Sociolinguistic research and high school teacher education

John Baugh

Fri. 11-12:40 C

This paper presents results from ethnolinguistic surveys among summer school students who are enrolled in an experimental secondary education program for at-risk students, many of whom are also members of language minority groups. Student teachers are required to take courses in linguistics and anthropology as part of their training, and they apply this knowledge to linguistic research with students who are enrolled in the summer school. At-risk students from public middle schools and high schools from several neighboring school districts are allowed to send students to the school at no cost. Mentor teachers who are selected through a highly competitive process work closely with student teachers in classrooms where student/teacher ratios are never more than 4/1, in classes of no more than 20 students.

To the best of our knowledge this is the only high school teacher education program that requires sociolinguistic training of student teachers, and subsequently enlists those teachers as research collaborators. This approach does more than use high school students exclusively as sources of data, but recognizes the strategic role that linguistic science should play in comprehensive (systemic) educational reforms that are consistent with federal efforts through "Goals 2000."

Growing from the Black English trial (Labov, 1982), this paper not only recognizes the role of linguistic research in high schools, but the role of linguistic research in high school teacher education, and the formulation of educational policies that will meet the higher academic standards that are intended to help all students learn. Results from the ethnolinguistic surveys will be presented, including evidence of linguistic diversity among students, as well as qualitative evidence of how best to serve language minority students in an era when affirmative action is under attack, and social science research funding is threatened with substantial cuts -- if not outright elimination.