The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom.

This book explores the many Englishes that are spoken in the classroom and the layers of politics, power, and identity that those different forms carry. There are 12 papers in three parts. Part 1, "Language and Identity," includes: "Ovuh Dyuh" (Joanne Kilgour Dowdy); and "Ebonics: A Case History" (Ernie Smith). Part 2, "Languages in the Classroom," includes: (3) "No Kinda Sense" (Lisa Delpit); (4) "Trilingualism" (Judith Baker); (5) "Some Basic Sociolinguistic Concepts" (Michael Stubbs); (6) "Language, Culture, and the Assessment of African American Children" (Asa G. Hilliard, III); (7) "I Ain't Writin' Nuttin': Permissions to Fail and Demands to Succeed in Urban Classrooms" (Gloria J. Ladson-Billings); and (8) "'...As Soon as She Opened Her Mouth!': Issues of Language, Literacy, and Power" (Victoria Purcell-Gates). Part 3, "Teacher knowledge," includes: (9) "Topsy-Turvies: Teacher Talk and Student Talk" (Herbert Kohl); (10) "Toward a National Public Policy on Language" (Geneva Smitherman); (11) "The Clash of 'Common Senses': Two African American Women Become Teachers" (Shuaib Meacham); and (12) "'We Don't Talk Right. You Ask Him'" (Joan Wynne). An appendix presents the Linguistic Society of America Resolution on the Oakland "Ebonics" issue. (Papers contain references.) (SM)