Language+and+Society+Professional+Reflection

Language in School and Society was designed to be an introduction to the sociolinguistic perspectives of language in school and society. Using Rosina Lippi-Green's text, //English with an Accent//, I was able to explore the cultural, historical, and social nature of language and how we, as teachers, must remember that language has a long and complicated history associated with it. Being a Northern "transplant" in the rural south, this class truly opened up my eyes to the need to "establish a positive and productive environment for students" (**Standard 2**) by seeing language as a part of their culture. I saw evidence of this specifically during the analysis of language data for my field research project. Because I was made more aware of the differences and nuances of language and how we, as humans, perceive language and language choices, I was also more willing to be a reflective teacher (**Standard 5**) by being self-aware of the choices and perceptions in language that I made on daily basis with my students. Through my studies in this class, I became interested in these perspectives of language, along with the work of James Paul Gee. This not only helped me with my major assignment for this class (Field Research), but it also led me to my research questions and subsequent action research process for the ENED 690 sequence. Because I had a background in this type of linguistic theory, I was able to enter into the conversations of other researchers concerning language later on in my graduate studies. The knowledge that I gained through this class through my projects, final exam reflection, and daybook enabled me to grow as an expert in the means in which students use language to learn (**Standard 4**) and how to better instruct my students based on that new found knowledge.