EDUCATION

African American Vernacular in the English Classroom

The cultural minefield of language

Photo by Zach Vessels on Unsplash

In the old days, it was called Black English. In 1973, African American social psychologist Dr. Robert Williams labeled it “Ebonics.” That name stuck, and for years this was the “correct” term to use. Today, what was once Black English or Ebonics is now referred to as African American Vernacular English, or AAVE. Something tells me we are not done renaming this way of speaking.

I teach in an urban high school where the student body is 100% African-American and 100% poor. It’s a rough place and probably not where many would choose to live if they had another choice. The thing is, my students don’t have another choice. This is it.

Nearly all of my students have grown up speaking African American Vernacular English (AAVE). For a long time, there was a debate about whether AAVE was simply poor English, a dialect, or a language unto itself. The debate is ongoing, and AAVE's exact nature depends on who you ask.

Photo by Segun Osunyomi on Unsplash

Some people still think of it as a sign of laziness and that people who speak AAVE could speak standard English…