Learning from classroom questions and answers: Teachers' uncertainties about children's language

This article examines the interaction of language varieties with teachers' perceptions and evaluations of how K-2 students answer classroom questions. Using both qualitative and quantitative methodology, we trace the processes, findings, and reflections from 2 years of collaboration with teachers in a low-income, multi-ethnic, inner-city school where all students spoke marginalized or stigmatized varieties of English, including Appalachian/rural and African-American English, or Ebonics. Among other findings, we and the teachers discovered ambiguity in their questions which created problems for students accustomed to different discourse practices. We noticed examples of Delpit's "silenced dialogue" when young White teachers would not listen to the exhortations of an experienced Black teacher that they should show students exactly what they wanted as answers. We worked with the teachers to uncover their concerns about racism and classism to discover what they heard and valued in students' answers and to modify their ways of listening to children. Implications include the need to query our own teaching practices relative to creating "culturally composite classrooms" where speakers of all dialects are respected.