Introduction (10 minutes)

Welcome to Module 5 of Introduction to African-American English for ESL Instructors. During this fifth and final module of our course, we will consider and answer the following essential questions:

  • How do speakers of AAE navigate communicative encounters in various social settings?
  • How do attitudes toward AAE as a legitimate variety of English impact speakers of AAE and society at large, especially in employment and education?
  • What was the Great Migration and how did it affect where AAE is spoken?
  • How can participants use their knowledge of AAE to answer students’ questions about AAE in use?

Explaining and exploring the concepts of bidialectalism, code-switching and diglossia in the context of AAE and SE (20 minutes)

  • A person who is bidialectal has command of two varieties (or dialects) of the same language.
  • The term multidialectal refers to a person with command of multiple varieties (or dialects) of the same language.
  • Code-switching is the act of skillfully using the resources of more than one language or language variety in the same conversation.
    • When a person who speaks AAE uses elements of AAE and SE within the same conversation, they are engaging in code-switching.
    • When bilingual individuals use elements of their two languages (such as Spanish and English) in the same conversation, they are also engaged in code-switching.
    • Code-switching is a common sociolinguistic phenomenon worldwide.
  • Diglossia refers to the sociolinguistic phenomenon in which a person uses different languages or language varieties in different social settings. When a person uses AAE at home but SE at school, they are diglossic.
  • African-American English and Standard English are not completely mutually intelligible and that intelligibility is asymmetric.
    • Most speakers of AAE understand SE fairly well because they are exposed to it regularly.
    • However, many speakers of SE have difficulty understanding AAE because they do not regularly interact with speakers of AAE.
  • Code-switching and diglossia are related sociolinguistic phenomena, but the two terms don’t mean the same thing.

Sharing personal experiences navigating multiple languages and/or language varieties (20 minutes)

Participants will be invited to share their own personal experiences navigating multiple languages and/or language varieties while working in small groups. Participants will be encouraged to discuss examples of their own:

  • Bidialectalism (or multidialectalism)
  • Code-switching
  • Diglossia
  • Experiences facing discrimination based on their language use, especially in employment and education
  • Observation of others who have faced discrimination based on their language use

Activity 5.1: How Much Does It Cost You in Wages if You “Sound Black?” (20 minutes)

  • During this activity, participants will explore the concepts of “sounding white” and “sounding Black.”
  • “Sounding white” is a euphemism or shorthand for speaking SE or another language variety typically associated with white people.
  • “Sounding Black” is a euphemism or shorthand for using AAE or incorporating elements of AAE into one’s speech.
  • Research has shown that most first language English speakers are good at telling whether a person is Black or white based only on hearing their speech.

Activity 5.2: The Great Migration (20 minutes)

  • During this activity, participants will learn more about the Great Migration, which occurred from the 1910s to the 1970s.
  • As a result of the Great Migration, African-Americans and AAE moved outside the Southeastern United States in two waves.
  • During the first wave, African-Americans migrated to cities in the eastern United States and the Midwest.
  • During the second wave, African-Americans migrated west of the Mississippi River, all the way to the Pacific Coast.
  • As a result of the Great Migration, AAE was dispersed throughout the United States to then become spoken in large cities in the Northeast, Midwest, and West.

Parts of Miami where AAE is the dominant variety of English (10 minutes)

  • Spanish is the dominant language in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Of the county’s approximately 3 million residents, about 70% speak Spanish at home.
  • Less than 30% of Miami-Dade County’s population speaks English at home.
  • About 5% of the county’s population speaks Haitian Creole at home.
  • Based on demographic information published by the United States Census Bureau, it is likely that among first-language English speakers in Miami, African-American English is the numerically dominant language variety.
  • African-American English is the dominant variety of English in much of the county’s northwestern areas, including Liberty City, Brownsville, Overtown, North Miami, and Miami Gardens.
  • African-American English is the dominant variety of English in many of county’s unincorporated northwestern areas.
  • Because more people in Miami-Dade County speak AAE at home than SE, most English learners in Miami will eventually interact with speakers of AAE in the community.

Strategies for using knowledge of AAE to answer students’ questions (10 minutes)

ESL instructors should adhere to the following principles when answering students’ questions about AAE:

  • All questions should be taken seriously. No question should ever be dismissed as trivial or inappropriate.
  • Teachers should be careful not to accept all the assumptions students make, such as that AAE represents flawed, imperfect, or ungrammatical English.
  • Teachers should avoid using technical linguistic terminology when answering students’ questions about AAE.
  • Teachers should use consistent, student-friendly terminology when answering students’ questions about/when discussing AAE.
  • Teachers should explain what African-American English is and who speaks it.
  • Answers to students’ questions about AAE should be understandable, concise, accurate, sensitive, and appropriate.
  • Authentic examples of AAE usage should be provided whenever possible.
  • Students should be taught to respect AAE as a full-fledged, rule-governed, coequal variety of English.
  • Teachers will invariably be asked some questions about AAE to which they don’t know (or are unsure of) the answers. In such cases, teachers should first conduct research before attempting to answer the question.

Activity 5.3: Answering Students’ Questions about African-American English (30 minutes)

During Activity 5.3, participants will more deeply explore ways of answering students’ questions about AAE while working with a partner.

  • Participants will discuss and evaluate sample teacher responses to students’ questions about AAE.
  • Participants will then develop their own responses to students’ questions about AAE and compare them to the responses of other members of the group.

Wrap-up, independent research project and study group assignments, and exit ticket (10 minutes)

After the presentation and discussion session has ended, participants will complete an independent research project and engage in reflective work in study groups. Also, before participants leave for the day, they will be asked to complete a brief exit ticket.

Final Course Evaluation (15 minutes)

  • Participants will be given 15 minutes to complete the Final Course Evaluation before they are dismissed.
  • Link to Final Course Evaluation