Letting the Writers Voice Come Through: Using Authentic Dialect in Writing
“”You all hurry back. Do you hear me?” and “Y’all hurry back. Ya hear?”
Which one is more real, more natural sounding? Would you guess the second speaker is from the southern US? Sometimes there just isn’t any other way to say something than with the use of colloquialisms.”
~ Cameron Michaels
Rationale:
Working with students who have a range of dialects, teaching them to incorporate their language into their writing is sometimes a difficult task. However, with the influx of text that has included a variety of cultures and dialects students are beginning to see their own voices represented in the books that they read. This use of the authentic voice of their neighborhood dialects gives the student some credence to using their voice in their writing. Weaving their authentic selves will put them more at ease at writing.
Stream of Curriculum:
In the third quarter, we write our personal narratives through the memoir format of Alphabiographies (an autobiography in alphabetical format). Each chapter is written about an important event in their lives that made them who they are. This is their autobiography, so I encourage them to use their own voice. I want them to show who they really are and using their authentic dialect serves that purpose. Students also need to be aware that dialect has a place in writing. Writing in their own natural voice will not be understood in a “professional student” piece as in writing for testing, but when writing for themselves or for a fictional piece it serves its purpose.
Theoretical Foundations:
Tony Burton states, “Dialect in fiction can play a powerful part in creating the mood and tone of the story, setting the location, and establishing the relationships between the characters in the story.” Using dialect in a piece of fiction makes a story more real and gives depth to the writing.
Lesson Directions:
Objective: Students will write a story including dialogue that is familiar to them.
Procedure:
- Read excerpts from Patricia McKissack’s Scraps of Time 1960: Abby Takes a Stand, Patricia Polacco’s My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother
- Create a list of common phrases that you grew up hearing in your home.
- Share your phrases with a partner.
- Develop a piece including dialogue from your brainstorming, making sure to include rich vocabulary about setting to show instead of tell the location.
Optional Choices:
- Do author studies of novels that use distinct dialect and write a comparison paper.
- Give phrases selected from pieces of writing and have students try to figure out where the character is from.
GLEs:
Identify an audience for a specific writing assignment and select appropriate vocabulary,
details, and information to create a tone or set the mood and to affect or manipulate the intended audience (ELA‑2‑E2)
References:
Burton, Tony. “Writing Visual Dialect in Fiction.” Reflections’s Edge.
http://www.reflectionsedge.com/archives/july2006/wvdf_tb.html
