ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we’ll examine an essential component of culturally relevant English language arts instruction: the importance of dialect in student writing. As we’ll explore further in this chapter, the dialects and language variations our students use outside of school are important aspect of their identities and valuing those forms of language in our classrooms is a key way to create a classroom that embraces students’ out-of-school lives and identities. We’ll begin this chapter by thinking about what it means to create opportunities for students to incorporate dialects and language variations into their writing, noting the main components of such an instructional practice. After that, we’ll consider how this instructional practice can benefit our students academically and culturally. Then, we’ll look at how this instructional practice can be put into action in elementary-, middle-, and high-school English and language arts classrooms. Finally, I’ll share key ideas to keep in mind when using these ideas with your students.
