Abstract
Currently most educational systems teach students there is a singular, “correct” way to write. Moralizing language regarding an arbitrary system of standardized English writing, a White Mainstream English (WME) connotes a failure for other languages to conform to a white standard. I teach at a small, open-enrollment, Historically Black University in the Midwest where most of my students explain that their biggest fear is academic failure. The majority of my students self-identify as Black and are Pell Grant eligible. When I surveyed my students, they reported that their biggest fear is failure, both in the class and in the university as a whole; 65% of non-Black students expressed a fear of failure and over 99% of Black students report this same concern. Through incorporating Critical Language Awareness (CLA) and teaching Black Language (BL), which has been labeled Ebonics or African-American vernacular English, as a social justice strategy, students critically consider the oppressive systems of US society, challenge the dominant linguistic social structures, and empower other linguistic norms and languages.
Recommended Citation
Turner Ledgerwood, Kathleen
(2024)
"Teaching Critical Language Awareness to Combat Failure of Black Language in Education,"
Feminist Pedagogy: Vol. 4:
Iss.
5, Article 9.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/feministpedagogy/vol4/iss5/9