Linguistic discrimination on campus: Ratings of and attitudes toward student writing with African-American English (original) (raw)
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Across the Disciplines, 2023
This article presents the results of a 2021 survey and interview study of faculty teaching writing-intensive (WI) courses across disciplines at an urban research university. We emphasize the need to understand the complexities of instructors' ideologies about teaching writing and their attitudes about student language prior to engaging faculty development in antiracist writing instruction. Specifically, we demonstrate a "difficult dual mission" in faculty development in teaching writing: writing intensive instructors want to value non-standard forms, but they can't stop valuing the standard forms. We argue that identifying the nuance of this too-familiar argument is the first step in the research and relationship-building required to change university discourse such that the WI classroom supports linguistic diversity. In our summary of surveys and interviews with writing-intensive faculty, we emphasize three major focal points to illustrate the manifestation of this dilemma: instructors' profiles as WI instructors, specifically; their attitudes toward language [generally] in WI courses; and their attitudes toward students' actual language performances in WI courses.
Journal of College Reading and Learning , 2020
In spite of years of sociolinguistic research establishing that all language varieties are valid and equal, there is a disconnect between this knowledge and pedagogical practices at the college level. Certain Englishes, particularly those of minoritized speakers, are stigmatized, and "standard" English is upheld as the goal of writing and literacy instruction. To better understand this disconnect , we conducted a study to examine writing and literacy instructors' attitudes toward "standard" and "nonstandard" Englishes in the community college setting. Employing a critical discursive approach to analyze language ideologies, we discovered that instructors held beliefs that were deeply rooted in standard language ideology, including attitudes toward nonstan-dard Englishes that superficially expressed tolerance but which underlyingly revealed rejection through lack of appreciation and validation. We argue that professional development that focuses on developing critical language awareness is needed for instructors , which-crucially-must begin with increasing awareness of the language ideologies that govern our beliefs, as these ideologies ultimately discriminate against speakers of stigmatized languages.
Exploring the Experiences of Linguistically Diverse College of Education Student Writers
Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice
Many linguistically diverse students at the post-secondary level have difficulty with academic language skills that are important to their success in content-area university courses. Although programs have been established to help English language learners (ELLs) transition from high school to college, little attention has been given to how students are supported in their college or university academic classes. In this paper, we present research results based on a survey administered to students enrolled in educationbased programs exploring their perspectives on instructional feedback provided by university faculty on their academic writing. We present quantitative and qualitative findings from this survey with related recommendations for how faculty can infuse strategies in their instruction to assist ELL students who struggle with aspects of their academic writing. Findings from this research have important implications for colleges and universities in meeting the diverse needs of...
African American Vernacular English and Dialect Awareness in English Departments
2002
This paper examines the importance of teaching about nonstandard 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 myths. The paper suggests that despite college educators' attempts to address issues, facing AAVE-speaking students and provide solutions, the U.S. public remains in opposition. When linguists began studying AAVE in the 1960s, the goal was to find connections between AAVE and reading failure in order to create solutions to help children succeed in acquiring standard English. This remains a main focus of AAVE research today. Researchers have discovered deep social and political implications in this work that create roadblocks to discovering and implementing new teaching strategies and gaining public support for validation of nonstandard vari...
1993
A study analyzed the degree to which an African American verbal tradition (Black English Vernacular) survives in the writing of Black students across a generational time span. A total of 867 essays from the 1984 and the 1988/89 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were subjected to primary trait and holistic scoring analysis, and were ranked in terms of the degree of African American discourse. These scores were compared to the scores given by NAEP raters, and to scores from the 1969 and 1979 NAEP. Results indicated that: (1) no correlation existed between a discernibly African American discourse style and the production of BEV syntax, supporting results of earlier studies of 1969 and 1979 NAEP essays; (2) the more discernibly African American the discourse, the higher the primary trait and holistic scores, and the less discernibly African American the discourse, the lower the primary trait and holistic scores, contrary to earlier studies; and (3) "imaginative/narrative" essays continued to be Black students' strong suit. Findings suggest that students who employed a Black expressive discourse style received higher NAEP scores than those who did not. Recommendations for writing instructors include: capitalize on the strengths of African American cultural discourse; encourage students toward the field dependency style, which enables them to produce more powerful, meaningful, and more highly rated essays; and deemphasize concerns about BEV grammar. (Two figures listing NAEP scoring criteria, a figure listing Black English variables, and two tables of data are included; 37 references, an appendix of data, and six sample essays are attached.) (RS)
Registers in the Academic Writing of African American College Students
Written Communication, 2006
The study examines the development of the registers of academic writing by African American college-level students through style and grammar: indirection inherent in the oral culture of the African American community and the paratactic functions of because. Discourse analysis of 74 samples of academic writing by 20 African American undergraduate students and of 61 samples by a control group showed that first, only African American subjects used indirection; second, paratactic functions of because were significantly more prevalent among African American students than in the control group; and third, among African American students, those from low-income families showed statistically significant higher frequencies of the use of both indirection and paratactic because. A relationship of hierarchy in the uses of indirection and paratactic because was also evident in the data.
American Educational Research Journal, 2019
The use of standardized Englishes, and specifically, Standard American English (SAE), in the United States has often been central to the work of educators who engage in efforts to prepare teachers and others for diversity in education but hardly problematized with regards to the ways in which the uses and users of certain standardized Englishes find acceptance in academia and in education. This study draws from World Englishes and a raciolinguistic perspective to examine how seven Black educators used standardized Englishes upon their migration to the United States. Findings revealed that the educators’ recognition of their standardized Englishes in relation to the Standard American English in the U.S. served as a basis for identifying the sources of English (il)legitimacy to which they were subjected based on the negative reactions to their accents, communication, vocabulary, and race. These sources of illegitimacy, coupled with the cultural incongruence and confusion about the educators’ identities resulted in their consolidation of claims to their English legitimacy. Despite social, psychological, emotional, and educational barriers, the educators laid claims to their legitimate uses of standardized Englishes by (re)establishing their confidence in using these Englishes through a number of mechanisms. In turn, they relied on various mediators to legitimacy, and drew from their experiences to leverage pedagogical approaches regarding tone, expectation, delivery, linguistic content and context as they worked as educators. Thus, through metalinguistic, metaracial, and metacultural understanding, the educators reflected what I have labeled, 'a transraciolinguistic approach', (re)establishing legitimacy of their standardized Englishes as Black speakers in the U.S. academy. Based on this study, teachers, educators, and administrators who engage with Black immigrant educators’ Englishes can obtain insights about the contested ideologies surrounding race and language that accompany these educators’ uses of these Englishes as they engage in both oral and written interactions in academia. Evidence from these contested ideologies can allow for greater attention to the explicit ways in which standardized Englishes that go beyond SAE must be sanctioned and intentionally leveraged as a central form of linguistic diversity, and diversity in general, in academia within and beyond the U.S. Implications for addressing challenges to the legitimacy of certain standardized Englishes used by racialized speakers in the academy are discussed. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0002831219850760
Assessment practices and literacy standards can work against racial and economic identities of students within the CSU system, negatively impacting both access and diversity within higher education. As many have pointed out, racial identity and economic standing influence, if not construct one's use of English, and these identities largely inform the kinds of English that we speak and write in. Remedial programs such as the CSU's Early Start assess students' reading and writing capabilities using exams that in ways have historically "been used in the service of racial bigotry" (Literacy as White Property: The Politics of Learning After Brown v. Board of Education, 5). When used to determine remediation, standardized tests are often rooted in racist and classist institutional policies. This is particularly important when these forms of reading and writing assessment are used in higher education. In the CSU system, placement exams, such as the English Placement Test, are used to determine students' need for remediation. However, low-income students of color have often been overrepresented in the English remediation program, Early Start.