http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572504575213883276427528.html
the answer is obvious: accents associated with immigrants from mexico or other latino countries will get you fired (never mind that arizona actively recruited hundreds of teachers from mexico, and convinced them to move to the state years ago).
this new law is not about knowledge of the language - there was already a state requirement that english teachers speak english fluently, and understand english grammar. the new law is redundant except for the pronunciation/accent provision.
in kentucky, in elementary school, i was taught by competent english teachers with heavy kentucky accents. people of los angeles or new hampshire would have a very hard time understanding them. however, the teachers were completely comprehensible to us, the students. that's because we were part of the same language community. everyone has an accent, and every accent can be understood within its language community.
it is true that in the past 50 years, midwest english has become privileged in national contexts. midwest english is now spoken by media and political figures in major cities of most states. the rich and powerful know this dialect. however, learning this accent does not guarantee riches.
midwest english is not useful to children in other parts of the country, therefore it is not spoken by them. and it is especially not spoken by ESL students, whose communities are not rich, and are more likely to speak, say, chicano english.
here in los angeles, my ESL students frequently use the words "like" (as an interjection and filler word), "hot," "dude," and "yuh" (which means "yes"). they use these words way too much. but then again, that's just my opinion, and i don't speak the local dialect. believe it or not, in LA english, it makes sense to use those words all the time. it makes sense to use the word "the" in front of every highway name. and it makes sense to inflect declarative sentences as if they were questions (for comparison, teenagers who do this in texas get labeled as stupid).
even though british english is foreign to arizona, you know they will not reprimand or remove any of their british teachers. because this is not really about accent. it is legislation aimed at race and immigration status, part of a sad pattern in arizona.
- in the mid 1800s when arizona was "acquired," 2/3 of population was native american. therefore, the traditional "accent" of arizona is a native american accent.
- half the white people in phoenix were born in a different state. they speak outsider dialects, including new york english, chicago english, and valley-girl.
- of course, most evaluators hired by the state speak a white, outsider variety of english. they all have accents, because everyone has some sort of accent.
- the question is, which accent will get you fired?
the answer is obvious: accents associated with immigrants from mexico or other latino countries will get you fired (never mind that arizona actively recruited hundreds of teachers from mexico, and convinced them to move to the state years ago).
this new law is not about knowledge of the language - there was already a state requirement that english teachers speak english fluently, and understand english grammar. the new law is redundant except for the pronunciation/accent provision.
in kentucky, in elementary school, i was taught by competent english teachers with heavy kentucky accents. people of los angeles or new hampshire would have a very hard time understanding them. however, the teachers were completely comprehensible to us, the students. that's because we were part of the same language community. everyone has an accent, and every accent can be understood within its language community.
it is true that in the past 50 years, midwest english has become privileged in national contexts. midwest english is now spoken by media and political figures in major cities of most states. the rich and powerful know this dialect. however, learning this accent does not guarantee riches.
midwest english is not useful to children in other parts of the country, therefore it is not spoken by them. and it is especially not spoken by ESL students, whose communities are not rich, and are more likely to speak, say, chicano english.
here in los angeles, my ESL students frequently use the words "like" (as an interjection and filler word), "hot," "dude," and "yuh" (which means "yes"). they use these words way too much. but then again, that's just my opinion, and i don't speak the local dialect. believe it or not, in LA english, it makes sense to use those words all the time. it makes sense to use the word "the" in front of every highway name. and it makes sense to inflect declarative sentences as if they were questions (for comparison, teenagers who do this in texas get labeled as stupid).
even though british english is foreign to arizona, you know they will not reprimand or remove any of their british teachers. because this is not really about accent. it is legislation aimed at race and immigration status, part of a sad pattern in arizona.
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