Objective
Ebonics in the Classroom
0 In this presentation, hosted by Professor Sarah Armstrong, an
English Adjunct at Columbus State, she will be using texts such as
the book Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English by John Russell
Rickford and Russell John Rickford to explain how Ebonics or
African American Vernacular (AAV) is indeed a language and to
have participants examine and brainstorm different teaching
methods that will welcome Ebonics and other languages into the
classroom as a stepping stone to help further their students’
knowledge. By fostering understanding and beginning to
brainstorm methods, it can help teachers to become better and
more conscientious practitioners in a time where classrooms are
becoming more and more diverse.
Outline of the Presentation
0 Overview of how Ebonics can be defined as a language
0 Strategies for creating multicultural classroom that is
culturally responsive.
Introduction
0 Thesis: Having a higher understanding of Ebonics
could lead to a change in the educational system and
social and political change. First, one must
understand Ebonics is a language, not a dialect, which
is directly influenced by several other languages
primarily the Niger Congo African language and
English, it’s a language with a rich history and its
pronunciation, morphology, syntax, vocabulary and
rhetorical devices are still prevalent in use today.
Ebonics is a language
0 Rosina Lippi-Green, author of the essay, “What We
Talk about When We Talk about Ebonics: Why
definitions Matter”
0 African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is used to
avoid conflict surrounding the terms “language and
dialect,” but it has little pejorative value (7).
0 Terms like “slang and jargon” are descriptively
inaccurate and negative (7).
0 AAVE is a functional spoken language which depends on
structured variation to layer social meaning.
0 We can look at AAVE’s pronunciation, intonations
(phonetics and phonology), morphology, syntax, lexicon
and rhetorical devices and be able to tell if it is dialect or
slang.
Negative Reactions
0 Lippi-Green talks about
the negative reactions
people have towards
Ebonics, but it is not only
used by the poorer black
community, but many
prominent and successful
blacks, even those who
speak out against its usage
(8).
0 It is deeply engrained
within the black
community and there are
distinct characteristics.
0 She reminds us that “to
make two statements: I
acknowledge that my
home language is viable
and adequate, and I
acknowledge that my
home language will never
be accepted” is to set up an
unresolved conflict” (9).
0 Most people recognize
Ebonics, but do not accept
it as a “correct” language,
which can lead to possible
identity and self esteem
problems for students.
Black English vs. Ebonics
0 Ernie Smith and Karen Crozier, authors of the
essay, “Ebonics is not Black English”
0 The features of the African American languages have
recognized West and Niger Congo African origins, but
the use of the words “Black English” make it sound like a
variation of English. However, the grammatical structure
of the language shows that it is not (110).
0 What criteria is used to decide? Grammar, vocabulary,
historical origins…?” (110).
Black English vs. Ebonics
0 L.R. Palmer in the book Descriptive and
Comparative Linguistics: A Critical Introduction
0 In comparative and historical linguistics, languages are
not considered related on vocabulary alone, but on
grammatical structure (qtd. in Smith and Crozier 110).
0 O’Grady, Dobrovosky and Arnoff in the text
Contemporary Linguistics: An introduction
0 Languages must have phonetic and phonological
systems, morphology, syntax, systematic meaning and
principles, which are the elements of grammar (qtd. in
Smith and Crozier 110).
Black English vs. Ebonics
0 Based on a “criteria of continuity in the rules of
grammar,” it is understandable that English is defined
as a Germanic language and that Black English would
be defined as a dialect of English (110).
0 However, there is no document that shows the
“existence of a single Black dialect in the African
diaspora that has been formed on English” grammar
(110).
0 There is extensive borrowing from English, but its
grammar is based on the Niger Congo descendants.
There is no evidence that “Black English” ever existed
(111).
Black English vs. Ebonics
0 Another hypothesis is that “it is not continuity in the
rules of grammar but rather the etymology and
continuity of the lexicon” that are the characteristics
of a language; however, the authors ask, “why the
double standard” (111)?
0 English has borrowed the bulk of its lexicon from
Romance or Latin language families, so why is it not
classified as Latin or Romance? If English is then Latin
or French, then, Black English would be a dialect of the
Latin or French language (111).
0 Final issue is defining the word, “black” since there
are differences in how it is perceived (111).
Black English vs. Ebonics
0 Ebonics was coined in January 1973, by Dr. Robert L.
Williams, a Professor of Psychology at Washington
University in St. Louis Missouri (qtd. in Smith and
Crozier 112).
0 Etymology of Ebonics: “Ebony”=black and
“Phonics”=sounds. Literally means “black sounds” (qtd.
in Smith and Crozier 112).
0 Represents the language and communicative
competence of West and Niger-Congo Africa, Caribbean,
and United States slave descendants of Niger-Congo
African origin as well as the “non-verbal, cues and
gestures” often used by African American people (qtd. in
Smith and Crozier 112).
Smith & Crozier’s Conclusion:
Black English vs. Ebonics
0 Smith and Crozier’s final points:
0 Ebonics does not follow the rules of English grammar,
which is the root cause for why some children do not
recognize or comprehend English grammar. Segregation
and poverty causes limited exposure to it, but it is not
the root cause of limited English proficiency.
0 Ebonics is not a dialect nor is it the “africanaization of
American English.” It is an African based language with
European words (114).
Ebonics is a language
0 Other authors support this fact.
0 Wayne O’Neil’s essay, “If Ebonics isn’t a Language,
then Tell Me, What Is? (pace James Baldwin, 1979)”
0 It is derived from certain West African languages as well as
from English. West African grammatical structures are
masked by English words (39).
0 “Commonsense definition of language…lies in the quip that
a language is a dialect with an army and a navy—or a
school system” (41).
0 The School system he is referring to is the Oakland
School district.
Ebonics is a language
0 John Rickford, in an interview, “Holding on to a
Language of our Own: an interview with Linguist John
Rickford”
0 Slaves in the course of acquiring English, developed first a
pidgin and then a creole. He says, “one can view it as a
language problem or as language creativity because it is a
creative response to a language learning situation” (61).
0 James Baldwin, in his essay, “If Black English isn’t a
Language, Then tell me What Is?”
0 Language is a “political instrument, means and proof of
power” and “it is vivid and crucial key to identity.” There are
times when speaking certain languages can be dangerous or
fatal or one may speak the language in a certain way (68).
0 Ebonics was the creation of the Black diaspora. It came into
existence by means of brutal necessity and the rules of
language are dictated by what the language must convey (69).
Ebonics is a language
0 John R. Rickford and Russel J. Rickford in the book
Spoken Soul
0 The term “Spoken Soul” was created by Claude Brown,
author of ManChild in the Promised Land, as another
term for black talk (3). He says African American
Vernacular posses a “pronounced lyrical quality.”
0 Ebonics shows vocabulary parallels between Caribbean
Creole English and African American English
Two Major Political Events in
the issue of Ebonics
0 1979 Ann Arbor “Black English” case
0 1996 Oakland School district
Lack of Presence in Major
Dictionaries
0 Fern L. Johnson, in the study “Unacknowledged African
Origins of U.S. English Usage: ‘Origin Unknown’ and
Other Peculiar Etymologies (2002)”
0 Purpose: “to ascertain the degree to which standard, highly
regarded dictionaries of U.S. English recognize in their
etymological entries the work that has been done to trace
African origins for words in the U.S. linguistic currency” (209)
0 Method: Chose 26 recognizable mainstream English “test”
words. The 26th being banana, which originated in West
Africa and is well-know for its etymology. Chose two editions
of The American Heritage Dictionary of English and the
Merriam Webster Dictionary. He assumed it would take
several dictionary editions for the impact of etymological
work on African language terms to become evident (210)
0 Conclusions: The general patterns in both shows lack of
recognition for African word origins or even African word
origin possibilities (212).
Ebonics Presence
0 Rickford and Rickford
provide other resources for
finding Ebonics words and
their etymologies (93).
0 Clarence Major’s 548 page
Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of
African American Slang
0 Geneva Smithermans’s 243
page Black Talk: Words and
Phrases from the Hood to the
Amen Corner
0 J.L Dilard Lexicon of Black
English (1970)
0 Words with African
origins:
0 Goober or guba from
ngguba, a Kimbundu
word meaning “peanut”
0 Okay, jazz, tote (carry)
0 Loan translations into
English such as cut-eye
and bad mouth.
0 Loan translations tend
to survive longer than
direct loans.
Ebonic Pronunciation
0 Pronunciation:
0 Mary M. Clark’s textbook, The Structure of
English for Readers, writers and Teachers
0 simplification of consonant clusters (help as hep),
0 [r]-dropping,
0 pronunciation of [ I] as [a].
0 When looking at the types of substitution of sounds,
there is the substitution of [t] and [d] for initial [th] and
[th]: For instance, thing as ting and this as dis.
0 The other substitution of [f] and [v] for final [th] and
[th]: For instance, mouth as mouf and bathe as bav (259260).
Ebonics Grammar
0 Grammar:
0 Rickford and Rickford’s
book Spoken Soul
0 12 grammatical features:
0 Plural s and dem;
0 existential it is;
0 absence of third-person
singular present-tense s;
0 absence of possessive ‘s;
0 Invariant be;
0 Zero copula (absence of is
or are);
0 been, BEEN;
0 done, be done, finna, had,
and other tense-aspect
markers;
0 negative forms and
constructions;
0 questions, direct and
indirect; pronouns;
0 and additional verbs.
Ebonics and Education
0 Arnetha F. Ball and Ted Lardner, authors of African
American Literacies Unleashed: Vernacular English
and the Composition Classroom
0 We need to change the status quo. Specific steps for
changing the face of education:
0 Knowledge
0 Self-Reflection
0 Personal and Professional Classroom Change
0 Ebonics does not replace the learning of Standard
English. However, it should be given recognition in
order to help students add Standard English to their
repertoire (Rickford and Rickford 227-228)
Culturally Responsive
Teachers Know…
0 Knowledge
0 The teacher understands and can identify differences in
approaches to learning and performance and can design
instruction that helps use students’ strengths as the basis for
growth.
0 The teacher understands how students’ learning is influenced
by individual experiences, talents, and prior learning, as well
as language, culture, family, and community values.
0 The teacher has a well-grounded framework for
understanding cultural and community diversity and knows
how to learn about and incorporate students’ experiences,
cultures, and community resources into instruction.
Culturally Responsive
Teachers Know…
0 Dispositions:
0 The teacher respects students as individuals with
differing personal and family backgrounds and various
skills, talents, and interests.
0 The teacher is sensitive to community and cultural
norms.
0 The teacher makes students feel valued for their
potential as people, and helps them learn to value each
other.
Culturally Responsive
Teachers Know…
0 Performances:
0 The teacher seeks to understand students’ families,
cultures, and communities, and uses this information as
a basis for connecting instruction to students’
experiences
0 The teacher brings multiple perspectives to the
discussion of subject matter, including attention to
students’ personal, family, and community experiences
and cultural norms.
0 The teacher creates a learning community in which
individual differences are respected.
Reflection
0 What was your first experience with diversity?
0 How did you feel about the interaction?
0 Do you think students today are having similar “first
experiences”? Why or why not?
Learning is a Social Process
0 Learning is a social process that involves socialization
of students into educated persons.
0 Participation in cultural activities with the guidance of
a more skilled partner—you, the teacher—enables
students to internalize tools for thinking and taking
more mature approaches to problem solving that are
appropriate in their.
0 If the student’s home culture and language are
devalued, and teachers don’t make links between the
culture and school, students can lose the strength and
coherence of a bicultural identity.
Your Beliefs Influence How
You Teach
0 Your beliefs about teaching and learning are probably
the most influential factor in how you will teach.
0 These beliefs will shape the learning context you
develop and maintain in your classroom.
0 It is your job to communicate to your students not
only that you value them as people, but able to help
them to learn to value each other.
Culture and Ethnicity
0 Culture:
0 Culture refers to the ways in which we perceive, believe,
evaluate, and behave.
0 Culture provides us with generally accepted and patterned
ways of acting that enables us to live together and provides
the norms that guide our language, actions, feelings, and
thinking.
0 Ethnicity:
0 Ethnicity is a subjective view that a group holds regarding its
common membership because of shared descent or historical
background and similarities of customs, language, and,
sometimes, physical type.
0 The members of the group may not acknowledge the features
that seem to set them apart, and certain groups may label
other groups as “ethnic groups.”
Culture in the Classroom
0 General principals of culturally responsive
instruction:
0 Helping students whose education, economic, social,
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political, and cultural futures are most at risk to become
intellectual leaders in the classroom.
Supporting students as apprentices in a learning
community
Recognizing students’ real-life experiences as a
legitimate part of the curriculum
Participating in a broad concept of literacy involving
both written and oral traditions.
Engaging collaboratively in a struggle against the status
quo
Recognizing the teacher as a political being
Terms
0 Contact Zone
0 It is a “zone” or place where cultures meet and learn from one
another.
0 It cannot be forced nor is it an attempt to “enlighten” students
from the majority culture about their “problem” beliefs
concerning race, gender and class.
0 Even if voices were ignored or silenced in the past, they exist
in the contact zone.
0 Pedagogy of Place
0 Asserts that learning occurs when students connect subject
matter to their own lives and surroundings and critically
reflect upon both the connection and the new materials being
studied.
0 Learns come to understand themselves
0 Students begin to make sense of their own communities and
the larger world and are then equipped to acknowledge other
views shaped by histories different from their own.
When working with students,
teachers should…
0 Be flexible
0 Examine curriculum
0 Engage in ongoing professional development
0 Go beyond simple labels
0 Be aware of their own culture
Reflection
0 Consider your own experience when answering the
questions below.
0 What values do you hold dear? Can you describe an
experience where these values were in conflict with
another person’s value system? Were you able to resolve
this difference?
0 Are you willing to change the value system that
developed from the cultural forces in which you were
raised? What would you describe as the main facilitators
and barriers for such a change in views?
0 Can you think of an activity that would allow students in
your classroom to explore their own value systems?
Take Away
0 Ebonics or AAVE is a language derived from the Niger Congo
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African language and English. It is not “Black English,” improper
English or dialect.
Ebonics has history. It has its own pronunciation, phonetics,
phonology, morphology, syntax, vocabulary and rhetorical
devices.
Several words that we use have black origins, but the etymology
is not necessarily recognized in major dictionaries; although,
sources are readily available.
Educators should be knowledgeable about ALL student’s cultural
background and change their attitudes towards these students.
This knowledge should be used in such a way that is accepting of
cultural differences and curriculum should teach new skills that
build off of what the student already knows.
Classrooms should be culturally responsive, be a contact zone,
and create a pedagogy of place.
Works Cited
0 Baldwin, James. “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”
The Real Ebonics Debate: Power, Language, and the Education of African
American Children. Eds. Theresa Perry and Lisa Delpit. Boston: Beacon
Press,1998. 67-70. Print.
0 Ball, Arnetha, and Ted Lardner. African American Literacies Unleashed:
Vernacular English and the Composition Classroom. Carbondale: Southern
Illinois University Press, 2005. Print.
0 Bauer, Anne M. and Stephen D. Kroeger. Exploring Diversity: A Video Case
Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson: Merrill Prentice Hall, 2004.
Print.
0 “Ethnic Dialects.” The Structure of English for Readers, Writers and Teachers.
Ed. Mary Clark. 2nd ed. Glen Allen, VA: College Publishing, 2010. 258-261.
Print
0 “Holding on to a Language of Our Own: An Interview with Linguist John
Rickford.” The Real Ebonics Debate: Power, Language, and the Education of
African American Children. Eds. Theresa Perry and Lisa Delpit. Boston:
Beacon Press,1998. 59-65. Print.
Works Cited
0 Johnson, Fern C. “Unacknowledged African Origins of U.S. English Usage:
“Origin Unknown” and Other Peculiar Etymologies.” Howard Journal of
Communications 13.3 (2002): 207-222. Academic Search Complete. Web. 31
Jan. 2013.
0 Lippi-Green, Rosina. “What We Talk About When We Talk About Ebonics:
Why Definitions Matter.” Black Scholar 27.2 (1997): 7-11. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
0 O’Neil, Wayne. “If Ebonics Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? (pace
James Baldwin, 1979).” The Real Ebonics Debate: Power, Language, and the
Education of African American Children. Eds. Theresa Perry and Lisa Delpit.
Boston: Beacon Press,1998. 38-47. Print.
0 Rickford, John R . and Russell J. Rickford. Spoken Soul: The Story of Black
English. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000. Print.
0 Smith, Ernie and Karen Crozier. “Ebonics is not Black English.” Western
Journal of Black Studies 22.2 (1998): 109-116. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 31 Jan. 2013.
Any Questions??
Thank you for attending!