Mother Tongue

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text throughout your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Tan’s essay reflects on the similarities and differences between Perfect and Broken English.

• In the end, what descriptor might Tan choose to describe her English? (topic sentence)
• Explain the purposes for which Tan uses English. In what ways does she use English to accomplish each purpose?
• In the closing sentences, discuss whether English deserves a narrow or a broad usage and why?

2. Tan discusses how her mother’s “broken” English and Tan’s thinking about English have limited them socially. Others perceive Tan’s mother as unsophisticated and stereotype Tan as a STEM student.

• How do the Sociological Limitations of Language affect Tan’s choice to become a writer and how she uses English in her writing? (topic sentence)
• Based on Paragraph 21, discuss each of the languages Tan uses and how each usage challenges the Sociological Limitations of Language.
• In the closing sentences, discuss the idea of language as limiting versus freeing.

3. In the end, Tan asserts that using her “mother tongue” shows her Responsibility to Family.

• In what ways is Tan’s use of language related to her mother? (topic sentence)
• How does Tan develop an English that honors her mother, and why is this development important for Tan?
• In the closing sentences, discuss language as a form of familial and cultural identity.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Interestingly, Tan claims she is a writer who is not a scholar of English or literature. Based on the ideas in “Mother Tongue,” how might Tan describe the job of a writer? Cite evidence from the text to support your claim.

2. The terms “broken,” “fractured,” or “limited” have been adopted to describe forms of English that are not standard. Why are the terms “broken,” “fractured,” or “limited” to describe her mother’s English troublesome for Tan? Cite evidence from the text to support your claim.

3. Tan notes that she wrote nonfiction before shifting to fiction. In what ways does fiction provide Tan with language opportunities that may not have been present when she wrote nonfiction? Cite evidence from the text to support your claim.