A Brief Rant on Code Switching since its Kinda my Thing Now

Mike Rose, who is well known in the field of education, wrote his ground breaking  essay “The Language of Exclusion” in 1985. Even though it is over 30 years old now, the problems he discusses still persist. In it he discusses an important idea known as the “Myth of Transience.” Transience basically says, “if we can do x or y, the problem [ of bad grammar] will be solved” (394). However, transience “blinds faculty members to historical reality” (395).  This reality includes  grammar correction as assimilation for Native Americans. it also comes from  early American education’s tendency to borrow terms from the medical community, which Rose discusses in his essay. For example, the word "remedial" comes from medical terms of the late 1800's and often refers to mental handicap. Hence, the idea of grammar correction as “diagnosis” of a problem (Rose 381). Freshman composition courses in college originated in 1874 “as a Harvard response to the poor writing of upperclassmen” and it “became and remained the most consistently required course in the American curriculum” (Rose 342). Thus, the idea of inferior and superior language was a major force in American education and still is today. This is a subject I have paid particular attention to in my graduate studies. 

Rose's ideas remind me of ideas also stated in  “Clueless in Academe” by Gerald Graff, who is well known for his writing instruction book They Say I Say. He differentiates between “student-speak” and “intellectual-speak.” He makes a powerful point about Academic language as seperate from native speech. Graff explains that, “The combination of [“studentspeak” and “Intellectualspeak] registers is more powerful that either alone” (42). Hence, I believe “intellectual-speak,” is a language, or at least a “language variety,” and should be recognized as such. Thus, switching between one’s home language and "intellectualspeak"  is a form of Code Switching, the practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties. One language variety is not superior to the other. 

Although not all scholars who discuss this issue, like Rose or Graff, directly acknowledge that moving from Academic language to home language is code switching.  In my own tutoring and teaching experience thus far, I find that I am often explaining academic concepts in more easily understandable terms and students seem to appreciate this. Thus, code switching is essential to instructors and students alike. I have been asked by many students why we don’t write like how we talk, and this is a valid question. I answer this question by asking them to think of it as a new language, the “language of academia.” 

To foster inclusion for students, instructors should look at it as translating the home language into academic language, regardless of what that home language is. Jacqueline Jones Royster in her article says there is a “critical importance of the role of negotiator, someone who can cross boundaries and serve as guide and translator for others” especially in academia (34). This is the role that writing professors should play in my opinion, rather than brandishing the attitude that students are inferior like the educators described in Rose's essay.