ABSTRACT

As a response to language diversity in writing classrooms, numerous instructors have proposed or embraced the notion that students should be taught to code switch. The idea is that students who do not readily speak Standardized English will utilize aspects of their languages of nurture to develop relative mastery of the school-sponsored written code, namely Standardized Written English (SWE). Although proponents of code switching manifest various political leanings, they generally evince a democratic impulse to eliminate the traditional penalizing of linguistic differences in prescriptive writing classes. Indeed, one hardly needs to document that writing courses have stifled generations of students labeled deficient, remedial, or basic. Most so-called remedial writing students never complete a required college composition sequence, let alone attain a degree.