Reading Response Questions to "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Sebriana Ciarcia
English 1100
8/30/15
Prof. Young

Reading Response Questions to "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

1. I think the open scene has a lot to do with the rest of the story. We start by learning about a time when Anzaldua went to the dentist and he had a hard time controlling her tongue, while working on her tongue. This set up the idea of not being label to control her speech, an idea that carried throughout the story. 

2. I liked how Anzaldua added Spanish into her writing. It made the story make even more sense and allowed the reader to have a better understanding what herself and her identity. I feel her purpose was to introduce the reader to her language, so we could get a better understand of everything she was trying to portray. 

3.  I think that Academic English can be defined as Spanish (Standard) because they both have the same purpose. Both are to be formal and the most correct form of their language. I think Chicano  Spanish could be described as nonstandard because it isn't formal and as commonly know as Spanish (Standard). Spanish (Standard) is known by those who learn Spanish and is known by any Spanish speaker around. I can infer that you can learn more about someone's identity from nonstandard than standard because nonstandard is more unique and you could learn more about the person who is speaking it. 

4. I think Academic English is necessary because it leaves a common ground for everyone to build off of and I also believe it gives everyone a common identity that can become into one that is more unique. 

5. The various types of English identities that stand out to me include, people who speak English in places like London because it's very different from the English over in America. What also comes to mind is how people have different lingo all over the country. There are different identities from Alaska to Alabama to Maine. Every where had different English identities. 

6. My friends and I most definitely have our own secret language and identity. We have our own terms for different things that people outside of our group may not understand. It makes unique and it's also a lot of fun to communicate in secret ways that only each other would understand. 

7. With my friends and family I will almost always use nonstandard English because I'm more comfortable with them and feel free to express myself in my own way, but with a professor I'd speak standard English because I think it's more appropriate and it's what is expected. 

8. I think the statement, "I am my language.", means that how you speak says a lot about you and is a major part of who you are as a person. I think it connects to our identity because you can tell a lot about someone by their language, such has their nationality and their culture. 

9. The introduction and conclusion connect because they both contain the idea that one cannot control their tongue and it is a part of who they are and it's something that can't be controlled or ever changed. 

10. Your language and be a big part of your identity because it's part of who you are and says a lot about you. It lets people know where you are from and your culture, which makes up a lot of one person. 

11. Identity is very important to me because it's what makes up me. It's what sets me apart from everyone else, which I think is important because everyone should be different and diverse. I think Anzaldua believe it's important because she states in her story she explains how people told her that her identity was wrong or she always had to try to hide, but by the end she embraced it all.




Anzaldua, Gloria. "How to Tame a Wild Tongue". Teaching Developmental Writing. Ed. Susan Naomi Bernstein. Fourth ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. 245-255. Print.