Considers the pursuit of language rights of speakers of English varieties, particularly those collected under the category of African American vernacular English. Describes how a lack of legal language rights for African Americans have left them to appeal to attitudes in the search for democratizing teaching policies. Concludes that attempts to…

Reviews three responses to a student's use of nonstandard English: eradicationism, pluralism, and code switching. Suggests that many scholars, recognizing an option between the first and third options, fail to acknowledge the existence of the second option, which gives the language user, not the teacher, the agency in deciding which form of…

Intends to trace a line of thought from early rhetoricians and scholars to contemporary researchers, thinkers, and practitioners that both emphasizes critical pedagogy and values Black culture, especially its vernacular language. Concludes that there was always an African-American contribution to the field of composition in some way or another.…

Argues that the responses to the Oakland, California ebonics resolution miss what made the resolution so significant while also making debate about it so intractable. Proposes that compositionists who acknowledge attitudes that made the resolution so significant can productively engage the larger public regarding literacy education in a racially…

Explains some of the difficulties encountered in teaching African American adults at Martin University. States that many of the students the author taught were poorly prepared for higher education. Discusses language differences between white Americans and African Americans. Argues that IQ tests are poor measures of intelligence. Defines andragogy…

Asserts that speakers of Black English and their behavior evoke strong responses outside and inside their communities. Asserts that members of the black communities are rarely permitted to describe or defend their language or ways of using it. Offers the essays, comments, and class interactions of an African-American/Linguistics class on language…

Describes experiences in a Black English course in which teacher and students mounted the charge of making schooling relevant and useful when they decided to mobilize on behalf of a Black classmate whose unarmed brother was killed by white policemen in Brooklyn, New York. (JOW)

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)

Describes the writing problems of a poor, black, urban student who wants to succeed in college but doesn't know how. Asserts that language use, particularly the use of Black English, plays a major role in their lack of academic success. Offers drills and strategies to help with this problem. (PRA)

Maintains that the move from theorizing difference to dealing with difference in an intercultural collaboration creates generative conflicts for educators and students. Tracks the conflicting discourses, alternative representations, and political consequences the construct "Black English" had for black and white mentors, teenage writers, and…

A video tape of a freshman composition student at the University of Arizona shows the difficulty she has faced in writing classes because of her black dialect. Her instructor points out that the student, after some of the readdings in class, recognizes that she has learned code switching on her own to survive in the educational system; this…

Catherine Prendergast challenges compositionists to investigate how privileging whiteness perpetuates racism in the classroom. In response to Prendergast's challenge, this paper examines the "white ground" of composition classes by complying with Ian Marshall and Wendy Ryan's suggestion to "look closely at how the "politics of…

Describes political definitions and forms of power in the modern era. Discusses echoes lingering from the collision between early American linguistics and the late black rebellion against racism. Argues that, despite hopes of attaining democracy through language, there remains little democracy in language. (HB)

Many linguists, sociologists, and educators see the nonstandard form of speech used by African-American students as a substandard, imperfect copy of Standard English (SE), marred by a number of careless and ignorant errors, rather than as something to be studied and understood in its own right. Many African-American college students continue to…

This paper examines the importance of teaching about non-standard dialect awareness in English departments, focusing on African American Vernacular English (AAVE). The paper asserts that it is the job of teachers to present students with appropriate knowledge about language and to raise awareness of nonstandard dialects, rather than perpetuate…