A study of Ebonics & Academic Growth

My study is a continuation of a topic I explored in Dr. Zamora’s Writing Theory & Practice class where during our final project my fellow classmates and I created a website as a blueprint for using your voice in writing. One of the many topics we discussed included code-switching and how necessary it is for many people. Being an African American and knowing first hand the importance of code-switching I wanted to remind other Ebonics users and African American students that code-switching did not mean they needed to erase their voices. Code-switching was just the vehicle they used to transform their voice into the language society has deemed to be “appropriate”.

Fast-forward to Dr. Nelson’s Research & Methods class, the task of finding a research topic was daunting at first. Dr. Nelson prompted me to think about what is important to me and I thought back to the topic I wrote last semester. However, I had no idea how to turn this topic into a research question. I re-read my essay and my story really stuck with me. The struggles I initially faced when my Ebonics was corrected was extremely challenging. This led me to think about the many African American students who also use Ebonics and how they are being taught. This was rather a long journey but it finally led me to (with the help of Dr. Nelson) to formulating my research question: How does a teacher’s stereotypes, opinions or preconceptions of students who use Ebonics impact a student’s academic growth? 

I chose to focus primarily on students because although ELL may have similar experiences in school, unlike most other languages that ELL students use, Ebonics has not been widely considered as an official language. The literature review on this topic shows that there are studies dedicated to examining the use of Ebonics and it’s contribution to the achievement gap for African American students. But if you’re going to study the trend of students who use Ebonics and measure their academic success, you should also investigate the academic care these students receive while in school. My research proposal has the potential to inform and improve teacher attitudes and pedagogy which could assist in closing the achievement and academic success gap for many minority students.