“A Language of Their Own:” Verbal Hygiene and Microaggression in the Classroom

Author(s):

Avihu Shoshana(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

19. Ethnography

Format:

Paper

Session Information

19 SES 06, Minorities Making Space: Language and Inclusion

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-24

15:30-17:00

Room:

NM-J102

Chair:

Francesca Gobbo

Contribution

This article suggests following the inductive discovery of educational processes affiliated with language and its correct usage ("verbal hygiene ") that take place in lessons in a low socio-economic class high school (and do not take place in lessons in a high socio-economic class high school) in Israel, which operate as a practice of microaggression.

This broad objective encompasses three specific research questions:

1) What characterizes the “incorrect language” (what is also called by the teachers, “They have their own language”) of the students from the low socio-economic class?

2) How does the intense preoccupation of the teachers in correcting the language of the students act as a unique practice of microaggression (and everyday racism)?

3) How do the language corrections create a specific educational experience among the students from the low socio-economic class that in turn reproduces the ethno-class social stratification?

Theoretical Framework

The main theoretical framework of this article is the study of microaggressions. Microaggressions have been defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group” (Sue et al. 2007, 273). Prominent examples of microaggression are sentences such as, “I don’t see color,” and “You’re different from the others.” Other examples are the mispronouncing of the first and last names of Hispanic and African American students (Kohli and Solórzano 2012), being ignored or being given slow service (Sue et al. 2007).

Since microaggression is an expression of everyday racism, this article also utilizes anthropological and sociological studies of education that report the manner in which schools across the globe relate to issues of ethnicity, race, and racism. One of the comprehensive findings in this regard illustrates the preference of teachers and principals to dissociate themselves from open preoccupation with the matter (Pollock 2004). This dissociation is portrayed as being accompanied by practices of silence and silencing or other practices that highlight the school’s neutrality with regard to racism.

Since this article deals in language and education, I will also use the widespread findings in this field. Many findings cite how the language of students from “marked” groups (in terms of ethnicity, race, and poverty) is chronicled as "lacking" and "deficit", whereas the language of students from the high socio-economic class is described as “standard” (Labov 1972), and thus privileged (Bernstein 1974).

Method

I conducted ethnographies in two high schools from different socio-economic classes in Israel (September 2012-September 2015). Most of the residents (and the students) in the high socio-economic class school are Ashkenazim (Jews from Europe and North America). Most of the residents (and the students) in the low socio-economic class school are Mizrahim (Jews from Arab countries). In total I conducted observations in twelve different classes in three grade levels (10th, 11th, and 12th), and in various lessons (history, literature, bible, and homeroom). Alongside this, I also conducted observations in staff meetings, pedagogical meetings, and in the teacher’s lounge. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the way in which the various actors interpret the preoccupation with language, I conducted interviews with 18 teachers (mostly female) and with 40 students from different grade levels in the high school, 20 boys and 20 girls.

Expected Outcomes

The ethnographies in the school classrooms of various classes show that the abundant preoccupation with language correction or verbal hygiene appeared solely in the low socio-economic class school. This preoccupationdid not appear at all in the high socio-economic class school. Moreover, the teachers’ differentiation of the “different language” of low socio-economic class students, which was also called “Mizrahi language” or “their own language,” also did not appear in the high socio-economic class school. My field notes show that the preoccupation with verbal hygiene in the low socio-economic class school actually appeared in every lesson. In some of the lessons, the delay was brief and integrated as a “routine” part of the lesson. In others, the delay was long and led to an exchange of words and raging conflicts between the teachers and the students. The observations in the staff meetings also included reference of the teachers to the speaking style of the students (mostly lengthy complaints), and to what one teacher called, “They don’t have language hygiene.” The observations in six staff meetings that took place in one year in 10th grade level demonstrate, for instance, that in each one of the meetings, the teachers raised the issue of deficient language, and the percentage of the total lesson that this practice occupies. What characterizes the "language of their own" that so fiercely disturbs the teachers? An examination of the observations and the interviews with the teachers exhibits four characteristics: 1) Abundant use of religious words; 2) Abundant use of Arabic words; 3) Use of unfamiliar words and expressions; 4) Lingual distortions. This study uncover primarily the unique practice of microaggression that operates via subtle dynamics.

References

Allen, Q. 2012. 'They Think Minority Means Lesser Than': Black Middle-Class Sons and Fathers Resisting Microaggressions in the Schools. Urban Education 48(2): 171-197. Bernstein, Basil. 1974. Class, Codes and Control. New York: Schocken. Essed, P. 1991. Understanding Everyday Racism. London: Sage. Ferguson, A. 1995. Bad Boys: Scholl and the Social Construction of Black Masculinity. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press. Hooks, b. 1991. Yearing: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. London: Turnaround. Kohli, R. and Solorzano, D. 2012. 'Teachers, Please Learn Our Names!': Racial Microaggressions and the K-12 Classroom. Race Ethnicity and Education 15(4): 441-462. Labov, W. 1972. The Logic of Nonstandard English. In Language and Social Context, ed. Pier Giglioli. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin. Lareau, A. 2003. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pollock, M. 2004. Coloemute: Race Talk Dilemma in an American School. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Solorzeno, D. 1998. Critical Race Theory, Race and Gender Microaggressions, and the Experience of Chicana and Chicano Scholars. Qualitative Studies in Education 11(1): 11-136. Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication. Sue, D. W., Lin, A., Torino, G., Capodilupo, C., Rivera, D. 2009. Racial Microaggressions and Difficult Dialogues on Race in the Classroom. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 15(2): 183-190. Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C., Torino, G..; Bucceri, J.,Holder, A.,Nadal, K.,Esquilin,M. 2007. Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Implications for Clinical Practice. American Psychologist 62 (4):271-286. Tyson, K. 2003. Notes from the Back of the Room: Problems and Paradoxes in the Schooling of Young Black Students. Sociology of Education 76(2): 326-342.

Author Information

Avihu Shoshana (presenting / submitting)

University of Haifa

Education

Haifa

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