From Ann Arbor to Oakland: Language Policy in the Education of African American English Learners

• In Event: 66.052 - The Significance of Qualitative Studies on the Sociocultural and Sociopolitical Contexts of Education to Inform Policy

Abstract

In this presentation, we draw on critical discourse and policy analysis (CDA/CPA) to examine two major policy texts related to African American Language (AAL) and African American English Learners (AAELs) – the Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School Children et al. v. Ann Arbor School District, a federal district case in Michigan known as the Ann Arbor Decision, and the Ebonics Resolution adopted by the Oakland California Board of the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). The documents provide the primary data sources for this presentation.

Specifically, we use CDA/CPA to scrutinize the language of the two texts, paying particular attention to similarities and differences in discourse; chief messages the written language intended to convey; and parallels across the two decisions. Findings show three key themes in the texts – they affirm AAL as a ‘home and community language’ in its own right, mandate teachers to take ‘appropriate action’ in teaching AAL speakers, and dispel notions that AAL stems from cultural, social, and economic deprivation. Consequently, for practitioners and policy makers, this analysis illustrates three key matters to reconsider: (1) perceptions of African American people and learners; (2) beliefs about the language variety many speak and (3) ideas about bi/multilingualism to include AAL as a home and heritage language. We believe this discussion may set the stage for promoting practical implementation strategies to help teachers support the literacy development of African American students and their education more generally.

By highlighting the relationships between these decisions and societal practices, we contextualize the implementation of language policy in relation to AAL within the broader historical and sociopolitical landscape of views toward African American English and the learners who speak the variety. Thus, we consider these contemporary documents in light of pivotal historical, social, political, and cultural milieus.

Anti- literacy laws for AAELs and attendant policies that have long constrained access to literacy for African Americans in the United States. Inspired by the residual effects of former state laws outlawing the teaching of enslaved Africans to read, to the more recent federal court decision dismissing Detroit plaintiffs’ claim of denial of access to literacy on account of race (Gary et al. v. Snyder et al., 2018), we critique the broader climate of language policy and politics that embody the ideal of an equal and adequate education for all students and African American students especially.

In conclusion, we offer some practical suggestions for teachers of AAELs for approaching language and literacy instruction in ways that will promote educational equity.

Authors

• Tryphenia B. Peele-Eady, University of New Mexico

• Michèle Foster, University of Louisville