If Black English Isn T A Language Then Tell Me What Is By James Baldwin

Language Vs. Power

There are 2,700 languages with over 7,000 individual dialects spoken around the world today. Children who come to the U.S come from all over the world bring these languages and dialects with them to their classrooms. The use of language in different settings play a big part in determining who has power, especially within classrooms. Throughout American classrooms it is perceived that children and adults have more power when they speak standard or “proper” english. Someone who comes into that setting without speaking standard English may be considered less than or frowned upon by their teacher or classmates.

In the text If Black English Isn't a Language Then Tell Me What Is?, by James Baldwin he states that “It goes without saying, then, that language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power”(1). Students who are placed in a classroom where English is not their first language, may have a hard time putting their ideas and opinions out there. When they do actually put their opinion out there, they are looked at as if they do not know what they are talking about or referring to. This really sets the

Also in Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan she states that “....Asian-American students whose English spoken in the home might also be described as ‘broken’ or ‘limited’. And perhaps they also have teachers who are steering them away from writing and into math and science, which is what happened to me”(3). This connects to teachers having the power to direct students in a certain direction. If a teacher has power they also have the ability to tell a student, whose English is their second language what they are and not good in. The student themselves are not making their own decisions about what they feel they can do and accomplish but their is someone else doing that for