SYNOPSIS

            On December 18, 1996, the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education approved a policy affirming Standard American English development for all students. The policy mandates that effective instructional strategies must be utilized in order to ensure that every child has the opportunity to achieve English language proficiency. Language development for African American students, who comprise 53% of the students in the Oakland schools,will be enhanced with the recognition and understanding of the language structures unique to African American students. This language has been studied for several decades and is variously referred to as Ebonics (literally "Black sounds"), or "Pan-African Communication Behaviors,"or African Language Systems." * (Oakland Unified School District's"Synopsis of the Adopted Policy on Standard American English Development")

            * Most linguists, black and white, still prefer the term "African American Vernacular English" (AAVE) to the term "Ebonics"and other alternative terms for the variety referred to in the resolution.However, the label has nothing to do with the linguistic status of the language variety.

The Resolution of December 18, 1996:

http://linguist.emich.edu/topics/ebonics/ebonics-res1.html (original)

http://linguist.emich.edu/topics/ebonics/ebonics-res2.html (amendment)

Pros:

http://abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/stories/lf981017.html

http://www.cal.org/resources/archive/news/199703/9703Dialect.html

http://www.cal.org/topics/dialects/tesolebo.html

http://www.stanford.edu/~rickford/ebonics/SJMN-OpEd.html

http://www.stanford.edu/~rickford/ebonics/SpecterLetter.html

http://www.stanford.edu/~rickford/ebonics/TNRLetter.html

http://www.stanford.edu/~rickford/ebonics/NewsweekLetter.html

http://www.stanford.edu/~rickford/ebonics/LSAResolution.html

http://www.lsadc.org/info/lsa-res-ebonics.cfm

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~wlabov/L102/Ebonics_test.html

http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc598geold97/Spring97/4/watson4.html

Cons:

http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21NVKingEbonics802.html

http://www.cnn.com/US/9612/24/briefs.pm/black.english.html