[EDLING:321] Ebonics: The Subject Still Stirs Strong Feelings

[Francis M. Hult]

Hartford Courant

Ebonics: The Subject Still Stirs Strong Feelings

Discussing the gap in language acquisition among students, Faye Gage used a 
term recently at a national conference on grammar instruction that can still 
raise some hackles: "Ebonics."

"People are afraid of the Ebonics word," said Gage, director of the Connecticut 
Writing Project. "I have been told not to use it."

Her mention of it at the 18th annual conference of the Assembly for the 
Teaching of English Grammar, held at Fairfield University, didn't cause much of 
a stir among the 40 or so audience members. But outside of language circles, 
it's a topic that can kick up strong feelings more than 10 years after the 
Oakland school board caused a national furor by proposing an Ebonics program 
for its schools.

Full story:
http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-grammar.artjul23,0,4417781.story