Ways with Words: Chapter 5 Group Notes

*Group Notes: Everywhere there's a "{}" it means there needs to be something added or explained more. Feel free to add anywhere though.

-----  Raquel

Ways with Words, Chapter 5

            In Ways with Words, Shirley Brice Heath studies the language acquisition and use of the member in two communities, Roadville and Trackton. Throughout the book, Heath continually affirms her argument: the children of Roadville and Trackton’s different language use are a result of different cultural practices: family structures, community members’ roles, socialization, religious practices, and more. In Chapter 5, Heath maintains that storytelling is an important part of socialization in both Trackton and Roadville; however the “form, occasions, content, and functions” of language use vastly differs between the two communities and children’s language use reflects these differences. The chart on the following page demonstrates these differences in detail.

A Few Questions to Keep in Mind:

1.     What boundaries are being observed/respected when only certain groups can perform songs with the Trackton girls?

2.     Why can preschool children and adults engage in an insulting banter when later the school-age children are reprimanded for the same behavior?

3.     How can teachers utilize the language children use at home before school in the classroom?

4.     Which community does your upbringing reflect? And how did that affect your experience in school?

5.     How might the emphasis on children not questioning adults in Roadville affect them when they leave the community?

Stories in Roadville and Trackton

	Roadville	Trackton
FORM	·        Definition: ·        Formulaic Openings ·        Strict adherence to timeline, facts, and truths ·        No negative critique of characters in story ·        End with a moral/proverb ·        Storytelling is initiated by high status members of the community ·        Conversation is sex-segregated: {}	·        Definition: ·        Few formulaic openings + begins with abstractions ·        No Strict adherence to timeline, facts, or truth ·        Critique of story’s characters allowed ·        No formulaic ending-may sometimes reaffirm main character’s strengths or the story’s point. ·        Storytelling opportunities are based on competition won by the most aggressive. ·        Conversation is sex-segregated:{}
FUNCTION	·        Entertainment ·        Unifies community by testing relationships and declaring new ones ·        Is a means of expressing knowledge of social norms through use of proverbs	·        Entertainment ·        Provides platform to expound upon individual’s strength in the face of conflict. (Can sometimes be seen as a common, unifying experience-p. 166)
CONTENT	·        Factual ·        Personal experience, biblical parables/proverbs because the bible is the only written text available to the community	·        Exaggeration: truths are only the universals of human strength and persistence
CHILDREN’S ACQUISTION OF ORAL TRADITION	·        Parents read books to children and ask formulaic questions of children ·        Parents coach their children to tell a story in linear order and factually ·        Adults have a separate adult-specific speech sphere where children are not allowed in. ·        Children are not allowed to question anything	·        Parents do not read to children; children learn the importance of storytelling on their own through observation ·        Children’s acquisition of oral tradition is aided by the whole community, not exclusive to parents ·        Children are allowed to listen to adult conversations. ·        Inclusio{}