The United States have witness a problem concerning educating African American
students in elementary schools and high schools. One suggestion was that made in order to
learn Standard English (SE) better is African American Vernacular English (AAVE) ought
to be taught at schools to highlight the differences between the two dialects in order for the
children to master their studies and to succeed not only at school but also later at college.
The problem is that many teachers, but also parents, have negative attitudes toward
teaching AAVE at school because they think that this is “bad” English and does not help to
facilitate their lives. But I argue in order to get positive attitudes toward AAVE one has to
understand the complexity of that dialect which furthermore needs to be translated to the
teachers’ training programs to help children acquire SE and master their lives.
Table of Contents
Introduction
I. General Information about AA(V)E
A. The Origin of AAE
A.1. The British Settler Theory
A.2. The Creole Theory
A.3. African Languages
B. Speechpatterns in the US
B.1. People who use SE
B.2. People who do not speak SE fluently
II. Linguistic Features of AAE
A. Lexical Items
A.1. Habitual Be
A.2. Do and Go
A.3 Inflections in AAE
B. Grammar
B.1. Early AAE Tense and Aspect
B.2. Contemporary AAE
III. Education
A. Famous Cases (Problems in educating black children)
A.1. Ann Arbor Case (King Case)
A.2. Oakland School Board
B. Strategies to improve teaching
B.1. Classroom Strategies
B.1.a. Reading Strategies
B.1.b. Writing Strategies
B.2. Teachers Training and Recommendations
C. Attitudes toward AAVE and SE
C.1.Parents Attitudes toward AAVE
C.2. Children’s Attitudes toward AAVE
C.3. Teachers’ Attitudes toward AAVE
C.4. Employer’s Attitudes toward AAVE
Conclusion
Objectives and Topics
This paper examines the linguistic characteristics of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and explores the systemic educational challenges faced by African American students in the United States. The primary objective is to argue that negative attitudes toward AAVE among educators and society hinder the academic success of these students, and to propose that understanding the dialect's complexity is essential for developing better teaching strategies that facilitate the acquisition of Standard English (SE).
- The historical origins and linguistic evolution of AAE.
- Core grammatical and lexical features distinguishing AAVE from Standard English.
- Educational policy cases, such as the Ann Arbor and Oakland School Board controversies.
- Pedagogical strategies for improving literacy in African American students.
- The sociolinguistic impact of teacher, parent, and employer attitudes toward AAVE.
Excerpt from the Book
A.1. The British Settler Theory
Slaves were very uncommon at the time when the British settlers arrived and settled in the new colonies in the seventeenth century. The first slaves arriving in the colonies were only imported “in exchange for food” and worked as domestic workers “with the same socioeconomic status of indentured servants as many Europeans” (Salikoko S. Mufwene 237). Since they lived and worked among white Europeans they were forced to speak the same language as their white counterparts. That is also confirmed by Salikoko S. Mufwene when saying that “the low proportion of Africans and their sparse distribution among Europeans just did not favor the development of separate varieties of English” which furthermore leads to his Founder Principle that says that “newcomers to the region would have sought to adapt to the local norm(s) rather than to impose their own” (238/240).
This implies that the Africans had to adopt the variety spoken by the settlers because otherwise the slaves could not interact with the white majority because the setllers did not speak African languages. This also means that children who were born and raised in the colonies were taught to speak British English. And so they did not have the chance to learn their native African languages. Furthermore in the eighteenth century, slaves from St. Kitts were imported to the colonies but, according to Mufwene, due to hardly “half the total colonial population...linguistic developments on St. Kitts were similar to those in Virginia. It is unlikely that the Kittian slaves imported to Virginia would have brought with them a sociolect that was more divergent from colonial English than what was being developed by the local slaves” (238-9). John Rickford, on the other hand, does not agree with this theory and suggests that the “slaves might have arrived speaking a pidgin or mesolectal creole, especially if they had been in Barbados for some time and were not merely trans-shipments from West Africa” (242). So there is no agreement on this theory but that does not imply that it could not be true.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: Outlines the problem of educating African American students and argues that AAVE should be integrated into school curricula to bridge the gap toward mastering Standard English.
I. General Information about AA(V)E: Discusses historical theories regarding the origins of AAE and examines patterns of speech usage within different American communities.
II. Linguistic Features of AAE: Details specific lexical items, grammatical structures, and inflectional patterns that define the AAVE linguistic system compared to Standard English.
III. Education: Analyzes major court cases concerning African American education and evaluates various classroom strategies and attitudinal barriers faced by students and teachers.
Conclusion: Synthesizes the main arguments, reaffirming the need for improved teacher training and a shift in perspective that views AAVE as a cultural asset rather than a deficiency.
Keywords
African American Vernacular English, AAVE, Standard English, linguistic features, habitual be, education, Ann Arbor case, Oakland School Board, Ebonics, teacher training, cultural heritage, linguistic system, pedagogical strategies, sociolect, Black English.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this paper?
The paper explores the intersection of language, education, and social attitudes, specifically focusing on how African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is perceived and handled within the American school system.
What are the primary thematic fields covered?
The text covers historical linguistic theories, the structural features of AAVE, landmark educational legal cases, classroom pedagogical strategies, and the sociolinguistic impact of language-based prejudices.
What is the author's primary research goal?
The author aims to demonstrate that negative societal and institutional attitudes toward AAVE impede student success, advocating for a pedagogical approach that recognizes the dialect's legitimacy to help students transition effectively to Standard English.
Which scientific methods are employed in this analysis?
The study relies on a review of existing sociolinguistic literature, including key historical and theoretical works by scholars such as Mufwene, Labov, Rickford, and Baugh, to analyze speech patterns and educational policies.
What issues are addressed in the main part of the work?
The main sections analyze the origins of AAVE, provide a detailed breakdown of its linguistic components (grammar, lexicon, inflections), discuss systemic educational failings in teaching black children, and examine the biases held by parents, teachers, and employers.
Which keywords best characterize the work?
Key terms include AAVE, Black English, educational equity, linguistic competence, sociolinguistic variation, teacher bias, and Standard English proficiency.
How do 'habitual be' and other constructions affect classroom perception?
These features are often misunderstood as "sloppy" or "incorrect" English, leading teachers to stigmatize students rather than recognizing these as systematic, rule-governed linguistic structures.
What is the significance of the Ann Arbor and Oakland School Board cases?
These cases represent pivotal moments where the legal system acknowledged that the linguistic background of African American students was being ignored or punished, creating barriers to education that needed to be addressed through special programs and informed teaching practices.
- Citar trabajo
- Magister Anke Werckmeister (Autor), 2007, Education and Attitudes towards AA(V)E, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/171970
