Native breath: Incorporating linguistically relevant pedagogy in the classroom through reified literature

Abstract

The native breath of linguistic minority students, including speakers of vernaculars and dialects, has traditionally been stifled in classroom ecologies that perpetuate the hegemony of English. A model of linguistically relevant pedagogy is articulated that empowers students both native and nonnative to the Standard to develop cultural competence and critical consciousness towards language. This potentially results in improved native breath valuation and paving the road for improved academic outcomes and facility in learning the societal Standard language as well as gaining tools required in the global age. Drawing from the LIAD (Nero, 2005) and Dialect Awareness (Adger, Wolfram & Christian, 2006) pedagogical frameworks, this paper proposes ways in which educators can support linguistically relevant pedagogy through the teaching of “canonized” fiction.