Welcome to African-American English: An Introduction for ESL Instructors!

I have created this course in African-American English (AAE) for ESL instructors who wish to learn about the history, use, and linguistic structure of AAE in order to enhance their teaching practice. While this course and its resources may be of interest to others as well, please keep in mind that the original target audience consists of instructors who primarily work with English learners. I completed this project as part of the culminating course during the final semester of my Ed.S. program in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Virginia and would like to publicly thank Professor Ottilie Austin for all the guidance, suggestions, and support she provided along the way. This course and its original content may be used or reproduced for scholarly, educational, or academic purposes provided that proper attribution is given. However, the copyrighted resources utilized in this work may not be reproduced without the express written consent of the copyright holders, subject to fair use. This work should be cited as follows (using APA style).

McDorman, R. E. (2024). African-American English: An Introduction for ESL instructors. https://richardmcdorman.org/african-american-english-for-esl-instructors/

For styles that require the use of the author’s full name, this work should be cited as:

McDorman, Richard E. (2024). African-American English: An Introduction for ESL instructors. https://richardmcdorman.org/african-american-english-for-esl-instructors/

The course is divided into five modules. Each module has its own set of learning objectives, activities, and means of assessment. However, overall structure of each module is the same. Each module consists of six components:

  • The module pre-assessment
  • A reading assignment from the course text African American English: A Linguistic Introduction (Green, 2002)
  • A live presentation and discussion session (120-180 minutes) with additional readings, videos, and activities
  • An individual research project
  • Study group activities
  • The module post-assessment

Module 1: What is African-American English?

Module 2: The Pronunciation of African-American English

Module 3: The Grammar of African-American English

Module 4: Lexicon and Meaning in African-American English

Module 5: African-American English in Use

Assessments: All assessment instruments used during the course

  • All assessments may be completed on paper and submitted to the presenter via electronic mail, or submitted by text in the body of an email. Please write or type your full response to each item.
  • Module pre-assessments should be submitted before beginning the reading assignment for the corresponding module.
  • Module post-assessments should be submitted after completing all other components in the module.
  • Exit tickets may be completed on paper or submitted by text in the body of an email during the last 10 minutes of each presentation and discussion session.
  • Reflection activities, which typically take place near the end of each module, may be completed on paper and submitted to the presenter via electronic mail, or submitted by text in the body of an email. Participants should aim for responses between 200 and 300 words. At the participant’s option, reflection activities may alternatively be submitted as short videos of up to three minutes.

Course Materials and Resources: All materials and resources used in the course

Annotated Bibliography: The resources used to inform the development of this course