Code Meshing vs. Code Switching: Which One Should be Taught in Schools? In the article “Twitterish,” John McWhorter explains the need for different forms of literacy and multimodality – Standard English and new digital literacies. He also, in a way, talks about code switching and code meshing because he shows how people can switch between different literacies and how they can also incorporate both Standard English and digital literacies into speech and writing together. John White’s paper goes into much greater detail about what code switching is and how to teach it in schools. He says that code switching – the act of changing from a culturally imbued discourse to Standard English, but not necessarily vice versa – is a priority to teach to …show more content…
The idea that “a broader view of what counts as appropriate classroom discourse” promotes “an inclusive English classroom” and ultimately “creates a culturally responsive and inclusive foundation from which to teach students code-switching to Standard English” (White, 44) is close, but not all the way there. Yes, students need to feel like their culture matters in the classroom; no, they do not need to learn to code switch to Standard English. That does not mean that students don’t need to learn the principles of Standard English; it simply means that students need to learn a different way of using their culturally imbued dialect and Standard English together. English students need to learn Vershawn Young’s version of code switching because “many teachers be jackin up code switching with they ‘speak this way at school and a different way at home,’ we need a new term. I call it CODE MESHING! Code meshing is the new code switching; it’s multidialectalism and pluralingualism in one speech act, in one paper” (114). Code meshing, as defined by Vershawn Young, is a way for kids and adults alike to speak and write with principles and innuendos from both Standard English and their culturally imbued dialect, whatever that may be, together in one sentence, paragraph, or speech, just to name a