Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Language Game
How can educators accomodate local Englishes into Academics? As a critical educator, I find it refreshing to see scholars like Canagarajah take a step at proposing practical ways of creating a space in academia for varieties of Englishes with code meshing. I think that by allowing students to write in their L1 and L2, it will provide a safe place for them. Educators like myself may wonder how to apply this theory and if it will be accepted in academia. Canagarajah suggest that if students choose to code mesh, or revise the language game, they must explain the new rules to their audience of readers so that that intelligibility and comprehension is acheived. Although no one has a perfect solution to accomodate all of our students, this is one that will hopefully motivate and build students by allowing them use their entire repetoire of vocabulary to express themselves.
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I agree with you, Leslie. I have wondered the same thing as you and found that Canagarajah's approach makes sense to me. Writing is about communicating, and having students explain why they are code meshing or anything else considered "non-standard" is teaching them that, as long as they communicate, their writing is successful. This exercise is useful for all students, too - not just L2 students.
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