Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story. In
TEDGlobal Conference. https://www. ted. com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/transcript.
This TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie speaks about the dangers of generalizing people within different social groups. It addresses how monoliths do not account for how dynamic and complex our society and individual identities are. This is not a peer-reviewed source, but its purpose is more anecdotal than research-based. While not scholarly, this source is reliable because it is a first-hand account of Adichie’s own lived experiences and her interpretations of them. “The Danger of a Single Story” answers my research questions with its discussion of stereotypes and their influence on one’s status. Adichie shares stories of situations in which she’s been judged based on her background (linguistic and otherwise) as well as situations in which she’s done the judging.
Barbian, E., Gonzales, G. C., & Mejia, P. (Eds.). (2017). Rethinking bilingual education:
Welcoming home languages in our classrooms. Rethinking Schools.
Chapter 1 of this text is a collection of language stories about how people experience oppression based on their language identities. It focuses on linguistic discrimination in the school setting and how schools normalize monolingualism. This chapter comes from a scholarly source with multiple authors that provides educators with strategies to be more inclusive and accepting of home languages in schools. This “Language Stories” chapter helps answer my research questions because it is a collection of experiences based on students’ languages. As I speak with students to gather information for the Inquiry Project, I will be learning about their experiences with language. I can identify similarities between the stories shared in the chapter and the stories I gather from speaking with students.
Christensen, L. (2017). Uncovering the legacy of language and power. Rethinking bilingual education. Welcoming home languages in our classrooms, 97-107.
This source recount’s a language arts teacher Linda Christensen’s lesson about the historical association between language and power and the role of schools in sustaining ideas about language inferiority. It explains that language hierarchies are the result of imperialism, conquest, and globalization. This is not a peer-reviewed source, but it is a teacher’s firsthand account of her experiences of trial and error when creating a language unit centered on linguistic diversity published by Rethinking Schools. This source helps answer my research questions because it directs me to specific patterns throughout history that have helped shape attitudes toward language today. I can use this information to evaluate how themes of conquest have stood the test of time through student interviews and how we might combat these themes in the classroom.
Janks, H., Dixon, K., Ferreira, A., Granville, S., & Newfield, D. (2013). Doing critical literacy: Texts and activities for students and teachers. Routledge.
This source entitles “Section 3: Language and language varieties” discusses language hierarchies and the role of language in one’s identity. It explains that languages carry different social values, and these values are determined largely by ideas held about the people who speak them. It also speaks about English dominance and linguistic prejudice. This is a scholarly source written by five teachers/lecturers at Johannesburg, South Africa’s Wits University, all with educational backgrounds related to language and literacy. Janks and her colleagues’ writing will help answer my research questions because it uncovers how linguistic identities work to move people up and down the social ladder. It reveals how one’s language, accent, or dialect has a strong influence on the opportunities he or she is awarded in life.