On December 18, 1996 in light of failure to adequately educate African American students, Oakland California 's Unified School District Board unanimously passed a resolution declaring African American English (AAE) a language in its own right. The board (1996) issued a statement which delineated the resolution and how to move forward stating that “Be it further resolved that the Superintendent in conjunction with her staff shall immediately devise and implement the best possible academic program for imparting instruction to African American students in their primary language for the combined purposes of maintaining the legitimacy and richness of such language” (p. 2). Subsequently, the board and its members were criticized, defamed and
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The strategies of Contrastive Analysis and code-switching have proven themselves to be effective tools in adding to the students ' linguistic capital in both SE and academic language. Contrastive analysis builds upon the strengths students possess in their vernacular, and uses them as springboard for education in the qualities of language in general and in the difference between their vernacular and SE or academic language. Rickford (2002) argues that “this method allows for increased efficiency in the classroom, as teachers can concentrate on the systematic areas of contrast with SE that cause difficulty for vernacular speakers rather than taking on the more daunting task of teaching all of English grammar” (p. 36). An Aurora University study conducted in 1991 divided African American Chicagoan students into two groups to compare instruction effectiveness in teaching composition. The experimental group was educated using contrastive analysis, while the control group was instructed using conventional procedures. After eleven weeks the experimental group showed a dramatic decrease (-59 percent) in the use of AAE features, while the control group showed a slight increase (+8.5 percent) in the use of these features. Another experiment conducted by the Academic English Mastery Program in Los Angeles revealed similar conclusions; although, not just in composition but in reading as well (Rickford, 2002). Efficiency in contrastive analysis provides students with the ability to code-switch, or the ability to choose the pattern of language appropriate to the context. This ability is advantageous for NSE speakers because it permits the students to choose the language form appropriate to the time, place, audience and communicative purpose. Contrastive analysis supports the knowledge in how to code-switch between informal and formal language
The strategies of Contrastive Analysis and code-switching have proven themselves to be effective tools in adding to the students ' linguistic capital in both SE and academic language. Contrastive analysis builds upon the strengths students possess in their vernacular, and uses them as springboard for education in the qualities of language in general and in the difference between their vernacular and SE or academic language. Rickford (2002) argues that “this method allows for increased efficiency in the classroom, as teachers can concentrate on the systematic areas of contrast with SE that cause difficulty for vernacular speakers rather than taking on the more daunting task of teaching all of English grammar” (p. 36). An Aurora University study conducted in 1991 divided African American Chicagoan students into two groups to compare instruction effectiveness in teaching composition. The experimental group was educated using contrastive analysis, while the control group was instructed using conventional procedures. After eleven weeks the experimental group showed a dramatic decrease (-59 percent) in the use of AAE features, while the control group showed a slight increase (+8.5 percent) in the use of these features. Another experiment conducted by the Academic English Mastery Program in Los Angeles revealed similar conclusions; although, not just in composition but in reading as well (Rickford, 2002). Efficiency in contrastive analysis provides students with the ability to code-switch, or the ability to choose the pattern of language appropriate to the context. This ability is advantageous for NSE speakers because it permits the students to choose the language form appropriate to the time, place, audience and communicative purpose. Contrastive analysis supports the knowledge in how to code-switch between informal and formal language