Essay - Teaching - Social Issues Mother Tongue the Purpose of This...

Teaching - Social Issues

Mother Tongue

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, d*****cuss, and analyze the essay "Mo*****r Tongue," by Amy Tan. Specifically, it will analyze how the author uses rhetorical strategies to make her argument, while cr*****iquing cultural st*****ards. Amy ***** writes of the different forms ***** English she ***** in her life, while illustrat*****g the myriad ways that people express themselves depending on their audience and ***** needs. Everyone uses different phrases and expressions ***** on their surroundings and their goals. Tan's essay applies to all of us, and beca*****e of *****, it is easier to read and easier ***** apply to everyday ***** classroom situations.

Throughout Amy Tan's essay, ***** compares the Engl*****h she uses everyday, to the English she ***** with family and close friends. She uses the ***** she has learned as a tool to express the stilted English ***** ********** up her cultur*****l memories and the words of ***** mo*****r. ***** writes, "But to me, my mother's ***** is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It's ***** mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full ***** observation and imagery. That w***** the language that helped shape ***** way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world" (Tan). Therefore, some of Tan's earliest ***** include memories of her mother's stilted English, which is both comforting and cultural to her. She knows her mother's education and ideas are not stilted, but also recognizes ***** her limited way ***** speaking might make her appear "limited" or less than perfect to other l*****teners. She notes, "I've heard ***** terms used, '***** *****,' for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited Engl*****h speaker" (Tan). Tan recognizes ***** way people speak may categorize them for listeners, ***** yet that categorization could often not be further from the truth. How a person *****s is as much a part of ********** ***** upbringing as it is about formalized and wr*****ten language, as Tan's experience clearly indicates. ***** culture is interwoven with her language, and so, she has many d*****ferent options open to her to communicate, and ***** style depends just as much on her audience as her education and understanding of the language. In fact, Tan notes, "Sociologists and linguists probably will tell you that a *****'s developing ***** skills ***** more influenced by peers. But I do think that the language spoken in ***** *****, especi*****y in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shap*****g the language ***** the child" (Tan). Families play an import*****t ***** in the development of *****ir **********, and language is an important part of that development. ***** embarrassment ***** ***** ***** English is just one ***** of the culture that *****d her as she grew up. To combat her embarr*****sment, she used English as a tool to cre*****te an astonishing career for herself. Thus, T***** used the ***** of her youth to form her future.