JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory, Volume 16, Number 2, 1996 Page: 267
202-340 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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African American Vernacular English 267
The pedagogy of pluralism asserts that all language varieties are equally
effective in their communities and that language choice should therefore be made
only bythe user, not by the state or by its representative, the teacher. A significant
pluralistic component to the curriculum entails far more than classroom lip service;
it entails something on the order of a course or courses that teach African American
Vernacular English (AAVE) as a language like French or Japanese, not as a dialect
like Brooklyn English or Appalachian English. Only in such an atmosphere can
the pedagogy of code-switching function as anything more than covert
eradicationism. The purpose of a pluralistic curriculum extends far beyond the
liberal agenda of making Them feel welcome among Us; in this particular instance
it also includes making both Them and Us realize that African American Vernacu-
lar English is the language of a culture that has historical origins in Africa and that
has undergone modern fragmentation and reunification; and it includes our
realizing that this language variety is a significant influence upon and contributor
to other contemporary varieties of American English, including the standard. It is
not only a means of communication in African American culture, but it is a
significant component of American linguistic life. To study African American
Vernacular English, therefore, is to learn about one's own language, regardless of
whether that "one" is African American or European American. It is to challenge
along-standing tradition in which European American culture is not only superior
to but independent of African American culture.
Consider the paradox: our colleges teach African American studies and
celebrate African American culture but shunAfrican American language as atopic
for pedagogy. How can one learn a culture without learning its language? What
are American college curricula teaching students about African Americans when
they offer programs in African American studies without offering courses in
African American Vernacular English, while at the same time they promote code-
switching in their composition courses? They are, I believe, teaching students that
African Americans and their culture are recognized but not accepted in the
academy. Higher education curricula can treat African Americans as objects,
examiningtheirhistoryandliterature, but maynottreatthemas subjects bylearning
and making public use of their language, the vessel and fluid of their culture.
Institutions of higher education in the United States have curricula that simulta-
neously endorse and reject the lives of African Americans and their influence upon
other Americans. In the college classroom, the specter of AAVE, notasa topic for
study butasa vehicle ofcommunication, precipitates a crisis of cultural representation
for both insiders and outsiders.
My experience with this crisis of representation comes from the first time I
taught a new linguistics course, "Language, Race, and Ethnicity in the United
States." The students in that course decided to try speaking AAVE for one day in
the classroom. (The majority of these students were people of color; and of that
contingent, the largest group consisted of African Americans and African
Caribbeans.) The attempt was a failure, from which Ilearned a great deal about the
linguistic messages absorbed by students in a lifetime of American education.
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Association of Teachers of Advanced Composition (U.S.). JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory, Volume 16, Number 2, 1996, periodical, 1996; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc28616/m1/71/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .