E41: ALL of our languages are elegant! (w/ Dr. Asao B. Inoue)
On June 19, Rutgers University's English Department announced a slew of actions it would be taking in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, including incorporating critical grammar into its pedagogy. As department chair Rebecca L. Walkowitz explained, this new approach seeks to foster "a critical awareness of the variety of choices available to [students] w/ regard to micro-level [grammatical] issues." In response, the conservative Twittersphere swiftly attempted to CANCEL Rutgers English, with everyone from Andrew Sullivan to Thomas Chatterton Williams anointing themselves writing pedagogy experts and declaring Rutgers’ approach substandard. But what exactly *is* critical grammar, and why might writing teachers want to deploy it? Further, what specific aspects of these conservative arguments makes them so misinformed, out-of-touch, and morally indefensible?
To help answer these questions, Alex and Calvin are honored to be joined by Asao B. Inoue, professor and associate dean for Academic Affairs, Equity, and Inclusion in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University. Drawing heavily upon Professor Inoue’s knowledge of critical language instruction, we address two conservative media responses to Rutgers English's announcement. The first piece we discuss, from Jeff Jacoby at The Patriot Post (yes, this is a real website), argues that writing instruction should be less concerned with social justice and more like Winston Churchill’s grade school grammar classes. The second piece, from Fox News' The Ingraham Angle, directly samples an interview with Professor Inoue from last year, both fixating on his use of the term “languaging” and missing his point entirely, which he clarifies and contextualizes for us.
After closely reading these texts, we conclude by noting an irony that may be familiar to listeners of past re:joinder episodes: these arguments fail even on their own terms, lacking logical rigor, empirical evidence, and rhetorical elegance. By contrast, we attempt to back up our arguments with credible research, anti-racist principles, and lived experiences of teaching and studying writing more recently than the 1990s.
Relevant works by Asao B. Inoue:
Inoue, A. B., & Poe, M. (2012). Race and Writing Assessment. Studies in Composition and Rhetoric. Volume 7. Peter Lang.
Inoue, A. B. (2015). Antiracist writing assessment ecologies: Teaching and assessing writing for a socially just future. WAC Clearinghouse.
Inoue, A. B. (2019). Labor-based grading contracts: Building equity and inclusion in the compassionate writing classroom. WAC Clearinghouse.
Inoue, A. B. (2019). How do we language so people stop killing each other, or what do we do about white language supremacy? College Composition and Communication, 71(2), 352-369.
Works referenced in this episode:
CCCC Demands for Black Linguistic Justice
Pedagogue Podcast featuring Dr. Asao B. Inoue
Baker-Bell, A. (2020). Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge.
Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life. Basic Books.
Faigley, L. (1979). The influence of generative rhetoric on the syntactic maturity and writing effectiveness of college freshmen. Research in the Teaching of English, 13(3), 197-206.
Jencks, C., & Phillips, M. (Eds.). (1998). The Black–White test score gap. Brookings Institution Press.
Smitherman, G., & Smitherman-Donaldson, G. (1986). Talkin and testifyin: The language of Black America. Wayne State University Press.
Sublette, J. R. (1973). The Dartmouth conference: Its reports and results. College English, 35(3), 348-357.
Zancanella, D., Franzak, J., & Sheahan, A. (2016). Dartmouth revisited: Three English educators from different generations reflect on the Dartmouth Conference. English Education, 49(1), 13-27.