Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography
Whitney, Jessica. “Five Easy Pieces: Steps Toward Integrating AAVE into the Classroom.” The English Journal 94.5 (May, 2005): 64-69.
This article discusses five steps for teachers to accept AAVE in the classroom and how to deal with it. It goes into detail about what AAVE can do for students when supported and how it can allow for cultural relativism and language equality. This can be used because there are five direct and specific steps that Whitney provides and gives good examples and background information.

Wheeler, Rebecca S. "Codeswitching: Tools of Language and Culture Transform the Dialectally Diverse Classroom." Language Arts Vol 81. Iss 6. Jul 2004 470-481. 29 Mar 2009.
This article is about African American students speaking and writing in AAVE in the classroom setting. It is a great article because it is very closely related to the main topic of paper three. Wheeler also has another article that discusses code switching that can be tied in with this one to construct an effective argument.

Ball, Arnetha. “Expository Writing Patterns of African American Students.” The English Journal 85.1(1996): 27-36.
This article generally describes the uses of AAVE and how they are tied in with other languages. Ball follows four students and critiques their use of AAVE and how successful they are in the academic setting. This article goes into depth about how AAVE can be used in papers, but only some features of AAVE. Some AAVE features even make academic papers better due to repetition and talking directly to the audience. This can be used to show that AAVE can effectively be used in academic papers if used correctly and discreetly.

Nembhard, Judith. " Perspective on Teaching Black Dialect Speaking Students to Write Standard English." The Journal of Negro Education. 52.2 (1983): 75-82
Nembhard argues that African American AAVE users should learn to use Standard English, and students should be graded based on strict and high standards, so that students will be more successful. She argues that educators should not be afraid to fail a student if the student does not deserve to pass. Examples of new and different writing and oral exercises are given, she says that these strategies and practices should be used both inside the classroom and outside. She argues that AAVE should not be used in the academic setting unless it in being compared to Standard English, I am not sure so about this stand but I feel like I may be able to use it as an example of a possible argument in my paper.

DW3b

"Five Easy Pieces: Steps toward Integrating AAVE into the Classroom." By Jessica Whitney
Whitney starts out the paper by stating how she is confused about AAVE in her classroom, and how she thinks we should approach the AAVE barrier and start accepting it more. She acknowledges her power in the classroom as a facilitator or learning and a physical representation of what is good, and she questions herself about how to adequately deal with AAVE in the academic setting. She goes on to give five steps on how to integrate AAVE into the classroom and acknowledge its presence.
Step 1: Teacher, Educate Thyself
One of the biggest obstacles teachers face while dealing with AAVE is ignorance. People tend to make bad judgments about linguistic features associated with AAVE. Teachers should educated themselves about the apparent stereotypes of AAVE and then learn to combat them by working in the students home language, which will in turn help them achieve academic success.
Step 2: Incorporate Multiculturalism into the Classroom
In order to AAVE in the classroom, we must create a learning environment that emphasizes diversity in language, experiences, and culture. Kim Brian Lovejoy integrated this into his classroom by allowing his students to bring in nonmainstream varieties of writings and speech. This allowed for in depth class discussion, as well as cultural and linguistic learning. Whitney points out that only 56% of African American students graduate from high school, some of this due to being discriminated against due to their use of AAVE. This is a good point, she argues that the status quo of teaching AAVE is not working, as emphasized by the low graduation rate, and she writes this paper in order to educate and reverse the status quo. Multiculturalism makes school more relevant and effective for minority students, thus increasing their ability to succeed and have successful lives and careers. She states that educators must not give their students a one-sided view of the world as they are doing now, and that they should be given more cultural opportunities.
Step 3: Create a Learning Environment Rich in Oral Language
Reading texts aloud to students can help to immerse them into a learning environment that is rich in oral language. The way a student speaks and is spoken to is very closely related to the way a student writes, so if one can illustrate that AAVE is a natural way to speak, then the student will feel more comfortable using AAVE in the classroom. In class debates, readings, and discussions can help integrate the students into the oral classroom environment and puts an emphasis on the home language.
Step 4: Emphasize and Demonstrate Code Switching in the Classroom
It is true that not every language type is useful in every situation, some situations call for more formal speaking while others have a more laid back setting. And it is important to know when and how to do this. Whitney states that when teachers work with students to contrast the differences between non-Standard English and Standard English, students are less likely to use AAVE in their writing. And Rickford’s research proves this, when students were taught the structural differences, their writing in Standard English improved by 59%.
Step 5: Allow Student to Write like Real Writers
Educators need to teach students how to write to different audiences. Different audiences react differently to each writing techniques and each is effective in a different way. When students are awake of the intended audience, they can critically reflect on their choice of words. Educators should make students aware of how to change their writing based on who they are trying to write to.

DW3a

For this writing assignment I chose to read “Expository Writing Patterns of African American Students” by Arnetha Ball. She starts out by giving a great example of how AAVE is discriminated against in the academic setting; she uses the child who wrote a creative story with the word “ain’t” in it and was deducted due to it. She then goes on to say, “Yet, within some classrooms, the everyday language of AAVE speakers is "judged uneducated, sloppy, and ugly, or believed to be a debased form of so-called correct English” which reinforces the words of the younger student.
Ball went on to study four individuals, two male and two female, three of the four described themselves as being bidialectal. They spoke AAVE occasionally but for the most part they spoke and wrote in mainstream Standard English. While one said that he spoke AAVE during most settings. She emphasized how each of them were very skilled in switching between dialects based on the level of formality needed in the discussion. Five text samples were taken during this one year research study, and they were analyzed for AAVE features. She notes that AAVE features such as rhythmic language and repetition could be appropriately used in such academic writing settings. Ball analyzes a text from an essay about Emerson and Malcolm X, and explains how the writer uses the inclusive “we” and speaks directly to his audience with “you”. Ball concludes that the student effectively incorporates traditional African American discourse into his paper.
I agree with the things Ball has said and her examples are very concise and appropriate. She indirectly compares the use of AAVE of a fifth grader to the traditional African American discourse of a senior in high school, and how one can be acceptable while the other is not seen as acceptable in academics. The older student does not use words associated with AAVE, but ideas and other features, which make the AAVE harder to spot therefore apparently making it easier to accept. She proves that AAVE can be incorporated into compositional writings.
When the students were allowed to choose their own topic, they exhibited a heightened sense of personal authority, “This was evidenced by a more frequent use of AAVE idioms, double negatives, and questions embedded in sentences without using question inversion.”
Bell’s paper does make an effective argument about AAVE in compositional studies. It shows that in some cases AAVE is used and is accepted when it is not as obvious, but it is not accepted by professors when the AAVE is more obvious, such as specific words that the fifth grader used.

IAR Analysis 2

Taking Black Technology Use Seriously: African American Discursive Traditions in the Digital Underground
by Adam Banks

What is Invention? (What activities did the writer have to engage in to create the text?)
· AAVE research
· Quoting specific scholars, Smitherman
· Research on Blackplanet.com
What is being Invented? (What ideas, practices, arguments, etc. are created by the text?)
· People talk and express themselves differently online
· People feel more comfortable online
· How AAVE is appropriated online
· AA is going “underground”
What is being arranged? (What is being put in relation to what?)
· AAVE online and other digital mainstream sites
· “Underground” and digital divide
· “Underground” and AAVE
· AAVE and digital divide
What is arrangement? (How are things being put in relation to one another?)
· Problems to causes
· Problems to solutions
· Compare and contrast
· Examples to conclusions
What is being revised? (What is the writer trying to change (e.g. what ideas, practices, etc.)?)
· Eliminate stereotypes that AAVE is below SE
· Take away the digital divide
· Accept AAVE as a primary language just like SE, become bilingual
What is revision? (What strategies are engaged specifically to help the writer achieve the revisions?)
· Smitherman quotes
· Own quotes and examples (real life)
· Blackplanet.com examples