This is diversity’s shy cousin, the one educators promoting multicultural perspectives probably have not met. Everyone hears linguistic differences, but the different ways we view effective language use can easily go unnoticed. It is hard for a student to interact productively in an environment where the underlying assumptions don’t make sense.
This alienation is particularly salient at majority schools, where minority students are already likely to feel some need to adjust culturally. Trips to the writing center will probably not help much if the focus is only on grammar. I have discovered that those who admire personas that project with a forceful “true” inner confidence can be deflated in an academic setting if their abilities are not identified and appreciated. Such students can be shown that the strong ethos they possess is also prized by others, which is the first confidence-building step toward adapting to new audiences.
— Dr. Caleb Corkery is an assistant professor of English at Millersville University of Pennsylvania.
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