Language Policy and Black Language in U.S. Schools (Poster 21)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Thursday 5:25 p.m.
  In Poster Session: Resisting Marginalization: Narratives of Black Student Persistence and Empowerment Across Educational Spaces

Abstract

U.S. language policy and planning (LPP) has historically marginalized Black K-12 students and their language, and language policy continues to exacerbate this problem. Despite a major court case (Ann Arbor) and a major language policy initiative (Oakland), school districts across the U.S. have continued to ignore dialectal diversity and the needs of speakers of marginalized language varieties, like U.S. Black Language (UBL). We combine critical language policy (Tollefson, 2006) and Critical Race Theory (Crenshaw, 1991) to illuminate how LPP processes create social structures that perpetuate inequality. We use Critical Discourse Studies (Fairclough, 2010; Wodak, 1996) for our policy analysis to examine how both UBL, and the needs of its users, are erased from U.S. language policy.

Authors

• Amira Nash, University of Iowa

• David Cassels Johnson, University of Iowa

• Saba Khan Vlach, University of Iowa