Shari - Lindemann Ch. 5

Lindemann talks about the role of linguistics in teaching students.  I like how she questions what do students need to know about the English language and how it can effect their writing and a teacher's judgment of student's writing. 

She states, "By what standards should we judge student writing?  Is it an English teacher's primary responsibility to teach standard English?  What right have we to force a particular language or dialect on speakers of other languages and dialects?" 

I am a teacher of the English language, so my take on this may be skewed.  Obviously, teaching native English speakers, my responses perhaps would be different, but not necessarily. Lindemann's use of the word "force" is a bit harsh.  I can't never say that I force anything on my students.  They come to my class to learn to speak, listen to, read and write the English language, and that is what I do.  However, part of that equation includes learning the discourse of American English.  My students are not looking to be judged as if being negatively criticized.  They are looking for a teacher to help them use the language in correct way for correct situations.  If they make a mistake, which I encourage the making of mistakes as that implies the student tried to learn more than their set of phrases, I applaud the attempt and help them to discover the mistake for themselves.