Englishes, Attitudes, Education

Although proficiency in the standard written form of English brings tangible rewards to students in terms of placement & promotion, a dilemma arises if educators wish also to validate the vernaculars of students whose native language is a nonstandard variety of English. Conflicting language attitudes within minority communities in the US are reviewed in the larger context of Englishes worldwide & the complexity & fluidity of overlapping variation that has made Braj Kachru's (1986) notion of three circles obsolete. Given the asymmetric power structure of the English classroom, speakers of nonprivileged Englishes may benefit from teachers whose preparation has followed a "more relativistic" & "less prescriptive" model of language advocated by David Crystal (2001). 6 References. J. Hitchcock