In 2012 I was presenting weekly “lyrical education” lectures in an AP English class at Jackson High school. My lecture was based on a research article I’d written in 2001 for a manuscript I was compiling. The topic was Ebonics or what is termed Black Vernacular English. While most of the students actually spoke Ebonics, none knew what it consisted of nor that they were speakers of a distinctive dialect that has actually been classified by linguists.
Being an African American as well as what Dr. Robert T. Nash, Ed.D called being bilingual, for my ability to articulate standard english as well as Black Vernacular English, has given me a unique opportunity to examine how language modalities and variances in ethnic vernaculars shapes the social and intellectual reality of African Americans. Over the last 5 years, I have been teaching an English Language Arts alternative literacy pedagogy using Spoken Word, Lyrics and Hip Hop to mostly low literacy performing minority students. In creating curriculum to engage this population using this unique approach, I not only had to make it linguistically relevant for students, but I had to make it clear and articulate for other educators.
While preparing for my lecture at Jackson High School, I compared my research from 2001 with my current work in English Language Arts alternative literacy, and began wondering how teachers today are dealing with the issue of Black Vernacular English among their students and how this was affecting or influencing their classroom instruction. In teaching Lyrical Education, I use specific language vernaculars to help bridge the gap in standard english communication. It serves as an essential and logical tool to aid in communicating intended language concepts that allow students to articulate their learning in a way commonly understood and received by society.
According to John R. Rickford, author of Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English, “Ebonics simply means ‘black speech’” (Rickford). From its phonemic segmentation, you can easily tell it derives from a blend of the word ‘ebony,’ in reference to ‘black,’ and the word ‘phonics.’ Together it translates into black speech. As a distinctive vernacular in specific reference to African Americans, Ebonics is a dialectical form of speaking english that is non-standard and varies across urban populations. (Wolfram)
Differences or variances among African Americans from multiple southern States of America after the Great Migration gave rise to a blending of vernacular patterns and speech norms now typical within African American youth culture (Wolfram 111). It is at this point in the work I do with students in teaching an alternative literacy approach that I find this question most important. How are today’s teachers dealing with the challenge of teaching English to a population of students whose everyday home and social language is considered a nonstandard dialect which many educators consider to be mere slang and a hinderance to communication norms?
Because there are very critical issues at the heart of literacy among African Americans within our educational system, I also wonder how the apparent correlation between low literacy achievement and black vernacular dialects, (Wolfram 112) ultimately shapes the socio-cultural success of blacks in America. It is clear to me that language and communication are two key components that any person must master in order to move through society successfully and be able to navigate the social and cultural norms with ease. For African Americans, whose language and communication historically have been impeded by slavery and this countries disinterest in educating its slave population, the challenge is a daunting task to find methods to bridge the gap for black students to learn and apply standard speech concepts in both written and oral communication.
While this issue has arisen several times throughout American history, particularly in the 1960s when linguists began identifying some of the language issues affecting the American educational system as it related to the academic performance of the African American population of students (Wolfram 112), it arose again with great interest in the late 90s. In 1996 the Oakland School Board addressed Ebonics head on. They boldly declared and implemented a policy directive that essentially recognized it as the primary language of its students, the majority of whom are African American (Rickford).
Not only did this cause a big controversy within the Oakland School district, but the debate swept across the nation. Teachers were now confronted with the question of how were they relating to their African American students, how were they implementing instructional methods of teaching these students who spoke nonstandard english, and lastly how familiar were they with their students language (Perez). Although these questions have not been answered in tandem, they have been thoroughly discussed and examined and given me sufficient reference to understand how todays teachers are currently dealing with this topic.
In trying to further understand this issue in order to help me with my own instructional techniques in communicating language concepts to students using my Lyrical Education approach, I spoke with Dr. Davonne Pierce about his dissertation on Ebonics. Dr. Pierce was born with a highly acute speech impediment. Combined with being an African American and raised within a social community of Ebonics speakers, Dr. Pierce was poised to have great difficulty speaking, communicating and navigating through the academic world. Dr. Pierce ultimately overcame his speech impediment and mastered standard english. His dissertation examined speech evolutions within African American urban populations and how those vernaculars affect and shape the world view and education of Ebonics speakers.
Dr. Pierce believes that you have to meet students where they are at in terms of their intellectual insight, which is shaped by and derives from the communication process. If black students aren’t given correlational tools to understand the standard vernacular of english, they will not be able to navigate American society and participate at an equal level in employment, education and inter-social relationships. Language barriers between blacks and whites have kept a wall of social segregation in effect. By understanding Ebonics as a vernacular, teachers will better be able to utilize their knowledge to help African American students learn and master standard American english (Pierce).
Most of the teachers that I’ve worked with over the years would agree with Dr. Pierce. However, not many of them have the foundational knowledge to attempt an aggressive approach to remediating the problem of Ebonics speakers’ difficulty in learning and mastering standard english. As I was presenting to this high school AP English class, the classroom teacher commented that he has never met someone such as myself addressing this issue among African American students. This particular teacher had taken a class in his Masters program that dealt with African American communication and language modalities. It was a topic and issue he was well aware of but had not found a way to implement alternative instructional methods to help black students learn and master standard english writing and oral communication.
Other teachers that are working on bridging this gap to help students obtain the requisite knowledge of english, have identified several specific features educators need to know. First, they should become knowledgeable of the distinctive characteristics of Ebonics or Black Vernacular English. Secondly, teachers should then create curriculum for instruction in the classroom, particularly among educators directly familiar with Ebonics. Lastly, students must also be willing to learn alternate instructional methods of speaking that they will ultimately use within their life (Perez).
I think the points Dr. Pierce made to me are very valid, particularly as they relate to and from his own personal experience as a language learner over coming a speech impediment. Coupled with speaking a minority race vernacular, he found a way to bridge the gap. He says that every language and race of people speak an “ebonics” or “slang” within their culture. Dr. Pierce’s insights are were influenced by his Master’s Dissertation mentor, Terry Secret. She is one of the foremost proponents of Ebonics being recognized as an official Second Language. Secrets and other supporters of this effort went before Congress to push for official recognition(Pierce).
As an instructor using my own developed methodology of teaching relatable language art skills to African American students, I find that while there are few teachers directly working on ways to use Ebonics in the classroom, todays teachers aren’t much further ahead than their earlier predecessors. Ebonics or Black Vernacular English is still a complex language variant. Few experts in the field make it less familiar to a multitude of educators teaching African American students daily across this country. However, it is a subject still very open to public debate within the social and academic circles of linguists, educators, and socio-cultural theorist.
In my book Hip Hopology 101: A Student’s Guide to Understanding The History, Art, Influence & Politics of Urban Culture, I mention some of the language components of Ebonics as it relates to the power of lyrics and rhyme that the Hip Hop generation has so vividly expressed through words conveyed through Ebonics (Crampton 14). I also made the assertion that Black Vernacular English could be considered an actual element of Hip Hop (Crampton 31), which can be described as today’s contemporary youth culture Wolfram identified (Wolfram 113). I believe todays teachers and those in the future will continue to find this issue a very real and important problem to confront. As Dr. Davonne Pierce found a way to cross the bridge of a language barrier, black students will also have to find their own way through this complex maze of language communication and with the help of conscientious educators familiar with the complexities, these students will ultimately have to embrace this challenge alongside their teachers.
Works Cited
Crampton, Hakim Nathaniel. Hip Hopology 101: A Student’s Guide to Exploring the History, Art, Influence & Politics of Urban Culture. 2nd ed. Jackson: AMEN 4 Youth, LLC, 2014. Print.
Perez, Samuel. “Using Ebonics or Black English as a Bridge to Teaching Standard English.” Race, Class, and Culture. Classroom Leadership 2.7 (1999). Web 19 Nov 2014.
Pierce, Dr. Davonne. Personal Interview. 20 Nov 2014.
Rickford, John R. “What is Ebonics (African American English).” Linguistic Society of America. 2012. Web 19 Nov 2014.
Wolfram, Walt. “The Grammar of Urban African American Vernacular.” Diss. Winthrop University, n.d. Web. 19 Nov 2014. pdf
