US Policy towards Minority Languages:

Abstract

This dissertation is entitled “US Policy towards language minorities: The Ebonics controversy in the Educational System as a case”. The title refers to the plans, strategies, and practices applied by the different American legislative, political, and social actors in addressing languages other than the dominant English from the past to present and the debates raised upon it. What is definitively the most ambiguous and unknown notion for the majority of Algerian students is the so called “Ebonics”. It is a term coined by the scholar Robert L. Williams as an attempt to give a clear definition and a better stature for the language spoken by many African Americans. This research paper is to shed light on the debate on Ebonics whether it is a separate linguistic system or just a dialect of English providing each side arguments for more objectivity. When Ebonics is related to the education of African Americans, it received and still a lot of criticism and refusal and few of praise and acceptance. So, the focus here is to reveal the various factors if it is ideological, political, or social that led to the increasing rejection of languages other than English, more precisely African American Vernacular English without forgetting landmark legislative decisions either to encourage or to reduce maintenance bilingual programs. The role of media is very important as well in managing and directing such heated discussions which, in turn, to be covered in this dissertation.