"They're in My Culture, They Speak the Same Way": African American Language in Multiethnic High Schools

Abstract

In this article, Paris explores the deep linguistic and cultural ways in which youth in a multiethnic urban high school employ linguistic features of African American Language (AAL) across ethnic lines. The author also discusses how knowledge about the use of AAL in multiethnic contexts might be applied to language and literacy education and how such linguistic and cultural sharing can help us forge interethnic understanding in our changing urban schools. The article not only fosters an understanding of how AAL works in such multiethnic urban schools, but also sheds light on opportunities for a pedagogy of pluralism—a stance toward teaching both within and across differences.