It is extremely important for teachers to encourage students to use their primary language in the classroom for multiple reasons. First and for most it’s important to encourage students to be proud of where they came from and who they are. By allowing them to freely use their nature dialect you are empowering them and their culture and showing respect for where they come from. It allows students to connect their understandings more concisely as well as express their past experiences. It allows students to connect their past education to what they are currently being taught. By allowing the students the chance to have small class discussions, brainstorming, choral readings, storytelling, dramatic plays, partner readings, language experience stories and read out louds you are supporting the students understanding of language variation and use. This also applies to children with Appalachian dialect as long as they are using correct and proper English. The Appalachian dialect is frowned upon by some people so it’s important to allow these students to be proud of where they come from but understand that proper English must be used. By allowing students in your classroom to use code switching they will feel more comfortable and remember more of what they are reading. In the article it states, “Having choice and freedom to experiment with different symbols associated with different languages supports language growth and development.”
The difference between reading aloud from a student centered perspective and a teacher centered perspective is that the student centered learning allows the students to ask their own questions. The teacher centered perspective gives the students guidance and the teacher asks the questions that they want the class to discuss. The main difference is that the students centered perspective gives the students freedom to brainstorm and bring up items that they feel need addressed.
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