Chapter 3. Pitfalls and promises of dialect in the classroom
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Julie A. Washington
Abstract
African American English (AAE) is among the most studied dialects of American English (Gollan & Ferreira, 2009), and is spoken by most, but not all, African American people in the United States. It is a source of pride and identity within the community, unifying its speakers socially and linguistically. Outside of the community, however, AAE has a long and complicated history that is inexplicably entangled with race politics. By most accounts, AAE is regarded as a low status, stigmatized variety and as such has not been without controversy in social, political and educational circles. Its status, and the often controversial nature of AAE, has significantly impacted attempts to introduce it into educational settings, and has hindered its use by educators and child speakers as an accepted way to bootstrap language and literacy learning. This, despite mounting evidence of the impact of AAE on outcomes of language-supported academic skills, such as reading, writing and spelling (Brown et al., 2015; Craig et al., 2003; Puranik et al., 2020; Thomas-Tate et al., 2004; Thompson et al., 2004; Washington et al., 2019; Washington et al., 2018; Patton-Terry & Connor, 2010; Terry, 2006; Charity et al., 2004). The sections that follow present an overview of the history and origins of AAE, the pitfalls, promises, and potential future directions for the use of AAE in the classroom.
Abstract
African American English (AAE) is among the most studied dialects of American English (Gollan & Ferreira, 2009), and is spoken by most, but not all, African American people in the United States. It is a source of pride and identity within the community, unifying its speakers socially and linguistically. Outside of the community, however, AAE has a long and complicated history that is inexplicably entangled with race politics. By most accounts, AAE is regarded as a low status, stigmatized variety and as such has not been without controversy in social, political and educational circles. Its status, and the often controversial nature of AAE, has significantly impacted attempts to introduce it into educational settings, and has hindered its use by educators and child speakers as an accepted way to bootstrap language and literacy learning. This, despite mounting evidence of the impact of AAE on outcomes of language-supported academic skills, such as reading, writing and spelling (Brown et al., 2015; Craig et al., 2003; Puranik et al., 2020; Thomas-Tate et al., 2004; Thompson et al., 2004; Washington et al., 2019; Washington et al., 2018; Patton-Terry & Connor, 2010; Terry, 2006; Charity et al., 2004). The sections that follow present an overview of the history and origins of AAE, the pitfalls, promises, and potential future directions for the use of AAE in the classroom.
Chapters in this book
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface ix
- Chapter 1. Introducing multifaceted multilingualism 1
-
Part I. The early years
- Chapter 2. To acquire a recursive grammar, children start with a recursive procedure (MERGE) 22
- Chapter 3. Pitfalls and promises of dialect in the classroom 47
- Chapter 4. Microstructural properties in the narrative retellings of young English learners in EMI schools in India 68
- Chapter 5. Multilingual advantages 123
-
Part II. Issues in everyday life
- Chapter 6. Diglossia and developmental language disorder (DLD) in Arabic 154
- Chapter 7. “Grammar, I hate” or “I grammar hate”? 184
- Chapter 8. Bilingualism matters 204
- Chapter 9. Multimodal story-retelling 232
- Chapter 10. Raising awareness of stroke, stroke survivor-perspectives, and stroke–carer research 254
-
Part III. From the past to the future
- Chapter 11. Heritage language education 270
- Chapter 12. Explaining gender 292
- Chapter 13. Meaning without borders 327
- Chapter 14. Language alternation is not always translanguaging 369
- Chapter 15. The sociolinguistics of urban multilingualism 395
- Chapter 16. Barossa German 414
- Index 429
Chapters in this book
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents vii
- Preface ix
- Chapter 1. Introducing multifaceted multilingualism 1
-
Part I. The early years
- Chapter 2. To acquire a recursive grammar, children start with a recursive procedure (MERGE) 22
- Chapter 3. Pitfalls and promises of dialect in the classroom 47
- Chapter 4. Microstructural properties in the narrative retellings of young English learners in EMI schools in India 68
- Chapter 5. Multilingual advantages 123
-
Part II. Issues in everyday life
- Chapter 6. Diglossia and developmental language disorder (DLD) in Arabic 154
- Chapter 7. “Grammar, I hate” or “I grammar hate”? 184
- Chapter 8. Bilingualism matters 204
- Chapter 9. Multimodal story-retelling 232
- Chapter 10. Raising awareness of stroke, stroke survivor-perspectives, and stroke–carer research 254
-
Part III. From the past to the future
- Chapter 11. Heritage language education 270
- Chapter 12. Explaining gender 292
- Chapter 13. Meaning without borders 327
- Chapter 14. Language alternation is not always translanguaging 369
- Chapter 15. The sociolinguistics of urban multilingualism 395
- Chapter 16. Barossa German 414
- Index 429
