ABSTRACT
Code-switching and knowledge of language varieties serve children during the writing process. As children construct story narrative, they choose a range of language styles to enhance character. Linguistics reveals that the child who speaks in a vernacular dialect is not making language errors; instead, she or he is speaking correctly in the language of the home discourse community. Further, students show an increased conscious command of Standard English as well as the ability to code-switch. David, an African American student, wrote "Spy Mouse and the Broken Globe", a story in which Spy Mouse spoke information, while David's author's note used uniquely formal English patterns. By explaining that he knew formal English but Spy Mouse did not, David was able to independently articulate the reasons for his language choices, an impressive accomplishment for any student, let alone an urban third grader. Techniques of contrastive analysis also offer students tangible help in interpreting standardized test questions.
