The process of decolonizing curriculum involves deliberately making room for diverse voices, knowledge, and perspectives in the classroom, and focusing on decolonizing language, specifically, is a great way to validate the identities and backgrounds of students. It’s a privilege when the language of Standard American English being taught to you in schools matches the primary language that’s used in your home.

Though they aren’t formally taught in school systems, dialects and language systems within North America—including varieties of creole languages, Spanglish, and Black English—are their own complex and important forms of language. Many of our students speak and write using these language systems with friends and family, so making room for students’ authentic voices, regardless of their backgrounds, breaks down barriers in higher education and creates more inclusive classes.  

“Standards” and Privilege

Changing how you assess students doesn’t mean changing standards for assignments, but it does make room for individualism. At a glance, one standardized language in education may seem practical. Yet, controlling language reinforces the colonial education system’s message that Standard American English is the language of academia and prestige. Because the standards of language and education in North America happened through violence and forced assimilation, we need to consider whether we’re continuing this process of assimilation in our curriculum.  

Making Room for Language Variety

Here are some things to consider as you decolonize your curriculum by making room for language variety: 

• Consider the genre of the assignment. If you ask students to write personal narratives, reflections, journals, research notes, or explanations about their work, letting them write in their preferred language can help them focus on the content and purpose of their writing, as opposed to the precision of their grammar and syntax. Initial drafts or prewriting activities of writing assignments are also great places to let students focus on exploring their ideas. If the final draft needs to be written in a more “formal” manner, those edits can come later in the process. 
• Consider the audience of the assignment. When students create something for their classmates, friends, or family, letting them choose to use their preferred language can yield thoughtful results geared toward the audience. To allow students the opportunity to write familiarly and think critically about their language choices, ask them to work on two versions of the same assignment, each tailored to a different audience. 
• Consider whether you’re grading something that you’re not teaching yourself. When students come to our classes, we often expect them to bring specific skills or knowledge, but we can’t make assumptions about their experiences or previous education. If you aren’t providing instruction or support on language or writing, is it fair to expect students to understand your expectations and correct writing on their own? If you think specific writing style qualities are important, then provide support for these students through opportunities to revise their work as well as guidance through resources, feedback, and meetings with you or the University Writing Center. 

Final Considerations

As you think about implementing practices to decolonize your curriculum, consider if controlling the language in your classes communicates to students that if they don’t assimilate, they don’t belong. Are you upholding the cultural norms of colonialism to help students be able to navigate the college system and the world beyond? Or is it because you believe that educated, successful, professional people must all write, speak, and behave in a specific way? When we consider assessing our students, we need to consider whether we are making assumptions about “correct” skills or just perpetuating colonial standards in higher education. 

Resources 

Ashcroft, B., Gareth, G. & Tiffin, H. (2005). The empire writes back (2nd Ed.). Routledge.

Baker-Bell, A. (2020). Linguistic justice: Black language, literacy, identity, and pedagogy. Routledge.

Luu, C. (2020, February 12). Black English matters. JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/black-english-matters/

Meighan, P. J. (2021). Decolonizing English: a proposal for implementing alternative ways of knowing and being in education. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 15(2), 77-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2020.1783228

Mintz, S. (2021, June 21). Decolonizing the academy. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/decolonizing-academy

Phipps, A. (2021). Decolonising the languages curriculum: Linguistic justice for linguistic ecologies. In T. Beaven & F. Rosell-Aguilar (Eds.), Innovative language pedagogy report (pp. 5-10). Research-publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2021.50.1228

Twyman-Ghoshal, A. & Lacorazza, D. C. (2021, March 31). Strategies for antiracist and decolonized teaching. Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/equality-inclusion-and-diversity/strategies-for-antiracist-and-decolonized-teaching/