Writing teachers across the United States struggle daily with the question of how to assist students who speak what has been variously termed Ebonics, Black English, and African American English. How can these teachers help such students negotiate the differences between how they speak and how mainstream culture expects them to write?

In A Teacher’s Introduction to African American English:  What a Writing Teacher Should Know, Teresa M. Redd and Karen Schuster Webb explain not only what African American English (AAE) is, but also what role it may play in students’ mastery of Standard Written English. Designed especially for writing teachers, this volume is a concise, coherent, and current source that summarizes the major schools of thought about AAE—without polemics or unnecessary jargon—so that readers can draw their own conclusions about AAE and understand how it might influence teaching and learning. Citing leading scholars in the field, the authors explain how AAE differs from other varieties of English, how it developed, how it might influence students’ ability to write Standard English, and how AAE speakers can learn to write Standard English more effectively.

161 pp. 2005. Grades 11–College. ISBN 0-8141-5007-1.

No. 50071