
It's Not an Error, It's a Language
While a master鈥檚 student at Eastern Michigan University, Shenika Hankerson was asked to fix her writing errors and turn an assignment back in. The only problem was, what errors?
She couldn鈥檛 see them, and when she showed the paper to family members, they couldn鈥檛 either. It was almost as if she and the instructor were communicating in different languages 鈥攁nd today, the assistant professor (pictured below) in the College of Education鈥檚 Applied Linguistics and Language Education program knows that they were.
Rather than turning her off to higher education, or causing her to meekly endeavor to stamp out whatever offended the instructor, the incident sparked Hankerson鈥檚 research, which explores how writing is taught to African American Language (AAL) speakers in universities and community colleges, and studies whether antiracist approaches can inspire learning.
She鈥檚 convinced, based on the work of many scholars, that Black students have a right to their mother tongue. What Hankerson calls AAL, also known as Black English or Ebonics, has structural features that reach back to the languages of enslaved Africans shipped to North America. An estimated 80% to 90% of African Americans at times use some form of the language, she says, which evolved鈥 and continues to develop鈥攖o suit users鈥 needs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not an error, it鈥檚 a language,鈥 she says. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to have inclusive, democratic, and socially just classrooms, educators must make an effort to educate themselves on what AAL is ... to integrate racial and linguistic equity as a core mission in their curriculum.鈥
Such a curriculum is inclusive, she says, allowing students to stretch their writing wings using their own language, while also using academic language to help students work effectively in the classroom.
Hankerson directs Project RISE (Research Institute for Scholars in Education), which provides underrepresented undergrads from local universities with paid research and career development training in education. Such work is vital at the 91大神, set in an African American-majority county, says Jeff MacSwan, professor and head of the Applied Linguistics and Language Education program.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the university鈥檚 job to relate to and serve the community in which it鈥檚 situated,鈥 he says.
Students don鈥檛 necessarily have to flip a switch; through 鈥渃ode meshing,鈥 AAL speakers can introduce elements of their language across language barriers, enriching English in general while ensuring mutual comprehension.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working on equity, which means honoring every language, including AAL,鈥 Hankerson says.