ipl-logo

The Importance Of Ebonics In Education

782 Words4 Pages

In today’s society African Americans are treated with inadequate instruction in the classroom. This can be due to school systems not acknowledging the first language of African Americans in the classroom. This language can be referred to as African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), Black Vernacular, Black Vernacular English (BVE), or as I will refer to this language for the majority of my research: Ebonics. I will be discussing the effects of Ebonics on African Americans; and with three key questions I will address the issue, and discuss solutions which will allow African Americans to receive the most beneficial form of education. Therefore, the fundamental questions are: Are African Americans English language learners (ELLs), and should …show more content…

In order for teachers to avoid misplacement of student’s in education, they must be knowledgeable and mindful of student needs, in this case teacher’s comprehension of the role Ebonics has on African Americans. For meaningful learning to take place, teachers must understand the different form of education some African Americans will require, because of the change Ebonics has on the pronunciation and grammatical features of a word. In order to stray from the injustice African Americans are receiving in education, a full comprehension of their first language must be present; furthermore this will allow teachers to understand that a cause of error may be linked to their language. The term Ebonics itself can be broken into “ebony” and “phonics”, and as Dr. Robert Williams puts it “the science of black speech sounds or language” (Ebony + Phonics, Williams). Ebonics includes many features revolving around grammar rules and pronunciations; such as, omission of the final consonant in words, pronunciation of vowels, dropping of the letters b, d, or g when placed before an auxiliary verb, elimination of the present tense is and are, but never am in the production of sentences, and use of double negatives (What is Ebonics, Rickford). Examples of words under Ebonics influence include: “han” for hand, “baf” for bath, “mah” for my, “goin” for going, and …show more content…

The Oakland Unified School District is one of the most prominent cases which recognizes Ebonics as another form of language. “In 1996 the Oakland Unified School District passed a resolution declaring Ebonics to be the primary language of the African-American students in its school” (What happened in Oakland? The Ebonics controversy of 1996-97, Dennis Baron). It is imperative Ebonics be labeled as another language, because it is then teachers can realize the significance of understanding their first language and the affect it will have on their education. “Still, many African American students will walk into classrooms and be discreetly taught in most cases, and explicitly told in others, that the language of their forefathers, their families, and their communities is bad language, street language, the speech of the ignorant and/or uneducated. They will be “corrected”… (Hollie, 2001, 54). For reasons like the one mentioned in the previous quote teachers must recognize Ebonics as another language, and treat African Americans who present this type of speech similarly to that of Bilingual students. According to Hollie, bilingual students have been shown to score higher than African

Show More
Related

Summary Of The Education Of Blacks In The South By James Anderson

1287 Words | 6 Pages

What is the purpose and mission of universal schooling? Why are philanthropic white Northern reformers’ supportive of African-Americans’ goals of literacy and universal education? How can historians reconcile the educational advancement of African-Americans with their status as second-class citizens throughout the Eras of Reconstruction and Jim Crow? In The Education of Blacks in the South (1988), James Anderson explores the race, labor, and education questions through the lens of black educational philosophy. Anderson challenges the prevailing narrative that universal public education emerged from white Northern missionaries dedicated to civilizing newly emancipated Negroes in the South.

Read More

Analysis Of A Stranger In Strange Lands By Lucille Mccarthy

454 Words | 2 Pages

Lucille Parkinson McCarthy, author of the article, “A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum”, conducted an experiment that followed one student over a twenty-one month period, through three separate college classes to record his behavioral changes in response to each of the class’s differences in their writing expectations. The purpose was to provide both student and professor a better understanding of the difficulties a student faces while adjusting to the different social and academic settings of each class. McCarthy chose to enter her study without any sort of hypothesis, therefore allowing herself an opportunity to better understand how each writing assignment related to the class specifically and “what

Read More

Summary Of John Mcwhorter's Black English

406 Words | 2 Pages

In discussing Black English, John McWhorter talks about the theories of the origin of the language. McWhorter talks about how people have made claims that Black English is related and comes from African languages. He also tells how their research on this subject is unreliable and “sketchy.” These people making these claims are outside of linguistics, meaning they practice things such as education and speech pathology. People like Dr. Smith, a teacher at a medical college, suggested that Black English is a mixture of African languages with English, where these African languages have altered English into a new language.

Read More

James Anderson Idea Of Education Summary

547 Words | 3 Pages

James Anderson’s The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 discusses the creation and black devotion to education. Anderson argues that contrary to popular belief, blacks laid the foundation for their education, and even though others sought to control the system, blacks still fought for their own education the way they saw fit. He also argues that there has been pivotal relationship between education and oppressed groups—American education has always funded education for all (Anderson, 1988, p.5). I believe Anderson argues this through opposition, emancipation, and fighting low standards. Anderson begins the monograph with discussion of the postwar South and how they were hostile to the idea of black schooling.

Read More

Analysis Of James Baldwin's Essay 'If Black English Isn' T A Language

338 Words | 2 Pages

In James Baldwin’s essay titled “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me What Is?” Baldwin highlights his major argument by capitalizing the words in the title so that it can stand out to the readers. His main idea is that all languages are equal, and there is an inequality in society where one is judged by the way they speak. Baldwin wanted the readers to understand that all languages do serve a purpose no matter how a person articulates it. Baldwin also wanted to convey that there is racism that is placed upon a black person just because of the way they speak.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of Nah We Straight

1647 Words | 7 Pages

The teacher then goes on to explain how she would rather have her students only learn the standardized English rather than code mesh the two forms together. Young states “Yet she wants her students to somehow learn to turn off black language and use only standard, when she can't herself. After I highlighted this observation, she gave a final "tsk" and walked away” (Young 2009, p. 59).

Read More

Essay On Operation Wetback

411 Words | 2 Pages

Loosely using words we do not have recognition of is a problem we can fix with more public awareness of where they came from through a conversation about race; a conversation that may seem daunting, but that has the ability to teach profound lessons of the way our society

Read More

Review Of Other People's Children By Lisa Delpit

992 Words | 4 Pages

In the book, Other People’s Children, author Lisa Delpit does and excellent job compiling her experiences as a black educator through various essays and responses. It is though these essays and responses that Delpit tries to educate the American educator on the diversities we see in the classroom. She makes it known throughout the book that we need to make sure all students receive the same educational opportunities regardless of cultural background, race, or ethnicity. One thing that really stood out to me in this book was that she suggests that we appreciate linguistic diversity in the classroom. Stating that some student’s don’t have access to the “politically popular dialect form” also known as “Standard English”, and these particular

Read More

Analysis Of 'If Black English Isn T A Language Then Tell Me What Is'

983 Words | 4 Pages

“If Black English Isn’t a Language Then Tell Me What Is” In the essay “If Black Isn’t a Language Then Tell Me What Is” (The New York Times, 1979) written by James Baldwin, the author asserts that the African American community has altered the English language into a new language during the last five centuries to accommodate the black experience in American history despite the white’s attempt to submerge it. To begin the essay he makes his argument clear by referencing the alterations the French made to their native language to describe how people will eventually “...evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances…”; furthermore he continues to analyze how the caucasian people of America have only accepted the black language when it came out of a white mouth; he ends the essay by reinforcing his position, elaborating on the racism black’s have faced when they were denied the right to an education unless it was for the white benefit. His liberal purpose is to bring light to the subtle racism that African Americans experience even after the Civil Rights movement and to acknowledge the cultural influence they have in America. His writing appears very personal and intimate like he’s voluntarily opening up to his audience by letting them know of his own struggles as an African American, targeting mostly minorities and people who feel oppressed by white America.

Read More

Social Inequality In The Lesson By Toni Cade Bambara

775 Words | 4 Pages

Although this sort of language is not limited to the characteristics of AAE, it situates the African American childhood in their socially disadvantaged environment, where the inhibition level of using taboo vocabulary is at a minimum and the language is, in fact, that which is considered inappropriate in other social

Read More

Frederick Douglass: Overcoming Obstacles

392 Words | 2 Pages

The legendary abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass was one of the most important social reformers of the nineteenth century. Being born into slavery on a Maryland Eastern Shore plantation to his mother, Harriet Bailey, and a white man, most likely Douglass’s first master was the starting point of his rise against the enslavement of African-Americans. Nearly 200 years after Douglass’s birth and 122 years after his death, The social activist’s name and accomplishments continue to inspire the progression of African-American youth in modern society. Through his ability to overcome obstacles, his strive for a better life through education, and his success despite humble beginnings, Frederick Douglass’s aspirations stretched his influence through

Read More

Review Of Bill Cosby's Views On African American Vernacular English

325 Words | 2 Pages

Unlike Cosby, that believes that AAVE should cease to exist. Cosby prompts his audience to not accept the Vernacular that some black people speak because it will get them nowhere. Whiles, Smitherman defends that there is no intellectual deficiencies in the students that speak AAVE. Cosby says younger African Americans do not want to learn the Standard American English whereas Smitherman believes that they approach school enthusiastically and highly motivated to learn. It is not that they do not want to learn but instead because of the constant tearing down of their vernacular and being placed in Special Educational programs as a result extinguishes the desire of wanting to learn.

Read More

The Skin That We Speak Analysis

1395 Words | 6 Pages

The Skin That We Speak The way a person speaks is a direct link to a person’s culture and the environment which he or she was raised in. A person’s language, skin color as well as economic status influences the way he or she is perceived by others. Lisa Delpit and eleven other educators provide different viewpoints on how language from students of different cultures, ethnicity, and even economic status can be misinterpreted due to slang and dialect or nonstandard English by the teachers as well as his or her own peers. The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom by Lisa Delpit and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy, who collected essays from a diverse group of educators and scholars to reflect on the issue of language

Read More

Florida Consent Decree Analysis

966 Words | 4 Pages

The Florida Consent Decree is a law that provides ELL students the right to equal access to all education programs. It ensures a given instruction that is understandable to which ELL students are entitled. As both a minority and a future educator, I have the utmost respect and appreciation for other cultures and backgrounds and it is the responsibility of the teacher and the administration to create a positive learning environment for all students. The Consent Decree consists of six main concerns that are addressed in sections. These six sections are: Identification and Assessment, Equal Access to Appropriate Programming, Equal Access to Appropriate Categorical and other programs for LEP students, Personnel, Monitoring Issues, and Outcome Measures.

Read More

The Myth Of The Negro Past Analysis

903 Words | 4 Pages

It was once believed that the languages that the Africans spoke varied drastically from region to region but in reality they were “local variations of a deeper-lying structural similarity” (Herkovits 79). This similarity allowed communicating in the New World to be easier than if the languages were all completely linguistically independent, “whether Negro speech employs English or French or Spanish or Portuguese vocabulary, the identical constructions found over all the New World can only be regarded as a reflection of the underlying similarities in grammar and idiom, which, in turn, are common to the West African Sudanese tongues” (80). Language then became an important part of African American culture, whether it be a “secret” language used to help slaves escape, or to tell stories and folklore to children to encourage and motivate them, or express African proverbs from generation to generation. There has been many times when other races seem not to understand what African Americans are saying because of the slang terms we create that then become popular terms, most recently has been the phrases “on fleek” and “twerking”, to name a few examples. Being proficient in verbal arts was prized in Africa and now a value has been placed on verbal expression in today’s culture through riddles and through preaching and teaching (Williams

Read More

More about The Importance Of Ebonics In Education

Open Document