Date of Award

8-16-2024

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Todd Lilly

Abstract

This qualitative action research case study is focused on better understanding the complex and intricate nature of code-switching among Black students. In today’s educational climate, many Black students find themselves speaking one way with their closest friends and family members in front of the swing set and television and another way with their classmates and teachers in front of the blackboard. Due to systemic racism, schools today tend to place the burden of belonging on the youngest children of color rather than on the seasoned, and often privileged, adults who work with them. This dissertation is largely rooted in Gee’s (1990) idea that individuals speak different ways around different people and can belong to multiple Discourse communities. Membership in each Discourse community comes with an identity kit that individuals can adopt to fit in in multiple settings and with various crowds. These settings and other contextual factors are central to Halliday’s (2004) work with functional linguistics which explores the complex nature of field, tenor, and mode.

Throughout this study, six Black fifth graders participated in various interviews, focus groups, and non-instructional and instructional field observations while at school. The goal was to better understand what contextual factors influence the way they code-switch between multiple Discourse communities and what they wish their teachers knew and would do to help schools become more linguistically affirming places for bilingual students who, as Boutte (2016) suggested, belong to multiple Discourse communities themselves. This study found that the six participants were highly receptive individuals who frequently relied on a myriad of contextual factors and a level of comfort when deciding how to show up linguistically. Their teachers, by and large, did not have this same level of tact when working with individuals who utilize a language other than Standard English. Furthermore, this study focuses on the negative impact of having one’s speech corrected, the multiple reasons Black students code-switch, and the professional development that educators may need to help them legitimize African American Language’s presence in the classroom, understand the complex nature of linguistic identity, and realize their role in removing the burden of code-switching from Black students by the way they engage with them.

This dissertation was written by a White, middle-class, male teacher who works in a suburban school district in South Carolina. As a racial outsider to the actual problem, while simultaneously being an educator who is surrounded by this problem of practice daily, a primary goal of this dissertation was to demarginalize the marginalized and bring greater awareness to the frequently observed problem that many Black students face when revealing their true linguistic identity at school. Therefore, all data was gathered and all conclusions were drawn with an open mind, a listening ear, a true appreciation of student diversity, and an overarching goal of making schools more welcoming and inclusive spaces for all students.

Rights

© 2024, Tanner Charles Slagle

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