Critical Language Pedagogy: Interrogating Language, Dialects, and Power in Teacher Education

202 Pages·2018·1.66 MB·

by  Amanda J. Godley, Jeffrey Reaser

9
Critical Language Pedagogy: Interrogating Language, Dialects, and Power in Teacher Educa-
tion demonstrates how critical approaches to language and dialects are an essential
part of social justice work in literacy education. The text details the largest and most
comprehensive study ever conducted on teachers’ language beliefs and learning C
about dialects, power, and identity. It describes the experiences of over 300 pre- and R
I
in-service teachers from across the United States who participated in a course on T
I
how to enact Critical Language Pedagogy in their English classrooms. C
A
Through detailed analyses and descriptions, the authors demonstrate how the course
L
changed teachers’ beliefs about language, literacy, and their students. The book also
L
presents information about the effectiveness of the mini-course, variations in the
A
responses of teachers from different regions of the United States, and the varying N
language beliefs of teachers of color and White teachers. The authors present the G
entire mini-course so that readers can incorporate it into their own classes, making U
A
the book practical as well as informative for teachers, teacher educators, and educa-
G
tional researchers.
E

Critical Language Pedagogy: Interrogating Language, Dialects, and Power in Teacher Educa- P
tion provides a much-needed theoretical explanation of Critical Language Pedagogy E
D
and, just as importantly, a detailed description of teacher learning and a Critical Lan-
A
guage Pedagogy curriculum that readers can use in K-12, college, and teacher educa-
G
tion classrooms.
O
G
AMANDA J. GODLEY, Ph.D., is Professor of English Education and Y

Language, Literacy and Culture at the University of Pittsburgh. A

former English teacher, she researches issues of equity and litera-

cy learning in high school English classrooms.
G
O
D
L
E
Y
JEFFREY REASER, Ph.D., is Professor of English at North Carolina

A CRITICAL LANGUAGE PEDAGOGY
State University where he directs the secondary English education N
D
program and serves as Associate Director of the Language and Life
R
Project. His work includes the award-winning book Talkin’ Tar Heel E
A
and Dialects at School. S
E
R Interrogating Language, Dialects,
and Power in Teacher Education
www.peterlang.com
P
E
T
E
R
L
A
NG AMANDA J. GODLEY JEFFREY REASER
AND
Cover image: ©iStock.com/Kubkoo
9
Critical Language Pedagogy: Interrogating Language, Dialects, and Power in Teacher Educa-
tion demonstrates how critical approaches to language and dialects are an essential
part of social justice work in literacy education. The text details the largest and most
comprehensive study ever conducted on teachers’ language beliefs and learning C
about dialects, power, and identity. It describes the experiences of over 300 pre- and R
I
in-service teachers from across the United States who participated in a course on T
I
how to enact Critical Language Pedagogy in their English classrooms. C
A
Through detailed analyses and descriptions, the authors demonstrate how the course
L
changed teachers’ beliefs about language, literacy, and their students. The book also
L
presents information about the effectiveness of the mini-course, variations in the
A
responses of teachers from different regions of the United States, and the varying N
language beliefs of teachers of color and White teachers. The authors present the G
entire mini-course so that readers can incorporate it into their own classes, making U
A
the book practical as well as informative for teachers, teacher educators, and educa-
G
tional researchers.
E

Critical Language Pedagogy: Interrogating Language, Dialects, and Power in Teacher Educa- P
tion provides a much-needed theoretical explanation of Critical Language Pedagogy E
D
and, just as importantly, a detailed description of teacher learning and a Critical Lan-
A
guage Pedagogy curriculum that readers can use in K-12, college, and teacher educa-
G
tion classrooms.
O
G
AMANDA J. GODLEY, Ph.D., is Professor of English Education and Y

Language, Literacy and Culture at the University of Pittsburgh. A

former English teacher, she researches issues of equity and litera-

cy learning in high school English classrooms.
G
O
D
L
E
Y
JEFFREY REASER, Ph.D., is Professor of English at North Carolina

A CRITICAL LANGUAGE PEDAGOGY
State University where he directs the secondary English education N
D
program and serves as Associate Director of the Language and Life
R
Project. His work includes the award-winning book Talkin’ Tar Heel E
A
and Dialects at School. S
E
R Interrogating Language, Dialects,
and Power in Teacher Education
www.peterlang.com
P
E
T
E
R
L
A
NG AMANDA J. GODLEY JEFFREY REASER
AND
Cover image: ©iStock.com/Kubkoo
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR
Critical Language Pedagogy

“This is an eloquently written and inspiring book about language and power in
schools and classrooms. This book is a gift—a real gem—for teacher educators and
teachers committed to disrupting injustice and building on the many linguistic assets
of students. The authors insist that we reconsider what we believe we know, redesign
our curriculum practices, rethink our pedagogical moves, and reimagine our
discursive interactions in order to honor and cultivate diverse identity spaces. A
welcome addition to the literature, the book reminds us that White teachers can and
must be prepared to teach for language equity, justice, and humanity.”
—H. Richard Milner IV, Helen Faison Professor of Urban Education,
University of Pittsburgh

“The Critical Language Pedagogy curriculum is timely and necessary for college and
middle- to high-school curricula. The authors do a magnificent job of creating a
curriculum that teachers are hungry for and students need. When I attend
conferences with practitioners, they often buy the message but want to know how to
implement it. This book does that and more. Readers should walk away determining
when to implement the Critical Language Pedagogy curriculum in their teaching. I
know I will.”
—Sonja L. Lanehart, Professor and Brackenridge Endowed Chair in Literature and
the Humanities, University of Texas at San Antonio, and Author of Sista, Speak!:
Black Women Kinfolk Talk about Language and Literacy

“Amanda J. Godley and Jeffrey Reaser have not only developed a wonderful,
sociolinguisically informed resource for teachers in their Critical Language Pedagogy
(CLP) curriculum, but they have field-tested it with 301 teachers from a variety of
racial and regional backgrounds. The feedback they report in this book will be
invaluable in refining CLP for future iterations, and for helping teachers and
researchers who want to attempt similar lesson plans on their own. This highly
innovative book fulfills a real need for those working at the nexus of linguistics and
education.”
—John R. Rickford, Professor of Linguistics and the Humanities at Stanford
University, Past President of the Linguistic Society of America, and Co-author
of the Award-winning Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English

Critical Language Pedagogy
sj Miller & Leslie David Burns
G E N E R A L E D I T O RS

Vol. 9

The Social Justice Across Contexts in Education series is
part of the Peter Lang Education list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Amanda J. Godley and Jeffrey Reaser

Critical Language Pedagogy

Interrogating Language, Dialects,
and Power in Teacher Education

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Control Number: 2017052909

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

ISBN 978-1-4331-5303-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4331-5305-1 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4331-5306-8 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-5307-5 (epub)
ISBN 978-1-4331-5308-2 (mobi)
DOI 10.3726/b13148

© 2018 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
table of contents
List of Tables xi
Foreword: Moving beyond Uncritical, Conformist, and
Assimilationist Models of Language Pedagogy xiii
Acknowledgments xxi
List of Abbreviations xxiii
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Research on Dialects 5
The Racial, Cultural and Linguistic Landscape
of U.S. Schools 13
Dialects and Language Ideologies in Schools 13
Instruction on Dialect Diversity 16
Code-Switching and Contrastive Analysis 17
Code-Meshing and Identity 19
Socio-Historical Approaches 20
Critical Language Pedagogy 21
Overview of the Following Chapters 24
Notes 25
References 25
vi critical language pedagogy
Chapter 2: The Critical Language Pedagogy Curriculum 31
The Design of the Critical Language Pedagogy
Mini-Course 32
Content Knowledge 32
Pedagogical Content Knowledge 33
Challenging Current Beliefs 34
Mini-Course Topics 35
The Complete Curriculum 36
Introduction to the Mini-Course 37
Module 1: Teaching about Dialects in Literature 41
Introduction to Module 1 41
CCSS Addressed 42
Opening Scenario 42
Readings and Assignments 43
Day 1 43
Day 2 44
Module 2: Addressing Vernacular Dialects in
Student Writing and Talk 44
Introduction to Module 2 44
CCSS Addressed 45
Opening Scenario 45
Readings and Assignments 46
Day 1 46
Day 2 47
Reading 1: Talking about Language
Variation with Your Students 49
Reading 2: Discovering Dialect Patterns:
A Special Use of BE in African
American English 52
Reading 3: Errors in Student Writing 54
Module 3: Students’ Investigations of Identity
and Variation in Their Own Language 58
Introduction to Module 3 58
CCSS Addressed 60
Opening Scenario 60
Readings and Assignments 60
Day 1 60
Day 2 62