ABSTRACT
My high school might seem an ideal place to have conversations about language varieties and ideologies, considering that approximately two-thirds of our students speak a language other than English at home. 1 In addition, the sophomore American literature curriculum invites discussions of race, identity, and culture. Despite this rich environment for critical conversations, my students’ reactions to the language in Their Eyes Were Watching God revealed a need for explicit conversations about language variation and ideologies. Rather than celebrating Zora Neale Hurston’s vivid imagery or relishing that her use of eye dialect allowed them to read in a Southern accent, students decried her use of the vernacular, labeling it either as “uneducated” or impossible to read. My attempt to ease students into the novel with the audiobook did not address their underlying assumptions about language. These reactions were even more confusing since our previous unit (on immigration short stories) highlighted the complicated power dynamics of linguistic assimilation. Despite their reactions, I knew my students were conscious of language variation: they often spoke about pride in their ability to code-switch (i.e., to shift between dialects or languages), seeing that as an essential part of “being a good student” and interacting politely around adults.
