Arguing against the emphasis of traditional U.S. composition classes on linguistically homogeneous situations, the authors contend that this focus is at odds with actual language use today. They call for a translingual approach, which they define as seeing difference in language not as a barrier to overcome or as a problem to manage, but as a…

By revisiting the work of the Black Caucus and the radical rhetorics connected to Black Power and the black radical tradition, in this essay the author hopes to rebuild a frame where the picture of an African-American-vernacularized paradigm for critical literacy and social justice can emerge. She revisits the twinning of "Black Power/Black…

Describes the approach used in teaching an English graduate course entitled "The Teaching of Writing to Speakers of Dialect." (DD)

Frederick Douglass, as a nineteenth-century writer, experimented with all manner of discourses including sentimentality, romance and, more significantly, the vernacular tradition. In his works like "My Bondage" and "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass", the confidence of a writer willing to experiment with contrasting forms and willing to make a…

The author argues that Black English should not be accepted as standard in the classroom. (MM)

Discusses some ramifications of the Conference on College Composition and Communication's resolution on "Students' Right to Their Own Language." (DD)

The author discusses the linguistic dispute of Black English, or Black Idiom vs. Standard English and argues for the acceptance of the former. (MM)

Defining bidialectalism as a movement in education systematically to render lower-class students able to speak both their native dialect and standard English, the author states his purpose to indicate why this attempt to change people should be rejected. (Author/JB)

Opposes the legislation of linguistic conformity by penalizing minority students who write in nonstandard dialect. (DD)

Considers if American Ebonics is a different language from English or if it is a dialect of English. Discusses how American Ebonics relates to the larger Ebonics picture. Focuses on the grammatical patterns of Ebonics that diverge the most from standard English. Addresses pedagogical implications. (SC)

Nonsensical statements about the inferiority of non-standard English should be revealed as nonsense by linguistic analysis--there being no point in marshalling empirical evidence to refute meaningless propositions.

Suggests a holistic approach to the language of Black people involving theory and research, policy and planning, and implementation and practice, the ultimate aim of which is knowledge for liberation. (DD)

Composition teachers should recognize that all errors in student writing are not the same. The author distinguishes between handbook rules, spoken language, and ambiguity. (MM)