Affirming Students' Right to their Own Language

A Co-publication of the National Council of Teachers of English and Routledge.

How can teachers make sound pedagogical decisions and advocate for educational policies that best serve the needs of students in today’s diverse classrooms? What is the pedagogical value of providing culturally and linguistically diverse students greater access to their own language and cultural orientations?

This landmark volume responds to the call to attend to the unfinished pedagogical business of the NCTE Conference on College Composition and Communication 1974 Students’ Right to Their Own Language resolution. Chronicling the interplay between legislated/litigated education policies and language and literacy teaching in diverse classrooms, it presents exemplary research-based practices that maximize students' learning by utilizing their home-based cultural, language, and literacy practices to help them meet school expectations.

Pre-service teachers, practicing teachers, and teacher educators need both resources and knowledge, including global perspectives, about language variation in PreK-12 classrooms and hands-on strategies that enable teachers to promote students’ use of their own language in the classroom while also addressing mandated content and performance standards. This book meets that need.

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Jerrie Cobb Scott is Professor of Urban Literacy and Director of the Reading Center at the University of Memphis.

Dolores Y. Straker (deceased) was Dean of the Raymond Walters College at the University of Cincinnati.

Laurie Katz is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at The Ohio State University.