73English Journal 106.4 (2017): 73–75

Other People’s English: Code- Meshing, Code- Switching, and African American LiteracyVershawn Ashanti Young, Rusty Barrett, Y’Shanda Young- Rivera, and Kim Brian Lovejoy. Teachers College, 2014.

I have long been a proponent of the pedagogy of code- switching, teaching students how they quite naturally move from one version of English to another by virtue of their context at the time. For exam-ple, one speaks differently when addressing a superior in a formal situation than a friend in an infor-mal one. Code- switching has also been shown to be an effective way to help students who are fluent in African American English to add standardized English to their lin-guistic repertoires. The concept of code- switching has also helped me better understand my own linguis-tic development, as I’ve moved from primarily working- class to primarily academic social circles. Rebecca Wheeler’s work has been particularly influential.

There are those who find prob-lems with code- switching and prefer code- meshing pedagogy: encouraging students to integrate different versions of English into single documents. I admit to hav-ing been confused by the idea of

while benefitting students’ ability to use standardized English, also caused her students to develop negative feelings about them-selves and how they use their lan-guage (Young 3).

What is code- meshing, really? In his section of the book, Lovejoy draws a 40- year- old example from well- known linguist and long- time English Journal columnist Geneva Smitherman (144):

First off, we got to start with some basics. This gon be a column bout the language aspect of English teaching. Since Black idiom is the “dialect of my nurture,” and since I believe in the legitimacy of ALL dialects of American English, ahm gon run it down in the Black Thang. (1974b, p. 16)

Smitherman, speaking to the EJ audience, uses both the lan-guage of standardized English and African American English. The power of the statement would be entirely diminished were it writ-ten only in standardized English. Why teach students to code- mesh? Young asks why English teachers wouldn’t: “Why not reduce, if not avoid, sociolinguistic and educa-tional conflicts by allowing stu-dents and professionals to merge their Englishes, to produce the best prose from a combination of all their language resources?” (5)

code- meshing and how a pedagogy based on it would assist students in developing linguistic compe-tency across versions of English. Other People’s English: Code- Meshing, Code- Switching, and African Amer-ican Literacy has finally helped me understand and value code- meshing as an approach to teaching language, and I highly recommend that colleagues check it out.

Code- Switching vs. Code- Meshing

Composed by a group of linguists and teachers, Other People’s English is a clearly written and practically useful volume for teachers inter-ested in a more expansive under-standing of English language. Young’s introduction surveys the territory well, and the remainder of the book provides additional background and helpful analyses of real classroom scenarios.

According to Young, the ped-agogy of code- switching— which encourages students to think of their home versions of English as legitimate, rule- bound languages (as they truly are)— also has the unfortunate effect of “segregating” home language and school lan-guage. And, he draws on a 2008 study by Erin McCrossan Cassar that found that code- switching,

Book Reviews

Ken Lindblom, Column Editor

EJ_Mar_2017_C.indd 73 3/14/17 8:52 PM

74 March 2017

Book Reviews

enough to not be racist” (74; italics added).

This stance forms the heart of Michael’s book, and it signifies the revelation, the challenge, and the instruction this book pro-vides. Not being racist is empty sentiment if the larger systems of oppression and inequity continue unabated and if teachers do not understand how we contribute to and/or resist those larger systems in our work.

According to Michael, a White woman, White people who seek to be antiracist must first develop, for themselves, a positive racial identity. Unfortunately, many White people are uncomfortable with this possibly because White supremacists have dominated the narrative of White ethnicity (3). In response, many well- intentioned White people have established a strategic “colorblindness”:

Having a positive racial identity— for White people— does not mean feeling good about being White. It means having an understanding of what it means to be White in a society that historically, contem-porarily, and systematically favored Whiteness above other races. It means acknowledging one’s racial privilege and the his-tory of racial oppression in the United States, while recognizing and confronting the racism that

Kim Brian Lovejoy applies code- meshing strategies to college writ-ing classes, and creative secondary teachers will find much of what he discusses readily adaptable.

I save the third section for last because it’s the section most likely to engage high school and middle school English teachers: “Code- Meshing and Responsible Education in Two Middle School Classrooms” (87– 120). Here, middle school teacher Y’Shanda Young- Rivera describes in detail how she implemented a code- meshing pedagogy with her stu-dents, and she shows examples of their code- meshed writing. She describes her reservations and her hopes, and teachers will appreciate her journey. In the end, Young- Rivera finds that this new form of teaching produces students who “felt free to write and express themselves . . . weren’t fearful that what they wrote would be wrong . . . [and] felt empowered” (111).

Other People’s English offers a well- written, thoughtful approach to teaching English language in all its rich forms, taking into account the experiences and back-grounds of its users and learners. It would be an excellent addition to EJ readers’ libraries.

Raising Race Questions: Whiteness and Inquiry in EducationAli Michael. Teachers College, 2015.

Ali Michael travels the country to facilitate “antiracism train-ing.” She says many teachers react defensively to this, claiming, “But we’re not racist.” To this, Michael responds, “[T]he training does not assume they are racist. But it does assume that in order to cre-ate an antiracist classroom, it’s not

A fair question, and one well informed, well- reasoned, and well answered in the chapters of Other People’s English.

Code- Meshing in the Classroom

Other People’s English is written in clear language, and though it necessarily includes specialized linguistics terminology, it is all carefully explained. The authors see new English teachers and vet-eran English teachers who may have little background in linguis-tics as one of their primary audi-ences. In his introduction, Young quickly outlines differences among terms such as “Standard English,” “standard English,” and “stan-dardized English” (10). He also explains why the authors prefer calling dialects other than stan-dardized English “undervalued English” rather than the “more pejorative nonstandard English” (11; italics in original).

In the first section of the book, Rusty Barrett gives history and background on African American English. In the second, Vershawn Ashanti- Young takes up code- switching pedagogy, explaining what he and the researchers he cites see as the pitfalls of the approach. In the fourth and final section,

EJ_Mar_2017_C.indd 74 3/14/17 8:52 PM

75English Journal

Book Reviews

two recent rape cases; some friends said this inequity results from one bad judge (which is probably true) and from nothing more than that (which is certainly not true). That there is one PLE doesn’t mean there isn’t simultaneously a larger, sys-temic problem as well. PLEs too often end conversations that could otherwise further explore racial inequity.

Not an Attack

I am grateful for Ali Michael’s Raising Race Questions because it is an honest yet gentle approach to racial awareness and antiracism, especially for White readers. Readers will not feel attacked. In fact, in his foreword, Shaun R. Harper takes up the unproductive harm that occurs when one hurls what he calls the “R- word” (ix). Michael speaks equally to liberals and conservatives, showing that neither has cornered the market on antiracism. Not only is this book not an attack, it is barely an argu-ment. It is written for those who are already prepared to work for real racial awareness, and who are ready to confront the role of racism in their classrooms, their schools, their cultures, and themselves. It is a useful, sensitive, authorita-tive resource for teachers who are already convinced that all educa-tors must work to be antiracist.

If that’s you, read this book.

Work Cited

Smitherman, Geneva. “Soul ‘n Style.” English Journal, vol. 63, no. 2, 1974, pp. 16– 17.

automatically question such rec-ommendations” (26– 27). Under-standing the presence of, and reasons for, cultural mistrust can enrich White teachers’ abilities to teach in diverse schools.

Racial Microaggressions

These are generally unintention-ally negative slights that can have a major impact on the people at whom they are directed. Michael uses the example of someone tell-ing an Asian American that she speaks English very well, not knowing that this person is a third- generation American and speaks only English (30). Micro-aggressions can have a significant effect because they are cumulative. Michael coins the term microprofi-ciency for small positive actions that can also have cumulative effects; microproficiencies come frequently from teachers who have developed a “comfort with students of color and a facility with race issues” (97).

Perfectly Logical Explanations (PLEs)

This is a particularly fascinating concept that denotes situations in which explanations for a problem-atic situation “focus on individual intention or logical circumstances while failing to acknowledge repeated patterns or racially ineq-uitable impact” (31). This concept allowed me to name a frustrat-ing conversation I’ve had recently with Facebook friends who will not acknowledge racial dispari-ties between criminal sentences in

continues today. . . . [I]t means accepting one’s Whiteness as part of who one is and being wholly oneself while refusing to perpetu-ate the oppressive parts of White-ness. Feeling badly about being White does not satisfy this tenet, but neither does ignoring or deny-ing racial inequality and racial privilege. (4)

Michael explains ways in which White people can come to learn racial competence and ultimately to construct an antiracist class-room. She discusses White iden-tity clearly, identifies concepts that are essential to understanding race and racism, and explores in close detail case studies of a hand-ful of educators with whom she has worked to develop antiracist classrooms.

Important Concepts for Antiracism

Raising Race Questions is filled with powerful terms and concepts that can help one better understand race. In this short review, only a few can be identified.

Cultural Mistrust

This develops from “real or vicar-ious” experiences many Black people and other people of color experience. Cultural mistrust is relevant to education in situations such as when teachers recommend special education testing or assign punishments to Black students. Because Black children receive this treatment more than others, “many Black parents have come to

Ken Lindblom is dean of the School of Professional Development and associate professor in English teacher education at Stony Brook University, and he is a member of the Executive Board of NCTE’s Conference on English Education. Ken has been a member of NCTE since 1989 and was editor of English Journal from 2008– 2013. Follow him @Klind2013.

EJ_Mar_2017_C.indd 75 3/14/17 8:52 PM