As far as I could determine, not a single study of CE has examined rhetorical
features such as topic, purpose, and audience. Without this research, it is im-
possible to determine best practices for students who use Chicano English be-
cause we don’t really know what the issues are. Carol Edelsky’s (1986) study of
bilingual, elementary-age Spanish-speaking students examined rhetorical fea-
tures of writing, but we have no basis for applying her findings to CE speakers,
although it is tempting to assume that what works for speakers of Standard
English and BEV would work for speakers of CE. Along these lines, Edelsky’s
study concluded that bilingual students benefited from process pedagogy.
Drawing on what we know about the influence of BEV on the academic
performance of black students may be the most productive approach for un-
derstanding CE in the classroom, particularly when students are asked to
write. We know that use of BEV at school seriously hinders academic success
(Delpit, 1988; Michaels, 1982) and that there are significant BEV interfer-
ence issues in these students’ writing. We must carefully consider that
nonstandard dialects in the classroom have negative effects along two dimen-
sions. The first and most obvious for CE is that the dialect does not conform to
the conventions of Standard English that are an important part of our writing
pedagogy. If a student writesShe don’t want no advice, he or she has failed to
demonstrate mastery of that part of the lesson to be learned. But I would sug-
gest that the second dimension is more problematic: All nonstandard dialects
manifest the features of conversations. An important part of formal schooling
is to help students develop a repertoire of language skills that allows them to
function appropriately in a variety of situations, and another important part is
to help them recognize what those situations are and what is appropriate in
each. The implication, therefore, is that students whose dialect is CE will ben-
efit from well-structured writing assignments that give them opportunities
not only to practice the conventions of Standard English but also to identify
the situations that require those conventions.
Teaching Tip
Unless students read, it is very difficult for them to begin internalizing the dif-
ferences between writing and conversation. A useful strategy, therefore, con-
sists of engaging students in reading materials that reflect a variety of genres.
Discussion of these materials must not focus exclusively on content but also
must include questions of form. An effective lesson would involve a topic that
students are interested in. Have them talk about the topic in small groups, us-
ing a recorder to tape their discussion. Have students transcribe their group’s
discussion. Then ask them to read an essay or article on the same topic and
compare it with the transcripts of their discussions. Examine closely differ-
ences in ideas and structure, pointing out those features that are characteris-
tic of conversation and those that are characteristic of writing.DIALECTS 249