This article considers how linguists (more specifically, linguists from the U.S. South) view their responsibility to advance educational equality and justice. Drawing upon insights learned from working with inclusive groups of Southern K–12 educators, the authors call upon linguists to broaden their focus and extend their engagement efforts from K–12 to the sphere of higher education. African American, Latinx, Native American, and Asian American students and faculty are particularly underrepresented in linguistics departments. These disparities require linguists to think more deeply about what linguistics is, who it is for, and who it benefits so that they might develop strategies and models for social change. This article provides theoretical discussion on these issues and offers practical strategies that linguists can use to address underrepresentation, broaden participation, and promote inclusive student achievement in higher education. With their disciplinary insights into communication, culture, educational equity, and linguistic justice, linguists—particularly Southern linguists—are well positioned to contribute to educational justice in ways that benefit our discipline, speakers, communities, and academia at large.
Dismantling “The Master’s Tools”: Moving Students’ Rights To Their Own Language From Theory To Practice
Anne H. Charity Hudley is the North Hall Endowed Chair in the Linguistics of African America at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and director of undergraduate research for the College of Letters and Science. She also serves on the Linguistic Society of America Executive Committee and as a fellow in the UCSB Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning (CITRAL) and as faculty in residence. Her research addresses the relationship between language variation and K–16 educational practices and policies. She is the coauthor of three books, including The Indispensable Guide to Undergraduate Research: Success in and beyond College (Teachers College Press, 2017). E-mail: [email protected].
Christine Mallinson is director of the Center for Social Science Scholarship, professor of language, literacy, and culture, and affiliate professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her research examines the intersections of language, culture, and education, focusing on English language variation in the United States. She is the coauthor of Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools (Teachers College Press, 2011) and We Do Language: English Language Variation in the Secondary English Classroom (Teachers College Press, 2014). She is also the coeditor of Data Collection in Sociolinguistics: Methods and Applications, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2018), and Rural Voices: Language, Identity, and Social Change across Place (Lexington Books, 2018). E-mail: [email protected].
Anne H. Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson; Dismantling “The Master’s Tools”: Moving Students’ Rights To Their Own Language From Theory To Practice. American Speech 1 August 2018; 93 (3-4): 513–537. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-7271305
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