Linguistic Stereotype Threat

• In Event: Labovian Legacies: Symposium on Sociolinguistics and Education

Abstract

This paper introduces preliminary research related to the formulation of a “linguistic stereotype threat” that is most relevant to students who are English language learners or who may be native speakers of African American vernacular English (AAVE). Our emphasis is placed on secondary and higher education students, as well as the language arts classes they attend. The research builds upon groundbreaking studies by Claude Steele, who originally formulated the concept of a “stereotype threat” as a psychological educational construct; those who suffer from “stereotype threat” do so because they fear confirming – often racist – assumptions pertaining to low academic performance by the minority groups to which they belong while taking high stakes standardized tests.
Whereas Claude Steele’s research focuses substantially on the racial background of students, the present study utilizes John Ogbu’s caste like classifications in association with descriptive accounts of students’ native language backgrounds, resulting in new classifications that reflect substantial linguistic and cultural diversity among students within any specified racial group, including biracial students for whom such classification is more complicated.
The present studies – based largely on interviews with students and their teachers – are also informed by linguistic assertions stated by Shelby Steele regarding statements pertaining to his impressions of cultural shame associated with AAVE. The findings confirm that students may fall prey to a combination of internal linguistic insecurities (i.e. an internal linguistic stereotype threat) as well as external linguistic prejudice (i.e. an external linguistic stereotype threat), especially if their teachers lack any linguistic training regarding the plight of English language learners or students who are native speakers of AAVE.
The circumstances under which students first acquire their native language are evaluated along with the educational circumstances under which they were taught how to read and write. Evaluations of student attitudes toward (Standard) English are introduced, along with hypotheses regarding how these attitudes correspond to their academic potential and ensuing school performance.
Teachers who have had the benefit of introductions to linguistic concepts as well as the circumstances under which students learn languages other than English, or dialects of than mainstream Standard American English, are far more likely to devise culturally appropriate and sensitive strategies that help their students navigate transitions toward greater command and fluency of English in academic contexts, thereby helping these students overcome some of the potential constraints that are embodied in the combination of internal and external linguistic stereotype threats that are shown to inhibit their academic performance.
The presentation concludes with a brief account of policy recommendations, some of which are relevant to the preparation of teachers, and which are particularly relevant to students who aspire to join Teach for America since they will be working in under served schools with America’s least fortunate students.

Author

• John Baugh, Washington University in St. Louis