04: The Great Equalizer — Not So Equal, Not So Great

This is an episode about the education system, and the many linguistic injustices that exist within it. We talk about how students are often at a disadvantage if they don't come into the classroom with a pre-existing fluency in the dominant language, and also how educators can face discrimination based on their accents, before diving into specific examples of times the school system has made an effort to create a better learning environment for students in multicultural contexts.

REFERENCES

AP Archive. (2015, July 21). USA: Washington: Senate debate over Black American dialect Ebonics [Video]. YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUT5E6JXwyc&t=41s

Bon, S. C. (2020, January 14). Lau v. Nichols. In Encyclopaedia Britannica.  www.britannica.com/topic/Lau-v-Nichols

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2018). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America (5th ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.

Freeman, E. B. (1982). The Ann Arbor decision: The importance of teachers’ attitudes toward language. The Elementary School Journal 83(1), 41–47.

Piller, I. (2017). Intercultural Communication: A Critical Approach (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press.

Rickford, J. R. (2002). The Ebonics controversy in my backyard: A sociolinguist’s experiences and reflections. Journal of Sociolinguistics 3(2), 267–275.

Rosenthal, R. & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom: Teacher expectation and pupil’s intellectual development. Crown House.

Scollon, R., Scollon, S. W., & Jones, R. (2012). Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach (3rd ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Yellin, D. (1980). The Black English controversy: Implications from the Ann Arbor case. Journal of Reading 24(2), 150–154.