Should black English be considered a second language?

Jet, Jan 27, 1997

The recent decision by the Oakland, California, school board to declare Black English as a second language has sparked a heated debate from coast-to-coast.

The board's action has triggered wide range of responses from disbelief and shock to strong support.

JET interviewed a series of educators, language experts and public school advocates from across the try to get their opinions on whether Black English should be considered a separate language in the U.S.

The Oakland Unified School District recently announced that its decision has been somewhat misunderstood in the media.

Critics charged that the board was legitimizing slang and lowering standards for Black students. Other critics have accused the Oakland school board of seeking special bilingual funds. The board has denied all of the critics' claims.

The board says it does not plan to teach Black English in the classroom. The board's plan, however, is to have special training programs for teachers to become more familiar with Black English language patterns, which would help in teaching Black students to build a bridge to standard English.

The board believes that if teachers understand that many young Black children speak Black English, they would be successful in teaching them standard English.

Blacks make up 53 percent of Oakland's public school district, and only 81 percent of the Black students who make it to the 12th grade graduate, said Carolyn Getridge, Oakland's school superintendent in a letter published on the front page of The Oakland Tribune newspaper.

Some 71 percent of Black students in Oakland are enrolled in special education classes. The average grade point average of Black students in Oakland is 1.8 compared to the district's average 2.4, and "64 percent of students who repeat the same grade are African American," Getridge explained.

"These statistics are both mind-numbing and a cause for moral out-rage," Ms. Getridge said. The question is not whether we must act. Rather, we are confronted by questions about how best to act," she added.

Oakland School Board Director Toni Cook issued a statement clarifying the district's positions on Black English, or Ebonics as it is often called. "The Oakland Unified School district is not replacing the teaching of standard English with any other language. We are not teaching Ebonics. What we are doing in Oakland is providing our teachers and parents with the tools to address the diverse languages our children bring into the classroom."

Dr. Richard Wright, professor of linguistics at the Howard University School of Communications in Washington, D.C., told JET, "Black English is not a second language. It is a variation of what we call English within English. Black people have put their mark on the language, but the language is essentially English and should not be viewed as a second language."

Dr. Wright does believe, however, that teachers should be aware of Black English if they want to successfully reach some of their students. "It is critical in a multi-ethnic, complex environment that teachers know as much as they can about the backgrounds of their children, which includes aspects of what they call their language."

Dr. Harry Morgan, professor of early childhood at the State University of West Georgia in Carrollton, GA, maintains that Black English is not a separate language, but rather a dialect. "Black English should not be viewed as a separate language. It is a separate dialect, and you might call it Black English. It has its own scientific base and you can follow it logically." He adds that teacher should recognize Black English "as starting point for teaching standard English."

In Black English, words lose a "d" following a vowel, so "good" becomes "goo." And the final "th" is sometimes replaced with "f" so "with" becomes "wif." Also acceptable are double or triple negatives such as "I'm not going back there no more."

Black English is not new and is believed to date back to slavery, experts note. There are no figures available on the number of school districts that have Black English training programs for teachers, but there have been Ebonics programs in California schools since 1989, the USA Today reported.

Sandra K. Chapman who teaches 3 and 4 year old youngsters at the Bank Street School for Children in New York, Supports Oakland's policy which classifies Black English as a separate language.

"Black English is a separate language," Ms. Chapman notes. "You have to translate Black English into standard English, which means that Black English stands for something." She believes teachers should be trained to be sensitive to Black English. "Teachers must meet and understand the needs of the community."

The Linguistic Society of America, a national association of language scholars, recently passed a resolution which supports Oakland's plan.

"Characterizations of Ebonics as `slang,' `mutant,' `lazy' `defective,' `ungrammatical' or `broken English' are incorrect and demeaning," the association's resolution stated. The group's resolution also said Oakland's "decision to recognize the vernacular of African-American students in teaching them standard English is linguitically and pedagogically sound."