Key Terms
"We have been carefully taught to examine notions from a one-dimensional perspective, as schools have prepared us to do so by giving us one- sided stories. What has been most costly in this process is the fact that we have elevated "his"tory and have suppressed our very own." Nathaniel Bryan
In order to come to a better understanding of why educators need to rethink language, I have provided a list of key terms that will be very helpful as you navigate this new linguistic journey. It will become useful to add these key terms to your vocabulary as these words will be frequently used throughout each professional development session.
Ally/Allies refer(s) to an individual who support(s) and stand(s) in solidarity with historically marginalized groups (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010)
African-American Language (AAL) See History of AAL.
Bilingual refers to an individual who speaks two languages (Garcia & Wilde, 2011).
Code-switching refers to the ability to translate from one language and back again (Perry & Delpit, 1998;Smitherman,2006).
Contrastive analysis refers to the study of two languages to identify linguistic differences and similarities among them (Wheeler, 2008).
Counter-narratives refer to stories/ narratives that counter, overturn, and problematize dominant views, majoritarian perspectives, and master narratives (which are often untrue, stereotypical, and inaccurate) of a historically marginalized group of individuals (Milner, 2010). These counter-narratives are told and constructed by those who have been marginalized with the intent of disempowering those who have been historically empowered through majoritarian perspectives.
Deficit language refers to disempowering language that often reflects the impossibilities instead of the possibilities of a group of people (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010;Souto-Manning, 2013). See examples of deficit language under Linguicism and Deficit Terminology sub link.
Dominant language refers to the standardized language that is used by the individuals of groups in power or the language spoken and most preferred by the majoritarian group (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2012; Laman, 2013).
English Language Learners (ELL) See History of ELL.
Emergent bilingual refers to an individuals who is in the process of developing linguistic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in another language (Laman, 2013).
Language marginalization is the act of relegating to the margins/ignoring languages that are not apart of the dominant language (Delpit,1999; Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).
Linguicism refers to the act of discriminating against an individual or a group of individuals because of the way they speak (Boutte & Johnson, 2012). See examples of linguicism under the Linguicism and Deficit Terminology sub link.
Linguistic pluralism refers to the focus of language diversity and/or the acknowledgement of the many language variations as
Multilingual refers to an individual who speaks two or more languages (Laman, 2013).