We Do Language

Building on the authors’ highly acclaimed first collaboration, Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools, this book examines the need to integrate linguistically informed teaching into the secondary English classroom. We Do Language features concrete strategies, models, and vignettes, as well as classroom materials developed by English educators for English educators. It is essential reading for anyone interested in learning about the role that language plays in the experiences of students, both in secondary and postsecondary environments.

Anne H. Charity Hudley is associate professor of education, English, linguistics, and Africana studies at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Christine Mallinson is associate professor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture Program and affiliate associate professor in the Gender and Women’s Studies Program at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC). (For professional development and workshops visit: http://charityhudleymallinson.com/professionaldevelopment/.

“Building on 50 years of linguistic and sociolinguistic research into the systematic nature of English varieties, Charity Hudley and Mallinson further the important next step of exploring how these linguistic differences play out in classrooms and schools with academic and social consequences for students. As the work of constructing culturally and linguistically sustaining classrooms continues, teachers will need additional detail for how to build a linguistically informed approach into specific instructional units. This text will support teacher educators, teacher leaders and teachers themselves in advancing that work.”

—Pedagogies: An International Journal

“We Do Language is an enabling tool for helping teachers and those who prepare them to face—perhaps better than we ever have—the challenge of schooling in the English/language arts for the 21st century.”
—From the Foreword by Jacqueline Jones Royster, Ivan Allen Chair in Liberal Arts and Technology and Dean, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology

“Full of advice and support for walking hand-in-hand with students into imaginative ways of understanding the realities of language variation, this book is pure joy for teachers and college counselors. Even more important is the guarantee that when these educators embrace the humanity and philosophy so touchingly illustrated by the authors, the intrigue of thinking deeply about speaking, writing, and reading is sure to follow for students.”
—Shirley Brice Heath, Margery Bailey Professor of English and Dramatic Literature and Professor of Linguistics, Emerita, Stanford University

"We Do Language is long overdue and much needed. African American English is here to stay, and this book affirms and supports educators and African American students, their language, and their culture. I can't thank the authors enough for writing this powerful, thought provoking, and critical analysis of language variation."
—Donna Ford, Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professor of Special Education and Teaching and Learning, Peabody College of Education, Vanderbilt University