The purpose of this presentation is to encourage college teachers of writing, inside and outside Appalachia, to look at dialect-based errors in a more expansive way even as they help students to make better choices about standard usage. The discussion, which is presented within the context of a socio-cultural perspective on bias in perceptions of…

The textbook surveys what is known about language and of the methods used by linguists in arriving at that knowledge. Each chapter addresses an aspect of linguistics, reviewing current knowledge and providing study questions, discussion topics and projects, and a list of additional reading. Chapter topics include: the origins of language;…

This book addresses questions of language education in the United States, focusing on how to teach the 3.5 million students in American public schools who do not speak English as a native language. These students are at the center of a national debate about the right relationship among ESL, bilingual, and mainstream classes. Bilingual education…