Abstract
In my essay titled Rethinking Dialects: The Hierarchy of the English Language, I discuss my use of Vershawn Ashanti Young's Should Writers Use They Own English? as a lense to analyze Suhanthie Motha's text Race, Empire, and English language teaching: Creating Responsible and Ethical Anti-racist Practice. Primarily, my essay discusses my analysis of Young's understanding of the issues inherent in English language pedagogy as an extension of that of Motha's. I found that the main difference between the two texts was Motha's argument that linguistic hierarchy is the result of societal ignorance of racial inequality, while Young argues that the problem lies more so in societal misconceptions. After discussing the nuances of both texts, I side with Young's proposal for extinguishing linguistic bias over Motha's because I found his more specific. In turn, I utilize my own understanding of the societal context of linguistic bias to pose my own extension of Young's proposal. I elaborate on my extension by posing specific examples and methods that follow Young's template for solving ELT issues, and simultaneously highlight points that Young does not focus on. In short, my paper could be described as an extension of an extension. I begin by explaining how my interpretation of Young extends Motha, and follow that perspective by using my own argument to extend Young's.