We argue that composition scholarship's defenses of language differences in student writing reinforce dominant ideology's spatial framework conceiving language difference as deviation from a norm of sameness. We argue instead for adopting a temporal-spatial framework defining difference as the norm of utterances, and defining languages,…

Argues that corporations use Standard English as a means of domination, that English teachers primarily promote corporate aims, and that it is a bad joke to pretend that teachers are really in charge in their classrooms. (JK)

Our system of teaching language makes most native speakers feel insecure in their own usages. (JH)

The author argues that Black English should not be accepted as standard in the classroom. (MM)

This author asserts that college English should provide students with certain communicative skills that enable them to analyze rhetorical effect and produce rhetorically effective texts, including those to be read, those to be viewed as images, those to be heard, and those not to be heard. Recently, new books on visual rhetoric, the rhetoric of…

The author discusses the linguistic dispute of Black English, or Black Idiom vs. Standard English and argues for the acceptance of the former. (MM)

Presents detailed information about school English, a functional variety that has influenced twentieth-century American vernaculars and the writings of most Americans. Sets school English in its nineteenth-century context and comments on factors that have favored its survival. Comments briefly on the Black English case in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (RL)

Opposes the legislation of linguistic conformity by penalizing minority students who write in nonstandard dialect. (DD)

There has been little criticism of one feature of the American Heritage Dictionary which brings its entire linguistic practice into question: its highly promoted Usage Panel. (Author)

To understand decisions made concerning language usage in "Webster's Third New International Dictionary," it is necessary to realize what standard usage is and how it changes. The definition of standard usage, given in 1932, as that language used by well-educated persons remains valid and depends more and more on professional writers for guidance.…

A technique for decreasing interference between black dialect features and the hearing and production of standard English is described. (JH)

Argues for a more active role for the college English instructor in helping students write and speak standard English more effectively. (SW)

Reports on a survey of how laypeople responded to errors in usage, their attitudes toward the acceptability of certain errors, and the values they placed on certain language styles. (RL)