Week 6: Literacy and Hybridity

As children began their schooling years, having the “right” language might seem to determine their success in school. Children tend to come from diverse background, and this equate to different register of language in the school environment.

However, the language that these children acquired is dissimilar to the ones used in a typical school context. As the language used in school might be more complex and technical, children who are not socialized into the “schooled” language (dominant discourse) might be put at a disadvantaged as compared to children who have been exposed and socialized into the expected language used in schools. Children who are only exposed to the “home” language (primary discourse), might have difficulties keeping up with the dominant discourse.

Those from the middle class are socialized into various ways of using language of what is expected in different interactional contexts. And because of this, children from the middle class are able to use this skill in the school context.

I agree with the fact that children are “equipped” with various forms of language that might not be congruent to the dominant discourse. And this seems to pose as a major problem in the classroom setting. For instance, a child who is only exposed to the non-standard form of English at home might have problem adjusting to the use of the standard form when in school. Another problem would be when a child who is not familiar with the language used in classroom might face with difficulties when receiving instructions by the teacher.

This I feel is especially true in Singapore’s multicultural context where each classroom might consists of children of different ethnicity and background. These children come to school “armed” with language that may be different from the ones used in school.

However, as a teacher, this should not be seen as convenient way of focusing the attention only to those who are already socialized into the school language. In fact, as a teacher’s responsibility is to create opportunity for learning to take place, the teacher should in fact try to bridge the communication barrier so that learning can take place for all the children in her classroom and not just for the ones who can meet her expectations. As teachers, we should try to bridge these differences by employing the notion of hybridity in our teachings.

For instance, since students bring with them different forms of knowledge to schools, teachers should tap on these and turn it into a more meaningful lesson rather than just to ignore the differences.

Like what I have mentioned during the tutorial earlier, if a teacher encounter “racist” remarks made by students on each other, instead of “punishing” these students for their “ignorance” a teacher could instead translate the incident into a social studies lesson to educate students on the importance of maintaining the delicate balance of Singapore’s harmony.