"Reforming Our Concepts of grammar, Style, and Standard English"
Valerie Balester, Texas A & M University
Writing About Race and Ethnicity, http://www-english.tamu.edu/pers/fac/balester/balester.html
A copy of my contribution to Coming of Age: The Advanced Writing Curriculum. Eds. Linda K. Shamoon, Rebecca Moore Howard, Sandra Jamieson, and Robert A. Schwegler. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2000. This is a description of my Advanced Writing Course as I have taught it using the topic of language awareness. The description was written before I actually taught the course; I have taught it three times since.
Intercultural Inquiry at Carnegie-Mellon, http://english.cmu.edu/inquiry/
Initiated by Linda Flower of Carnegie-Mellon as a "gathering place," this site promotes quality research across cultures and reports on community literacy projects. Their motto is "using difference to understand problems."
The 1999 Literacy Symposium at Texas A&M university, "Rewriting Literacies: Changing Communities, Shifting Discourses in the twenty-First Century," http://www-english.tamu.edu/ds/symposium/1999/
At this symposium participants examined the multiple nature of literacy and the changing demographics of higher education that present new challenges to literacy teachers. Keynote speakers included Andrea Lunsford, Ira Shor, and Akua Duku Anokye.
The 2000 Literacy Symposium at Texas A&M university, "Literacies and Literary Representations: Posing Questions, Framing Conversations about Language and Hispanic Identities," http://www-english.tamu.edu/ds/symposium/2000/overview.htm
The symposium was devoted to a celebration of Hispanic literacies and geared to teachers of English, especially at the level of higher education. Keynote speakers were Jaime Mejia and Juan Guerra.
The Race and Ethnic Studies Institute at Texas A&M university, http://resi.tamu.edu/
A good example of an initiative at a large research university (Texas A&M) to examine our views of race and ethnicity as regards public policy and education. Not specifically related to language or literacy issues. Their stated mission, "to conduct and disseminate--at regional, national, and international levels--interdisciplinary and policy research pertaining to race and ethnicity across various public policy areas."
The Center for Mexican American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, http://www.utexas.edu/depts/cmas/index.html
Created in 1970 at The University of Texas at Austin and headed by Americo Paredes, CMAS "focuses on Mexican American scholarship and educational programs on the University of Texas campus, and is a national leader in teaching, research, and publications." This group is particularly relevant to composition teachers, given the increasing number of Hispanic students in higher education and the problems with language and attitudes toward language they encounter.
The University of Minnesota Human Rights Library, http://www.wcarmigrants.org/content/educational.htm
Includes links to 6,500 human rights documents and materials.
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, http://www.nnirr.org/frame.html
Links to many sites that provide information about the sociopolitical concerns of immigrants and migrants. They describe themselves as comprised of community and civil rights activists.
National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/
Links to databases and bibliographies concerning bilingual education, and a must if you want to read the White House Education Plan. Also a good source of information on state's bilingual education policies, teacher certification requirements, and related legislation.
Ebonics, http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/topics/ebonics/
Sponsored by the Linguist listserv, this site gathers together information related to the Oakland School Board's infamous 1996 Resolution on Ebonics and its 1997 Amendment. It provides the text of the Resolution and Amendment, scholarly responses to the Resolution, and related links at the Center for Applied Linguistics.
Writing on the Ebonics Issue by Dr. John Rickford (Since December 1999), http://www.stanford.edu/~rickford/ebonics/
Links to some articles by a leading sociolinguist on Ebonics. Particularly relevant is "Using the Vernacular to Teach the Standard," a speech given at California State Long Beach.
Center for Multilingual, Multicultural Research, http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~cmmr/Latino.html
Resources on Latino/Hispanic culture and language in the U.S. Links to important resources including libraries, museums, news services, and projects.
Center for Applied Linguistics (Dialects/Ebonics), http://www.cal.org/topics/dialects.html
Related resources on education, legislation, and research on various dialects, including Latino languages and Ebonics.
Yehi Hai Right Choice/ Language: Hinglish Has Become the Mazedaar Language of the Fatafat Generation, in Real Life and on the Idiot Box, http://www.the-week.com/98may10/life2.htm
An article in "India's No. 1 Weekly News Magazine."
Puerto Rican Discourse: A Sociolinguistic Study of a New York Suburb, http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej11/r16.html
A review of a book published by sociolinguist Lourdes Torres (Erlbaum). The review provides a useful overview of Puerto Rican in American speech communities.