
Society places emphasis on the dominant, like English being dominant in America or prescribed worldwide for international relations. This pushes other languages to the background, even if they’re the practised mother tongue. This is a fact of life as persons are forced to blend into the chosen medium communication to survive whether economically or socially so. For schools, this would mean not falling behind due to the language barrier.
Watts is showing us that we are not limited to the deemed dominant language, whether we know it or not we have a number of available options available to us to communicate. This is simply an expression of what is slowly happening with what was considered standard. Spanish for instance, has now branched out to Spanglish, Dominican, American spanish, etc. The limits to how far language is stretching & flexing its branches is unknown because a new way of expressing ourselves in the language we may know now is being created daily.
Watts shows us that meaning can be found in the unconventional, the absurd, and the improvised. This “system” is inclusive because it doesn’t require prior mastery of a specific linguistic code. His improvisational approach suggests that “education” should embrace experimentation, playfulness, and even “being wrong.” He implies that creativity and original thought come from a willingness to venture outside established linguistic boxes. This challenges the often rigid, error-averse nature of traditional educational systems that might penalize deviation from the norm.
In essence, Reggie Watts’s “Beats that Defy Boxes” shows that true mastery might lie not in conformity, but in the audacious act of breaking the rules and creating new forms of understanding.
Language as a Social Justice through Education
Previous studies have proven that Language is a powerful tool, whether it is the dominant language that is well known or the little used language of the Nihali’s in India. The latter because the loss of it, displaces the few that still speak it, removing them from the social stratum of the acknowledged as the way they speak is no longer acknowledged or seen as relevant. This is harmful.
Nevertheless, the article of Professor June Jordan,‘Nobody Mean More to Me Than You & the Life of Willi Jordan’ speaks about the importance of agency & our own use of language to affect social injustices in society.
Jordan’s article was published in November, 1984, about the topic of Black English in relation to an oppressive event that affected one of her students.The issue of black English was brought to the fore as the class was discussing the classic novel, ‘The Color Purple’. The students thought the way the characters spoke in the text was“not right”, though some of them (the students) spoke the same way.
The issues within the essay escalated from the issue of language to that of police brutality when a student’s family member got killed by the police unjustly. Things became more chaotic as the police were apparently trying to escape responsibility for their mistake so the family members, the students & the black community were called upon to act or speak up against this.
On the issue of black English, the students’ description of the vernacular of the characters in ‘The Color Purple’ spells out the hierarchy of the language where blak English is not seen as being a proper way of speaking. I am sure many of those students were often told at home to repeat a sentence in the correct English format, I know I have. However, considering this English is called ‘black english’ an expression of the dialect, slangs, words of the black community, aren’t we saying our way of speaking is lacking or cannot be compared to others?
Jordan had spelt out several times on how the black community is losing its identity due to the slow whitewash of the black English. The main argument of the text is for the normalization or acceptance as a standard of black English as well as criticizes the systemic racism being practiced in government agencies due to ignorance & cultural bias.
I think this is a needed first step for agency, reflecting on what we feel about the way we speak & what we wish to do with it, shelf it or elevate it? Realizing that we hide(or kill) a part of ourselves with the former. No one is denying that people (of all backgrounds really) need to learn to be flexible with their speech because society has too many demands of how our words should sound- sounding right is the only way accepted. Different settings require different speech requirements but English remains the dominant language & thus universally accepted for situations where there may be a mix of people. I do not see this being a bad result as long as the non-dominant language is still given the recognition & respect it deserves. That is the respect of an entire group of people.
Conclusion
Here these pieces used to expound on this argument on languages influence in education can be said to be diverse too, they reflect the diversity of the people & what education (schools, lesson plans, extracurricular, etc) should a;; reflect. There is no equality in language, that is quite true, & for the sake of progress & continued communication there needs to be that one language that stands out to glue things together. However, it is also a fact that there can be no progress without life, creativity, a sense of identity to mobilize all of this.
