117: Announcements

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117 Announcements

• New Topic Critique of Deprivation Account read
  Labov, Schweinhart, Delpit, Lee
• Reflection 2 Due today
• A TEACH-IN ON THE IMPACT OF THE UC BUDGET AND
  WHAT WE CAN DO TO RESPOND! ?WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER
  14, 2009 -- 4-6 P.M.CENTER HALL 119

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EDS/Soc 117 Critique of the Cultural Deprivation
Account

• Ethnocentric Fallacy-- the rules and categories
  from one cultural system (Standard English)
  have been mis-applied to another (Black English
  Vernacular) BEV is logical and grammatical
  albeit with some different rules than standard
  English
• Cognitive and linguistic styles are better
  conceptualized as context-bound (situated) rather
  than as general, or not related to context

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(No Transcript)
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Behavior is Context-Bound Evidence
interactions with children Situation 1--A Formal
Test

• Tester Tell me everything you can about this
  (shows object)
• 12 seconds of silence
• T What would you say it looks like?
• 8 seconds of silence
• Child A spaceship
• T hmmm
• 13 seconds of silence
• Child Like a je-et
• 12 seconds of silence
• Child like a plane
• 20 seconds of silence

• T What color is it?
• C Orange 2 seconds An green
• 6 seconds of silence
• T An what could you use it for
• 8 seconds of silence
• C A je-et
• 6 seconds of silence
• T If you had 2 of them, what would you do with
  them?
• C Give one to somebody
• T Hmmm. Who do you think would like to have it
• C Cla-rence
• T Hm. Where doi you think you could get another
  one of these?
• C At the store
• T Oh-ka-ay?

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Context-Bound Interactions Situation 2-Black
tester

• CR What if you saw somebody kickin somebody
  else on the ground, or was using a stick, what
  would you do if you saw that?
• Leon Hmmm
• CR If it was supposed to be a fair fight
• Leon I dont know
• CR You dont know? Would you do anything . .
  .Huh? I cant hear you
• Leon No
• CR Did you ever see somebody get beat up real
  bad?
• Leon Nope
• CR Well--did you ever get into a fight with a
  guy?
• Leon Nope

• CR That was bigger than you?
• Leon Nope
• CR You never been in a fight?
• Leon Nope
• CR No body ever pick on you?
• Leon Nope
• CR How come?Leon Ah on know
• CR Didnt you ever hit somebody?
• Leon Nope
• CR incredulous You never hit nobody?
• Leon Mhm
• CR Aw, b-a-a-a-be, you aint gonna tell me that!

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Context Bound Interaction 3Black adult,
Informal setting

• CR is there anybody who says your momma drink
  pee?
• Leon Rapidly and breathlessly Yee-ah!
• Greg Yup!
• Leon And your father eat doo-doo for breakfast
• CR Oooohhh! (laughs)
• Greg when they sound on me, I say C.B.S. C.B.M
• CR What that mean?
• Leon/Greg Congo booger-snatch (laughs)
• Greg And sometimes Ill curse with B. B.
• CR Whats that?
• Greg Black boy
• Leon (eating) Oh, thats a M. B. B
• CRR M.B.B Whats that?
• Greg Merican Black Boy

• CR Ooooh
• Greg Anyway, Mericans is the same as white
  people, right?
• Leon And they talk about Allah
• CR Oh yeah?
• Greg Yeah
• CR What they say about Allah?
• Leon Allah--Allah is God
• CRAnd what else?
• Leon I don know the res
• Greg Allah-Allah is God. Allah is the only God.
  Allah//
• Leon //Allah is the son of God

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Context-Bound Interaction Black adult, informal
setting

• JL What happens after you die? Do you know?
• Larry M Yeah I know
• JL What?
• Larry M After they put you in the ground, your
  body turns into-ah-bones an shit
• JL What happens to your spirit?
• LM Your spirit-soon as you die, your spirit
  leaves you
• JL And where does your spirit go?
• LM Well it all depends
• JL On What?
• LM You know, like some people say if youre
  goood an shit, your spirit goin theaven, n
  if your bad your spirit goin to hell. Well,
  bullshit! Your spirit goin to hell anyway, good
  or bad

• JL Well, if theres no heaven, how could there
  be a hell?
• LM I mean--ye-ah. Well let me tell you. It aint
  no hell cuz this is hell right here, y know
• JL This is hell?
• LM Yeah, this is hell right here!
• JL But just say there is a God, what color is
  he? White or black?
• LM Well, if it is a God, I wouldnt know what
  color, I couldnt say. Couldn nobody say that
• JL But now, jus suppose there was a God//
• LM //Unlessn they say//
• JL //No, I was jus sayin jus suppose there
  is a God, would he be white or black?
• LM Hed be white man!
• JL Why
• LM Why? Ill tell you why. Cuz the average
  whitey out there got everything, you dig? And the
  nigger aint got shit.

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Summary of Labovs Research

• Situated cognition
• Students behavior varies from one type of
  situation to another
• Children become more elaborate and verbal as
  settings become less formal and less power laden
• Other examples
• Standard English usage can tend toward verbosity

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Summary of Labovs Research

• Whereas BE claim that BEV is a restricted
• code and limits thinking, Labovs work
• shows BEV is elegant, logical, and capable of
• abstract and symbolic representations
• Whereas BE claim that ASL is not a
• language (but is only random gestures),
• current research shows ASL is grammatical
• and logical

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The Limitations of Drill Practice

• Schweinhart et al the type of instruction
  matters students in "cognitively oriented
  pre-schools showed greater gains than students in
  behavioristically oriented (DISTAR) pre-schools)

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The Educational Implications of Situated
Cognition Research

• Dilemma What to do about children who
• perform well in out-of-school (informal)
  contexts,
• but dont do well in school (formal lessons and
  tests)
• BE/Payne Change the child eradicate BEV (a
• subtractive view of schooling cf. Valenzuela)
• - Carol Lee/Luis Moll Modify the context
  appropriate
• the language and culture of children for use in
  school
• (an additive view of schooling) (add to
  repertoire)
• - Lisa Delpit Explicitly teach the discourse
  of power