A Framework for Understanding Poverty (6 page)

CHAPTER 2

The Role of language and Stork

-.5-o better understand poverty, one must understand three aspects of language: registers of language, discourse patterns, and story structure. Many of the key issues for schools and businesses are related to these three patterns that often are different in poverty than they are in middle class.

REGISTERS OF LANGUAGE

Every language in the world has five registers (Joos, 1967). These registers are the following:

RULE: loos .found that one can go one register down in the same conversation, and that is socially accepted. However, to drop two registers or more in the same conversation is to be socially offensive.

How then does this register impact students from poverty? First of all, the work of Dr. Maria Montano-Harmon (1991) found that the majority (of the students in her research) of minority students and poor students do not have access to formal register at home. As a matter of fact, these students cannot use formal register. The problem is that all the state testsSAT, ACT, etc.-are in formal register. It is further complicated by the fact that to get a well-paying job, it is expected that one will be able to use formal register. Ability to use formal register is a hidden rule of the middle class. The inability to use it will knock one out of an interview in two or three minutes. The use of formal register, on the other hand, allows one to score well on tests and do well in school and higher education.

This use of formal register is further complicated by the fact that these students do not have the vocabulary or the knowledge of sentence structure and syntax to use formal register. When student conversations in the casual register are observed, much of the meaning comes not from the word choices, but from the non-verbal assists. To be asked to communicate in writing without the non-verbal assists is an overwhelming and formidable task, which most of them try to avoid. It has very little meaning for them.

DISCOURSE PATTERNS IN FORMAL AND CASUAL REGISTER

This pattern of registers is connected to the second issue: the patterns of discourse. Discourse will be discussed here with two different meanings. The first meaning is the manner in which the information is organized. In the formal register of English, the pattern is to get straight to the point. In casual register, the pattern is to go around and around and finally get to the point. For students who have no access to formal register, educators become frustrated with the tendency of these students to meander almost endlessly through a topic. It is simply the manner in which information is organized in casual register.

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DISCOURSE

The other meaning associated with discourse is the notion of primary and secondary discourse issues (Gee, 1987). Primary discourse is the language an individual first acquired. Secondary discourse is the language of the larger society that the individual must be able to use to function in the larger society. For example, if a student has as his/her primary discourse casual register of Spanish, then he/she must also learn formal register of English in order to fully negotiate and participate in the larger American society. Gee points out that students do much better in school when their primary discourse is the same as their secondary discourse.

RAMIFICATIONS

Gee proceeds to make a distinction between acquisition and learning. Acquisition is the best and most natural way to learn a language and is simply the immersion in, and constant interaction with, that language. Learning is the direct-teaching of a language and usually is at a more metacognitive level. However, what Gee does not talk about is the following: acquisition of language only occurs when there is a significant relationship. That then leads to the next question: To what extent can a formal institution create significant relationships? Just think ... would you learn to use sign language well if there were no significant relationship that called for that usage? Would you learn to speak Chinese well if there were no significant relationship?

Therefore, when we ask students to move from casual to formal register, we almost need to direct-teach it. Natural acquisition of formal register would require a significant relationship.

Montano-Harmon (1991) found that for students to move from casualregister English to formal-register English required them to translate because the word choice, sentence syntax, and discourse pattern are different. This translation becomes much more meaningful if there is a significant relationship. However, if there is not a significant relationship, then the instruction must be more direct.

PATTERNS OF DISCOURSE

In the oral-language tradition in which the casual register operates, the pattern of discourse is quite different. Discourse is defined as the organizational pattern of information (see graphic representations below).

Formal-Register Discourse Pattern

Casual-Register Discourse Pattern

How does this make a difference for students and teachers? First of all, parent-teacher conferences tend to be misunderstood on both sides. Teachers want to get right to the point; parents, particularly those from poverty, need to beat around the bush first. When teachers cut the conversation and get right to the point, parents view that as being rude and non-caring. Second, writing becomes particularly difficult for students because they tend to circle the mulberry bush and not meet the standard organizational pattern of getting to the point. This discourse pattern is coupled with a third pattern, that of story structure (see next page).

STORY STRUCTURE

Formal-Register Story Structure

The formal-register story structure starts at the beginning of the story and goes to the end in a chronological or accepted narrative pattern. The most important part of the story is the plot.

Casual-Register Story Structure

The casual-register story structure begins with the end of the story first or the part with the greatest emotional intensity. The story is told in vignettes, with audience participation in between. The story ends with a comment about the character and his/her value. The most important part of the story is the characterization.

CINDERELLA

To understand this story structure better, the story of Cinderella will be told both ways.

Formal-Register Version

(The story is abbreviated because of familiarity.)

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Cinderella. She was very happy, and she lived with her father. Her father remarried a woman who had three daughters. When Cinderella's father died, her stepmother treated Cinderella very badly and, in fact, made her the maid for herself and her three daughters. At the same time in this land, the King decided that it was time for the Prince to get married. So, he sent a summons to all the people in the kingdom to come to a ball. Cinderella was not allowed to go, but was forced to help her stepsisters and stepmother get ready for the ball. After they left for the ball, and as Cinderella was crying on the hearth, her fairy godmother came and, with her magic wand, gave Cinderella a beautiful dress, glass slippers, and a stagecoach made from pumpkins and mice. She then sent Cinderella to the ball in style. There was one stipulation: She had to be back home by midnight.