Standard English Questions

Standard English Questions- Loren Lewis

Evaluating the Standard

1. When a person speaks or writes in Standard English, what exactly does that mean?
Writing in standard English means to write in a style that accepted as a national norm. Anything that strays away from this norm would be considered weird or unusual or bad English.

2. How do you think this particular variety of English became the standard?

This particular way of English became the standard probably through word selection, vocabulary, grammar, and spelling, combined (from different cultures) to make a “proper sentence” which just stuck as a norm.

3. Should a student use a dialect other than Standard English (or even a different language other than English altogether) in the classroom? If so, in what particular situations (speaking, writing, reading, use of technology, etc.) are non-formal English appropriate?

Yes, students should be able to use different dialects, especially in a language class. Non-formal English is appropriate in classrooms such as this English 101 class where our writing is not in a vacuum.

4. What makes someone a good writer? What kind of things do they do when they write? (this can be things like how they organize a paper, what words they use, etc.) List a few.

There are no set rules about what makes someone a good writer. Why? Because good writing can come in all forms, not just standard English. The things that are written by good writers can be various things like: a poem, a letter, a book, a newspaper article, a birthday card, a song, etc.

5. You think that someone is a bad writer. What are some things that this person does that make them a “bad” writer in your eyes? List a few.

I would consider a person a bad writer if they weren’t following those “standard English rules” such as proper grammar or incorrect spelling.

6. Are there times when a person you meet doesn’t speak “correct” English? What does that person do that is “incorrect”? List a few things.

Yes, there have been times where I have encountered a person speaking “incorrect” English. I considered their English to be this way because of the lack of proper grammar usage, sentence structure, incomplete sentences, wrong verbs, wrong tense, and many other grammatical errors.

7. What particular types (or genres) of writing should
students be doing in elementary and secondary school to prepare them for college and the work force?
Younger students should write articles and examine the different types of genres to be aware of the various ones they are not considering when they are writing are doing research.

8. Does standard English=correct English?

Standard English does not equal correct English, it is just a norm. Correct English can take any form, especially outside of the “standard” writing arena.

Factors in CHAT cont'd

Factors in CHAT cont’d:

Activity: I read the articles thoroughly and considered how they were structured to plan out how I would construct my article.

Ecology: As I wrote my article, I was distracted often by my tv or cell phone. The internet browser was open which tempted me to go on Facebook or any other website.

Factors in CHAT

Production: The tools that I used in creating my newspaper article were the computer and interviewing a clinical dietician. I have experience with using a computer and doing research, so using the computer to discover information was easy for me.

Representation: I planned on getting information from at least 3 sources and I also planned on making my newspaper article look similar to the ones that I used to gather information from (the structure of them). I started with a large font, bolded title for my newspaper article, and used smaller font for the rest of the text- that is how I imagine newspaper articles (online and in print) to look.

Distribution: My newspaper article is distributed to my teacher and classmates for the purpose of a grade and reviewing my work to critique it. My blog is also distributed via this learning blog.

Reception: My newspaper article is taken up by my classmates and my teacher. My classmates use my newspaper article to see different approaches to writing and to see any mistakes/errors/interesting/good things in my article that they want to do/not do in theirs. My teacher is using my newspaper article to grade and see how I come up with my own writing for an article.

The Trajectories of Literate Activity Questions

1.     The text began with me researching on the internet and documenting the things I read about. It moved out into the world when I began forming my paper online and writing a rough draft.

2.     I used the genre of online newspaper articles to inform me about my topic.

3.     I read my articles that I used as building blocks to form my article and I had people on my floor review my article before I created my final draft.

4.     My teacher will end up reading my final draft of my newspaper article and possibly other classmates.

5.     With the text, the readers might grade it or critique it.

6.     This text will be stored via internet on the learning blog and through a physical copy of my final draft for my newspaper article.

7.     My ideas in my article could be used to be the topic of discussion in a group or meeting in class or even a discussion held by ISU students that read my article.

8.     My article helps support better nutrition and may challenge different organizations like the fast food restaurants around campus.

The genre that my article is connected with is a newspaper article.

Final Blog for Unit 1:

During the process of researching information about nutrition, and developing my article, I had planned on interviewing Dianne Feasley, the assistant director of campus dining services, but she was not available. We had emailed about meeting up, but this meeting had never happened. I was STRESSED. She was my plan A, B, and C for my interview! But then, out of the blue, a girl that lives on my floor, came to visit me. She saw that I was stressing out about finding a person to interview about nutrition for a rough draft I needed completed in less than two days. Then, she spoke those harmonious words: “My mom is a clinical dietician, maybe she can help you.” I was ecstatic about this. It seemed as if my stress was over, and indeed it was. Later that afternoon, I was able to Skype with her mom and get the answers to my questions about nutrition. In the end, I think that the interview with her mom was more interesting and useful than the interview I could have had with Mrs. Feasley who could only tell me so much about nutrition; I needed the dietetics expert! I composed my article and was ready to present it to my peers. During the peer review, I received great feedback, except for a few common errors here and there. This second peer review was more beneficial to me because I was able to actually read the articles thoroughly and so were my peers, so the feedback was more valuable. At the end of this unit, I have learned how to properly critique my peers’ work. I have also learned how to write in different styles, I have learned about the large spectrum of genres that I have not even touched on, and I have also improved my knowledge in the area of newspaper style writing. Unit one and its material have definitely helped me already, I am looking forward to the next units!

Also, the articles were very similar in structure: short sentences, short paragraphs

The similarities between all three articles:
1. most of the information was at the beginning
2. the "call to action" was around the end of the story
3. most of the articles did not use contractions, making it fomal, informative language
4. each article provided facts about nutrition
5. gave tips towards better eating habits
6. factual- I learned a lot by reading these articles