Contrastive Analysis: Learn and Affirm Language

Resource Bundle

I. Contrastive Analysis: Learn and Affirm Language Resource

II. Common Grammar Patterns – Supplement

III. Additional Resources – Supplement

IV. References

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Contrastive Analysis: Learn and Affirm Language
Resource (Back to Table of Contents)

Contrastive analysis definition and benefits:

• A strategy that teaches students to notice differences in language and language variety 1 and helps them select language
patterns that are appropriate for a given situation 2.
• Contrastive analysis benefits students because it frames Standard English as an addition to – rather than a replacement
of – a student’s home language 3.

Mindsets About Language:

Deficit-based:
Language varieties are right or wrong.
Students’ home languages are barriers to learning formal
English.
Students’ home languages must be replaced with Standard
English learned in school.
Students make errors and need to correct how they speak
and write.
Teach Standard English rules and patterns in isolation.
Asset-based:
Language varieties are more or less effective for a given
setting.
Students’ home languages are a reference point for
noticing differences in language varieties.
Students’ home languages must be preserved, and can be
used as an asset in learning Standard English.
Students use their home language, which follows different
patterns and rules than Standard English.
Teach students to notice differences in language varieties.

How To:
Here are actions you can take to begin using contrastive analysis with your students 4:

• Identify trends or patterns that reflect a student’s home language and variety when they speak and write (Wheeler, 2006;
Wheeler & Swords, 2006).

• Talk with students about how language use changes depending on setting. 5 Here are questions that can help guide this
conversation:
o Have you ever changed the way you speak or write based on the people you’re with or the audience you’re
addressing?
o Do you speak or write more “formally” in some situations than in others? What are they?
o Do you ever use words from other languages when speaking or writing?
o What could be a problem with telling someone that the way they speak or write is “wrong”?

• Ask students to share examples of how they would say or write a phrase, word, or expression in their home language.
• Guide students to identify patterns in their home language.
• Create a chart that contrasts features of students’ home language to those of Standard English and discuss the rules for
each. Have students share multiple examples for both languages. Post the chart where students can reference it.
• Engage students in contrastive analysis when opportunities arise to examine and discuss language use (e.g. writing
activities, reading multicultural texts, etc.).

1
(González, 2008)
2
(Godley, Carpenter, & Werner, 2007; Wheeler & Swords, 2004)
3
(Wheeler & Swords, 2006)
4
For lessons on Code-Switching, check out: Wheeler, R. S., & Swords, R. (2010). Code-switching lessons: Grammar strategies for linguistically diverse
writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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Contrastive Analysis Chart Examples:
Plurals
Home Language: Standard English:
• I have two test today. • I have two tests today.
• She loves all her dog. • She loves all her dogs.

The pattern: The pattern:

• Number words • Noun + s
• Other signal words (e.g. all)
• Common knowledge

Adjective Placement (Syntax)

Standard English Spanish
• She is an excellent student. • Ella es una estudiante excelente.
• It was a difficult test. • Fue un examen difícil.

The pattern: The pattern:

• Before the noun it modifies. • After the noun it modifies.

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Common Grammar Patterns
Supplement (Back to Table of Contents)

Common grammar patterns for speakers of African American Vernacular English (Wheeler & Swords, 2010).

African American Vernacular Pattern and

Standard English Pattern and Example
Example
owner + thing owned owner + ‘s + thing owned
Possessive
My teacher name is Ms. Villa. My teacher’s name is Ms. Villa.
number words or other signal words in the
noun + -s
Plurals sentence
There are eight planets in the solar system.
There are eight planet in the solar system.
Subject- he/she/it + verb + s
any subject + bare verb 6
verb plural subject + bare verb
Samuel read quickly.
agreement Samuel reads quickly.
time words and phrases verb + -ed
Past-tense Last week, we learn the scientific method. Last week, we learned the scientific method.
I, he/she/it subjects 7 + was
any subject + was
plural subject + were
Was/Were Me and my group was working hard to finish the
Me and my group were working hard to finish
activity.
the activity.
I + am
I + am
he/she/it + is
Am/Is/Are any other subject + is
plural subject + are
My table and I is working on our project.
My table and I are working on our project.
I + am
subject + a form of be
Be any other subject + rest of sentence
It’s my turn to be the scribe.
It my turn to be the scribe.

6
In this instance, the AAVE and English patterns for any other subjects would be the same. For example: We work quickly.
7
In this instance, the AAVE and English patterns for singular subjects would be the same. For example: I was at home.

Copyright © 2017 Arizona Board of Regents, All rights reserved · SanfordInspireProgram.org

Common grammar patterns for speakers of Chicano English
(Barrón & San Román, n.d.; Fashola, Drum, Mayer, & Kang, 1996).

Chicano English Pattern and Example Standard English Example

on/to/from/in + object
at + object
Preposition on used interchangeably with in/to
He is pointing at the whiteboard.
substitutions He is pointing on the whiteboard
She is writing in her science journal.
She is writing on her science journal.
“b” and “v”
We went on a bacation. We went on a vacation.
used
My dad plays vaseball. My dad plays baseball.
interchangeably
barely + rest of sentence just/only + rest of sentence
Intensifier He barely finished his homework. He just finished his homework.
I barely have one pencil. I only have one pencil.

/ch/ and /sh/ You are my favorite teasher. You are my favorite teacher.
digraphs I bought a new wash yesterday. I bought a new watch yesterday.

article + noun + adjective article + adjective + noun

Adjective and
I live in a house blue. I live in a blue house.
noun structure My dad has a truck white. My dad has a white truck.

Copyright © 2017 Arizona Board of Regents, All rights reserved · SanfordInspireProgram.org

Additional Resources
Supplement (Back to Table of Contents)

Videos:
Click the link to see part of a TED Radio Hour called Playing With Perceptions. Jamila Lyiscott is unpacks three varieties
of English she uses in different situations, via poetry: http://www.npr.org/2014/11/14/362372282/what-does-it-mean-to-be-
articulate

Click the link to see a blog from NPR called How Code-Switching Explains the World.

Books:
Below is a list of books that include different varieties of English. You can use these books to help validate the varieties of
English that students bring with them to the classroom as well as to demonstrate how to use language effectively.

Brown, M., & Palacios, S. (2011). Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match/Marisol McDonald No Combina. New York, NY:

Children’s Book Press.

Cisneros, S. (1984). The House on Mango Street. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.

Compton, J., & Compton, L. (1994). Ashpet: An Appalachian Tale. New York, NY: Holiday House.

Flournoy, V., & Pinkney, J. (1985). The Patchwork Quilt. New York, NY: Dial.

Greenfield, E., & Gilchrist, J. S. (1993). William and the Good Old Days. New York, NY: Harper Collins

Herron, C., & Cepeda, J. (1998). Nappy Hair. New York, NY: Dragonfly Books.

Lowell, S., & Manning, J. (2001). Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella. New York, NY: Harper Collins

McKissack, P., & Isadora, R. (1986). Flossie and the Fox. New York, NY: Scholastic.

McKissack, P., & Pinkney, J. (1988). Mirandy and Brother Wind. New York, NY: Knopf.

McKissack, P., & Pinkney, J. (1989). Nettie Jo’s Friends. New York, NY: Knopf.

Polacco, P. (1994). Pink and Say. New York, NY: Philomel.

Rawls, W. (1961). Where the Red Fern Grows. New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books.

Schachner, J. (2005). Skippyjon Jones. New York, NY: Dutton Children’s Books.

Swados, E. & Cepeda, J. (2002). Hey You! C’mere! A Poetry Slam. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine.

Williams, S. A., & Byard, C. (1992). Working Cotton. San Diego, CA: Harcourt.

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Contrastive Analysis: Learn and Affirm Language
References (Back to Table of Contents)

Allen, A. Scott, L. M., & Lewis, C. W. (2013). Racial microaggressions and African American and Hispanic students in
urban schools: A call for culturally affirming education. Interdisciplinary Journal of Teaching and Learning 3(2),
117-129.

August, D. & Shanahan, T. (2006). Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy
Panel on language-minority children and youth. Retrieved from:
http://www.cal.org/content/download/2243/29073/version/3/file/developing-literacy-in-second-language-learners-
executive-summary.pdf

Barrón, C. C. & San Román, J. (n.d.). Teachers guide to supporting Mexican American Standard English learners:
Understanding the characteristic linguistic features of Mexican American language as contrasted with Standard
English structure. Retrieved from:
http://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib08/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/217/MEXICAN%20AMERICAN_TEACHER%2
0GUIDE.PDF

Baird, A. S., Palacios, N., & Kibler, A. (2016). The cognate and false cognate knowledge of young emergent bilinguals.
Language and Learning, 66(2), 448-470.

Brown, D. W. (2009). In other words: Lessons on grammar, code-switching, and academic writing. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.

Godley, A. J, Carpenter, B. D., & Werner, C. A. (2007). “I’ll speak in proper slang”: Language ideologies in a daily editing
activity. Reading Research Quarterly, 42(1), 100-131.

González, J. M. (Ed.) (2008). Encyclopedia of bilingual education (Vols. 1-2). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Ltd.

National Center for Education Statistics, (2015). School composition and the black-white achievement gap. Retrieved
from:
https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/studies/pdf/school_composition_and_the_bw_achievement_gap_2
015.pdf

Fashola, O. S., Drum, P. A., Mayer, R. E., & Kang, S.J. (1996). A cognitive theory of orthographic transitioning:
Predictable erros in how Spanish-speaking children spell English words. American Educational Research Journal
33(4), 825-843.

Paris, D. (2015). The right to culturally sustaining language education for the new American mainstream: An introduction.
Multilingual Research Journal, (9)4, 221-226.

Rickford, J. R., Sweetland, J, & Rickford, A. E. (2004). African American English and other vernaculars in education: A
topic-coded bibliography. Journal of English Linguistics, 32(3), 230-320.

Rickford, J.R. (n.d.). Using the vernacular to teach the standard. Retrieved from:
https://web.stanford.edu/~rickford/papers/VernacularToTeachStandard.html

Wheeler, R. S. (2006). “What do we do about student grammar – all those missing –ed’s and –s’s?” Using comparison
and contrast to teach Standard English in dialectally diverse classrooms. English Teaching: Practice and Critique
5(1), 16-33.

Wheeler, R. S., & Swords, R. (2004). Codeswitching: Tools of language and culture transform the dialectally diverse
classroom. Language Arts, 81(6), 470-480.

Copyright © 2017 Arizona Board of Regents, All rights reserved · SanfordInspireProgram.org

Wheeler, R. S., & Swords, R. (2006). Code-switching: Teaching Standard English in urban classrooms. Urbana, IL:
National Council of Teachers of English.

Wheeler, R. S., & Swords, R. (2010). Code-switching lessons: Grammar strategies for linguistically diverse writers.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wolfram, W. (2000). Everyone has an accent. Teaching Tolerance. Retrieved from:

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-18-fall-2000/feature/everyone-has-accent

Copyright © 2017 Arizona Board of Regents, All rights reserved · SanfordInspireProgram.org