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Although Ebonics, a word coined from a fusion of ebony and phonics, and a word synonymous with Black English, has been in existence since the 1970s, few people had heard of it before December 18, 1996, when the Oakland, California, Board of Education passed a resolution recognizing Ebonics as the dominant language that many students in that district speak. As the Oakland case makes clear, no other subject in language is frought with as much controversy as Black English. On the one hand, many Americans, both African American and White, see it as an impediment to African American success-stigmatized, nonstandard dialect that users must overcome to get ahead. On the other hand, many others think it should be preserved as an important part of the heritage and cultural autonomy of the African American community. How are teachers to respond to this issue? Why should speakers of Black English learn standard English? And how can teachers teach standard English in a way that respects and maintains the culturally distinct communication styles of many African American students, while ensuring that these students acquire standard English?
Standard English, what Delpit (1988) refers to as the "power code," is the version of English that is the measure of success in the larger society. Linguist Charles E. Fries (1940) summed up the situation when he concluded that standard English was a compelling necessity for the advancement of cross-cultural groups in our society, since it was "the particular type of English which is used in the conduct of the important affairs of our people. It is also a type of English used by the socially acceptable of most of our communities and insofar as that is true it has become a social and class dialect in the United States" (p. 13). Competence in standard English, therefore, is a worthy goal for the speakers of Black English, but it must not mean a rejection or replacement of one language and culture with another. Rather, it should be viewed as language expansion and enrichment of the student's home language to include standard English, giving students the language skills to communicate with a wider community. (Galda, Cullinan, & Strickland, 1993). The example of Martin Luther King makes this point. Dr. King wrote and...