“This African-American Vernacular English shares most of its grammar and vocabulary with other dialects of English. But it is distinct in many ways, and it is more different from standard English than any other dialect spoken in continental North America.” William Labov, an American writer, depicts African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) as a critical dialect for those who speak it. AAVE is a variety of Standard American English (SAE), spoken by African-American, colloquially, it is referred to as, Ebonics. There are many features of AAVE that are shared with English dialects spoken in the American South. AAVE shares characteristic with Creole English, it also has grammatical structures, vocabulary and pronunciation. AAVE should not be mistaken as SAE …show more content…
For instance, a study conducted by Amanda J. Godley and Angela Minnici (2008) classroom conversations regarding diverse dialects of English can provide a helpful foundation for students who speak AAVE. A week long unit on language variety that applied what the researchers refer to as: critical language pedagogy in three predominantly African-American, tenth-grade English classes. The study was taken place at a school under the pseudonym, Sherman High School. These were one of six high schools in a mid-sized city located in the Midwest. The researchers focused their attention to urban schools due to the many shared characteristics with urban schools across the nation. Over half of the students within the sample came from a lower SES homes, on standardized testing the entire school consistently scored below the mean, and a majority of the students were of African-American descent, while almost all the faculty were white. Within the three classes studied, approximately 55 tenth-grade students were enrolled in them. Thirty of these students were African-American and one being White. All the students participating in the study were speakers of both AAVE and
This marginalization is still prevalent today, as Black English is still overwhelmingly stigmatized and discredited in nearly all academic settings, particularly within American culture. Jordan’s demonstration that Black English is not given respect or afforded validity in academic and social settings still rings true today. Black English-speaking students see little to no representation of their language in the classroom, and are often actively discouraged from speaking the language of their community and of their upbringing. This suppression and delegitimization of a valid method of communication represents colonialist and white supremacist notions of language, social homogeneity, and latent institutional racism, and has negative, even dire, consequences for the students
Lisa Delpit’s book, “The Skin We Speak”, talked about language and culture, and how it relates to the classroom. How we speak gives people hits as to where we are from and what culture we are a part of. Unfortunately there are also negative stereotypes that come with certain language variations. There is an “unfounded belief that the language of low income groups in rural or urban industrial areas is somehow structurally “impoverished” or “simpler” than Standard English” (Delpit 71). The United States is made of people from various cultures and speak many different variations of languages. As teachers we must be aware of some of the prejudices we may have about language and culture.
While some features of AAVE are apparently unique to this variety, in its structure it also shows many similarities with other varieties including a number of standard and nonstandard English varieties spoken in the US and the Caribbean. Speakers and writers of this dialect use some distinctive aspects of the phonological, lexical, and grammatical traits associated with this dialect. Many sociolinguists would reserve the term AAVE for varieties which are marked by the occurrence of certain distinctive grammatical features.
In 1996, the Oakland School District proposed the inclusion of what is known as "Ebonics" into its curriculum. Ebonics, or Black language, has been referred to in various ways over the years: "African American Vernacular English," "Pan-African Communication Behaviors," "African Language Systems," or "West and Niger-Congo African Language Systems." By any name, Ebonics, when studied over the years, has been proven to be a real language with its own phonology, syntax, morphology, sentence patterns, and double interpretations of words. The pattern that Ebonics speakers in the United States speak is highly similar to the patterns seen in both the Caribbean Creole and the West African languages. No one would have thought that comedian Bill Cosby would have an opinion on this subject, but as I read through essay I realized the logic and validity behind his paper.
Ebonics, also known as Black English, is a nonstandard dialect spoken in many homes in the inner cities of America. This nonstandard language is often looked upon as low-class or lazy talk. This is not the case, however. Due to consistencies found in the dialect, there seems to be an order. It has been found that, when learning English, African-Americans adapted the language using some of the structure and rules of their own native tongue. This Black English has carried on through slavery and then freedom for hundreds of years. Although there is a coexistence of more than two dialects in our society, those in power forget the flexibility of our language and see no other way than the use of Standard English.
Our world is full of different cultures and languages. Many of these different languages are mainly used in schools. Most of the time none english speaking students have a hard time transitioning between english and their native language. This could be a reason why school boards have provided programs like ESL, to help students adapt and learn american standard english. Recently one of the main languages that have been giving students problem to succeed in their education is African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Recent studies have been conducted to bring AAVE in schools which will result in higher test score, however people are disagreeing with the idea because they don't want their children to learn “slags”, but AAVE is not a slang, just like standard english AAVE is a language.
American Tongues Response EssayThe documentary American Tongues (1987) examines an array of American dialects and accents in all regions of the United States, as well as the perceptions tied to specific ways of speaking. The film does this by interviewing people of multiple ethnicities, geographical locations, education-levels, and socio-economic classes. The information presented in American Tongues makes the audience consider its distinct way of speaking and the insight it may provide to those around them. The film clearly shows that the way individuals speak, as well as the diction they choose to use or eradicate from their vocabulary, is intricately tied
The purpose of this study is to figure out which ways experienced teachers work best with culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study illustrates which strategies experienced teachers have found to work best. The diversity in school in the United States has increased each year. This means that there are an increasing amount of students who are learning English, English language learners (ELLs). This article comes from the perspective that each child should be taught to their specific needs. All students deserve a fair chance to learn. Fair means that every student is treated differently, not equally. Every student learns differently. In order to give every student a fair chance at learning, you must teach them according to their needs. An experienced teacher, Tiffany, describes her experiences working with culturally and linguistically diverse students. This study watches her methods and discusses what works based on data analysis of the success of her students.
Africanisms in America are a highly surveyed topic for the black community. Joseph E. Holloway describes Africanisms as “those elements of culture found in the New World that are traceable to an African origin” (Holloway 2). I believe, that africanisms are the traditions and cultural behaviors of African Americans that resemble the some of the same traditions and cultures in Africa. Which makes you ponder about what current elements does our culture use that ties back to Africa. Which in fact there are several africanisms that still exist. African Americans have retained an essence of Africa in their speech, hair care, clothing, preparation of foods, and music by over centuries of separation from the Dark Continent.
Echevarria, J. Teaching language minority students in elementary schools (Research Brief No. 1). Santa Cruz, CA, and Washington, DC: Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence. (2003)
The Academic English Mastery Program (AEMP) is a groundbreaking approach to ensuring the language and literacy acquisition of speakers of non-standard varieties in parts of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Headed by former speech pathologist Dr. Noma LeMoine, AEMP is a response to an article entitled, “The Children Can No Longer Wait: An Action Plan to End Low Achievement and Establish Educational Excellence,” which outlines the difficulties of nonstandard English speakers and the failure of the school district to successfully address these deficiencies (LeMoine, 1999, p. 4). The program began in 1990 with nineteen elementary schools and was originally called the Language Development Program for African American Students, thus designed for African American Language speakers. It has now changed its name to appropriately describe its expansion to over three hundred elementary and junior high schools and to include other groups of nonstandard English speakers who are identified as Limited Standard English Proficient students (LeMoine, 2002, lecture). These constituents, what Ogbu (1997, pg. 234, 235) call “castelike minorities,” include African-Americans, Mexican Americans, Hawaiian Americans, and Native Americans, whose native language is not Mainstream American English (MAE). Students are classified as Standard English Language Learners; they are often misclassified by the school district as “English Only” speakers because a great portion of their respective home languages “[incorporate] English vocabulary but [embody] phonology, grammar, and sentence structure rules from indigenous languages other than English” (L...
Hypertension will continue to be a major cause of death all for Americans especially African Americans. Limitations in care for the under-served will continue to be a growing problem. Solutions must be made to provide the delivery of high quality, lower cost and especially effective primary care to the underserved populations.
African American Slang has had many other names: Ebonics, Jive, Black English, and more. The Oxford English Dictionary defines slang (in reference to language) in three different ways: 1) the special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low or disreputable character; language of a low and vulgar type 2) the special vocabulary or phraseology of a particular calling or profession; the cant or jargon of a certain class or period 3) language of a highly colloquial type, considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense. Whatever one’s perspective on slang, it is a natural and inevitable part of language. In this paper I will discuss examples of current slang being used that some people may not understand.
In December of 1996, the Oakland school board recognized Ebonics or African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to be a legitimate language. Furthermore, Oakland proposed that students should be instructed in Ebonics in order to help transition into speaking and writing in Standard English. This resolution was met with controversy as the opposition views the language as “slang” or “broken English”. Although linguists disagree whether or not Ebonics is its own language or if it is a dialect of English, “All linguists, however, agree that Ebonics cannot correctly be called 'bad English ', 'slang ', 'street talk ', or any of the other labels that suggest that it is deficient or not a full-fledged linguistic system.” (Rubba, 1997) It is incredibly important for these students to become fluent in standard english as lack of fluency makes it incredibly difficult to succeed in modern American society. Without implementing an education program stressing transition from AAVE, these students will continue to achieve below average, and will never truly become comfortable using Standard English.
In our society, there are many cultures with language and dialect variations, but Standard English is the language of the dominant culture. Therefore, it is necessary for all students to learn to write and speak Standard English effectively. However, for many students of Urban school districts, especially African Americans, writing and speaking effective Standard English can occasionally pose a problem. Many African American students speak a variation of Standard English (Black Vernacular Speech) whose linguistic patterns sometimes conflict with those of Standard English. It is true that African American speech is an essential aspect of their African American culture, so the educational system would be doing African American students a disservice by insisting that they learn Standard English as a primary discourse. It is also a fact however, that in order to be viewed as a successful, functional member of society, Standard English, if learned as a secondary discourse, should be written and spoken as fluently as the primary discourse.