Overview
“I felt like two different people inside of one body. No, I felt like a magician slicing myself in half, with Junior living on the north side of the Spokane River and Arnold living on the South.” – Junior, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Have you ever been talking to a friend, speaking in slang, gesturing wildly - then you see someone from work and immediately change the way you talk and gesture, becoming
professional and restrained? If you have, then you know code-switching. Linguistically, code-switching is “the practice of alternating between two or more languages or varieties of language in conversation.”1 For the purpose of this curricular unit, I am referring to cultural code-switching, or the practice of alternating between two or more cultures.
As teachers, we want our students to express themselves and bring a sense of voice and authenticity to their work, yet we teach them that there is a “right” or “proper” way to communicate. “To become successful, you must speak this way.” “To earn an A on this assignment, you must write this way.” Students are expected to conform to mainstream “white society,” and leave their culture at the door. When I say “white society,” I am referring to the use of Standard English or Mainstream American English (MAE) as the golden standard for all forms of communications. Jeffrey R. Allen outlines why this focus on code-switching has become a double-edged sword for students:
In recent years, code-switching has become a major focus for preparing students
who speak AAE [African American English], and other non-MAE variants, for
life in a society where Standard English is the privileged dialect and seemingly
nothing else is “culturally” acceptable.2
The ability to code-switch does have its benefits: being able to effectively communicate and interact with the dominant culture can help students do well in school, interview for a job, apply to college, and even complete day-to-day tasks. The need to code-switch, however, inhibits students from expressing themselves by reinforcing the idea that their language, religious beliefs, dress, traditions, and customs are not acceptable in certain environments.
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