Linguistic policies for African American language speakers: Moving from anti-Blackness to pro-Blackness

ABSTRACT

We explore the disconnect between education policy and culturally sustaining instruction, curriculum, discipline, and assessment for African American Language (AAL) Learners. Framing the omission of language policies as linguistic violence and anti-Black linguistic racism, we discuss antecedent and contemporary educational language policies and how they negatively position AAL speakers. We demonstrate that despite substantive research on AAL, P-12 schools and teacher education programs have systematically failed to integrate language policies specific to AAL learners. We emphasize that the maintenance of anti-blackness stances has legally denied appropriate culturally sustaining language instruction for AAL speakers. We contrast current anti-Black policies and practices with a transformational, pro-Black vision and its components. Here we discuss classroom instruction, curriculum, discipline, assessment, and resources. We conclude with recommendations including the need for ongoing professional development and federal funding for culturally sustaining programs for AAL learners.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional Resources

1. The Academic English Mastery Prograssm at the Los Angeles Unified School District has provided a focus on students, whose primary language does not match the language of instruction, for decades https://achieve.lausd.net/AEMP . It includes resources, professional development and model schools and demonstration sites for K-12 educators.

2. The Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation – Screening Test (DELV) (Seymour et al., 2003a, 2003b, 2005). The DELV battery of tests is designed to be used with 4- through 12-year olds. They were developed as a non-biased test normed specifically for speakers of African American Language. Available from: https://www.ventrislearning.com/delv/.

3. Online Resources for African American Language (ORAAL)—This site provides resources for educators on the study of AAL (and other non-mainstream varieties of English) and includes links to videos, books, websites, and podcasts. It provides and overview of AAL and resources such as books and videos. https://oraal.uoregon.edu/resources/educators