African Americans and Literacy

For EDU 992D, Christine Fernandes 1

AFRICAN AMERICANS AND LITERACY

11/20/2011

EDU 992D

Neil Keefe - Background

Liz Ayer - Ebonics

Mark Ailshie – In School



Only group that is native-English speaking, yet has academic hurdles to overcome similar to English language learners.

Plessy v. Ferguson. Supreme Court validates “separate but equal”.1892

1954

1964

1965

Some Important dates:

Brown v. Board of Education. “Separate education facilities are inherently illegal”. End of de jure segregation.

Civil Rights Act. Banned discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex or national origin”.

Voting Rights Act. Outlaws discriminatory voting practices.

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Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation, during the Civil War.1862

Dred Scott case. Supreme Court says anyone with black ancestry not protected by Consitution, can never be a US citizen.

1857



Despite progress, still much to overcome:

De facto segregation still common. Example: 2006: Nearly 40% of black students are in 90-100% minority schools.(Orfield)

62% (6.6 million) black children live in low-income families (vs 29% of whites).(Chau et. al.)

Black children twice as likely as whites to live in home where no parent has a job. (CGCS)

School dropout rate nearly double that of whites. Hispanic rate is double that of blacks, but many hispanics are not native speakers of English. Good news: dropout rate is reducing overall. (NCES)

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Difficulties in education

Poverty by far the biggest problem, but also…

African American boys overrepresented in special education, particularly in:

• Emotional disturbance• Mental retardation• Learning disabilities

(Roseberry-McKibben p. 69)

Testing and standards issues:

• Biased standards tests. • Misinterpretation of culturally-based behavior• Inequitable funding of schools.

(ibid. pp. 74-9)

Even accounting for biases, “achievement gap” remains...

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Addressing the “achievement gap”

“Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty.”

Accumulating evidence that “there are racial differences in what kids experience before the first day of kindergarten”. (Ferguson, in Gabriel NYT)

Need “conversations about early childhood parenting practices”. (Ferguson)

Others say the key is “really good teaching”.

(All quotes from Gabriel, New York Times)

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AFRICAN AMERICANSETHNOLINGUISTIC THEORY

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Ebonics is a direct derivation of the linguistic structure of West African languages:

“The linguistic…features represent the communicative competence of West African, Caribbean and US slave descendents of African origin. Ebonics includes the idioms and dialects of these people.”

(Robert L. Williams, p.100)


AFRICAN AMERICANSSTANDARD ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

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“After years of failing many African American students particularly in literacy, the American school system needs…instructional methods to impact the achievement of these students…the home language of African American students should be acknowledged and these students should be recognized as—standard English language learners.

(Hollie, 2001)

Many students resist consciously or unconsciously because they are afraid of losing their identity and afraid to be perceived as “acting white.”

They need to understand: it’s not either/or – it’s both/and.


AFRICAN AMERICANS STANDARD ENGLISH

The language of the workplace and essential for social mobility.

(Speicher/Bielanski, p.147)

Students need to respect their own dialect and standard English. Each has the features that make it appropriate for different situations.

We all modify our speech in subtle ways depending on the people and situations we encounter in our day. This makes us competent communicators. Making agile transitions in the moment is what allows us to be effective.

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AFRICAN AMERICANS INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACHES

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Integrate linguistic knowledge about non-standard language into instruction.

Use SLA methodologies to support the acquisition of standard English literacy.

Design instruction around learning strengths of class.

Infuse relevant history and culture into instructional curriculum.

Create opportunities for collaborative learning activities like role playing, readers’ theatre and performance related activities.

Linguistic Appreciation Program, (Hollie, 2001)


AFRICAN AMERICANS LESSONS FROM DIVERSE TEACHERS

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It’s important for my Black American students, who are most comfortable when speaking Black English, to recognize the beauty of their language. I say, “Yes. That’s the way you and I speak to each other. But in order to get that job, we have to have another language. Sometimes we’re gonna talk like dis, but when we write it, we have to spell it t-h-i-s, not d-i-s, the way it might sound in our heads.”

I access my bilingual training in teaching my Black students. We take words apart, put them back together, and discuss the context. The student makes a connection and I recognize that the student has a concept regardless of his or her non standard language, then say, “Yes. Now let’s put what you explained in Standard English.” I write the different varieties next to each other, honoring both languages, and post them so students can refer to them.

(Casimir, p. 254)


AFRICAN AMERICANSMORE ADVICE FROM DIVERSE TEACHERS

“I also pay attention to code-switching in my English instruction. All the instruction in my ELD class is in English, yet I have to guide my African American students in how to be linguistically versatile, bi-dialectical—how to quickly distinguish between varieties of English. In standardized tests, when they have to choose the ‘correct sentence,’ if they can’t recognize the syntax as standard or non-standard English, they are trapped.”

(Casimir, p. 254)

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AFRICAN AMERICANSRHETORICAL DEXTERITY

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Writing Instruction has the same principle.

First, get students comfortable writing in their natural dialect.

The myth of linguistic homogeneity… is seriously out of sync with the sociolinguistic reality of today’s US education as well as the US society at large…extreme diversity that marks our current classrooms makes it arguable that all students could benefit from learning rhetorical strategies that grow out of a number of speech communities.

We should begin our work in writing with them by making them feel confident that their writing, in whatever dialect, makes sense and is important to us, that we read it and are interested in the ideas and the person that the writing reveals… a new model of teaching writing would allow students to see the worth of home language practices while learning to follow simple features of Standard English.

(Molloy, 2000)


AFRICAN AMERICANSSUMMARY

Recognizing and treating African American students as standard English language learners requires a new mindset.

Maybe this quality of instruction will allow them to realize we are not asking them to give up their home dialect.

We want them to add standard English to their repertoire.

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AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SCHOOL

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School is seen as a “way out” of the ghetto.

Children are taught that “education is something that no one can take away from you”.

Despite this attitude, drop-out rate is nearly twice what it is for White students.

Many black students disengage from the teaching process – esp. in middle and high school.

The belief that working hard and succeeding academically will be seen as “acting white”.

This attitude may reflect the truth more than we realize.



African Americans are greatly over-represented in special education.Especially behaviorally or emotionally

disturbed. There are several indications that one of the

main reasons for this may be that some professionals see African-American communication as “aggressive” or even “unacceptable conduct”.

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“Many African American male children are referred for special education because their behavioral manifestations are perceived as abnormal. African American males are believed to be too active, and frequently referred for BED and attention deficit with hyperactivity (ADD/ADHD) services, when in fact they may be demonstrating a dimension of African-American culture called ‘verve.’” (Webb-Johnson 654)

If a young man asks persistent questions, questions why activities are forbidden, etc. teachers may view this as problematic.

Actually, this is considered normal inquisitiveness, or even a sign of an active mind in many African-American families.

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Roseberry-McKibbin (p.72) lists several examples of black communication styles:

Touching and physical contact Eye contact – often avoided with adults Intense, emotional, and demonstrative Animated, interpersonal, and demonstrative May not observe turn-taking Participate in verbal conversations competitively and assertively Charismatic speech and emotional vitality

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AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SCHOOL Black and white children “argue” in different ways The black student is “typically high-keyed: animated,

interpersonal and confrontational This is considered positive – it indicates interest and involvement

The white student is “relatively low-keyed: dispassionate. Impersonal, and non-challenging This is supposed to show detachment and rationality

White teachers and students may feel that Black students are too emotional, or even dysfunctional, because of the way they argue

The Anglo view is usually that reason and emotion contradict one another

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Van Keulen 1998, p. 68-69


AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SCHOOL What can teachers do?

African American students tend to do better when the teacher encourages sharing, team work, and open discussions.

Be aware that what may be seen by others as rude or disrespectful may just the way they have been taught to communicate.

It is very hard for them to “sit still, be passive, and refrain from interaction”.

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AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SCHOOL And yet, this is exactly what students must do to succeed in school.

No wonder many black students feel they cannot succeed without ‘acting White.’

Help students to see that there is a ‘school way’, and a ‘home way’ of communicating.

Not just to make school easier for them: this will help them in life, also.

Most employers do not want employees that they perceive as confrontational or overly emotional.

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AFRICAN AMERICANSReferences: Literacy

Gabriel, Trip. (2010, Nov. 9) Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected. New York Times (http://tinyurl.com/39rmmr7)

Orfield, Gary. (Jan 2009) Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge. The

Civil Rights Project, UCLA. (http://tinyurl.com/4tf3dam).

Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) (Oct 2010). “A Call for Change”. (http://tinyurl.com/cqtru3y)

Chau, Michelle, Thampi, Kalyani, Wright, Vanessa R. “Basic Facts about Low-income Children, 2009”. October 2010 (http://tinyurl.com/6aftf9c)

Roseberry-McKibben, Celeste. (2008) Multicultural Students with Special Language Needs (3rd ed.). Oceanside, CA: Academic Communication Associates, Inc.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16)

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AFRICAN AMERICANSReferences

Casimir,Myriam, Mattox, Norman, Hays, John, Vasquez, Carla, Teaching through the Prism of Difference: A Dialogue among Four Bilingual, African-Ancestry Teachers, Taylor and Francis, Ltd., Autumn, 2000, pp. 248-257.

Molloy, Cathryn, Rhetorical Dexterity: A New Model for Teaching Writing, Modern Language Studies,

Vol. 37, No. 1, Modern Language Studies, Summer 2007, pp. 54-67.

Gupta, Abha, What’s up wif Ebonics, Y’all http://www.readingonling.org/articles/gupta/ebonics.html

Fordham, Signithia, Dissin “the Standard”: Ebonics as Guerrilla Warfare at Capital High, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 3, High School Identity Games, September 1999, pp. 272-293.

Speicher, Barbara L. and Bielanski, Jessica R., Critical Thoughts on Teaching Standard English, Curriculum Inquiry, Vol. 30, No. 2, Blackwell Publishing, Summer 2000, pp. 147-169.

Hollie, Sharroky, Acknowledging the Language of African American Students: Instructional Strategies, The English Journal, Vol. 90, No. 4 And Language for all, National Council of Teachers of English, March 2001, pp54-59.

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AFRICAN AMERICANSReferences: School

Van Keulen, J. E., Weddington, G. T., & Debose, C. E. (1998). Speech, Language, Learning and the African American Child. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

American Anthropological Association (Producer), & Davis, W. E. (Director). (2006). Race: Are we so different? [Video/DVD]

Coolio. (1995). Gangsta's paradise. New York: Tommy Boy Music, Inc.

Webb-Johnson, G. (2002). Are schools ready for Joshua? Dimensions of African-American culture among students identified as having behavioral/emotional disorders. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), 15(6), 653-671.

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African Americans and Literacy