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Code-Meshing as World English: Pedagogy, Policy, Performance edited by Vershawn Ashanti Young and Aja Y. Martinez. Urbana: NCTE, 2011. 298 pp.
Many of us who teach English and write about its tapestry of colorful and rule-governed dialects have long advocated for a more inclusive pedagogy when it comes to the notion of code-switching or what is often referred to as "crossing over." In the December 2007 issue of TETYC, I argued that students should be invited to write in different dialects and discussed the social dynamics that make certain forms of English appropriate for an academic or social setting. In essence, I was joining a collection of prominent theorists who have long decried the way certain minority dialects are relegated to what Geneva Smitherman calls the "backdoor" of linguistic acceptance.
Indeed, the central issue in the Ann Arbor language discrimination case of 1977 revolved around the school's unwillingness to acknowledge their African American students' language and the demand from linguists to value those voices. As recently as 1997, the Oakland, California, School Board resolved to make Ebonics or African American English a starting point for their minority students as they embarked on their perilous journey to Standard White English.
What has been missing is a coherent and readable book on the politics and practical approaches to uniting dialects and languages and establishing a conversation on alternatives to simply reinforcing the language of the college professor. This is where Code-Meshing as World English becomes both valuable and unique. In the first pages Rosina Lippi Green sets the tone when she suggests that "code-meshing begins with...