Nonstandard Writing Conventions

By Author: Jordon
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To establish a foundation for valuing nonstandard writing conventions, Mr. Lehrer reported in the following interview excerpt that he began the school year by reading aloud Nightjohn (Paulsen, 1993) to approve the notion of voice in the African American linguistic tradition and accurately depict the way a character speaks:

Mr. Lehrer: It comes from literature, in Nightjohn, the narrator Sarny has an uneducated way of telling the story with her terms. Right away they notice that and obviously I'm standing up there reading that and that must be some sort of stamp of approval.
Author: Right. You do give a stamp of approval, don't you?
Mr. Lehrer: You know, if you're a language artist, who is to say writer, you use languages in a natural way of conveying the Cartier Replica way someone would speak.
Therefore, the stamp of approval and notion of language artist suggests that he sustained a comfort level for students to use nonstandard contexts for writing. Delineating features from literature provided a space for students ...
... to determine authentic use of voice, in a manner similar to Fecho et al. (2006) who facilitated critical analysis of AAVE features in literature with students.

During the onset of the study, students appropriated nonstandard conventions during poetry writing practices. According to integrated field notes, Mr. Lehrer modeled and listed actions that could become poems inspired by Atwell (2002), including playing sports, styling hair, and playing music. He directed students to devise lists as a foundation for their own poem. Kiki's list included a death in the family and Monet's included a surprise party.

After designated time to construct lists, Mr. Lehrer displayed and read aloud poems written by students from Atwell's (2002) work and discussed features to model free-verse poetry. His students were attentive to word choices that conveyed personal experiences and voice.

Kiki employed nonstandard conventions to express sadness surrounding her cousin who died:

We were close friends also cousins did everything for one another...But now I got to live and make it somehow to know I got to move on....

Kiki spoke strongly about preserving her voice in her writing, which is intimately connected with her family. Such writing opportunities allowed her to build on her cultural and linguistic strengths. Her use of "I got" illustrates the deletion of the word have, which Rickford and Rickford (2000) noted is a grammatical feature of AAVE. Her description of being friends and cousins has a rhythmic quality that displays her social world and fondness for rap music. Requiring standard conventions would have rendered the absence of Kiki's voice: "We were close friends and cousins and did everything for each other. Now I have got to live and make it somehow. I know I have got to move on...."

The following excerpts in Monet's poem about a surprise party for her uncle illustrate a strong sense of voice:

My uncle says "Where the kids at." She says "They busy."... She says "Whateva, but how did you do at the casino?

The examples that represent her relatives speaking naturally provide an accurate depiction of how they would speak. To write their voices in Standard English is an inaccurate depiction and diminishes who they are. Monet's appropriation of voices in her family is an example of acknowledging Tag Heuer Replica strength in cultural linguistic tradition. A phonological AAVE feature can be detected in the presence of r-lessness (Rickford & Rickford, 2000), upon writing "whateva." In addition, a grammatical AAVE feature of the zero cupola includes the absence of the verb are (Rickford & Rickford, 2000) upon writing "they busy." If standard conventions were required, it would have read, 'My uncle says, 'Where are the kids?' My aunt says, They are busy.' She says, 'Whatever, but how did you lo at the casino?'"