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My professor put on a brave face as I practically interrogated her. The class was composition pedagogy, and the topic was anti-racist pedagogy. To say I had some questions is an understatement; I had a lot of questions about students' right to their own language, which has later been described as linguistic justice. My instructor answered every successive question with patience and fairness while balancing my interrogation with the needs of the other students in our seminar. Even if she and I had been one-on-one for the full 75 minutes, it wouldn’t have been enough. I felt a sense of urgency to understand how this fit into the traditional idea of correctness and preparing students for a world outside the classroom. What does anti-racist pedagogy look like in different classrooms? Was there a middle ground that was both affirming and inclusive while preparing them for less progressive contexts? Every new answer brought another question, and I fell down the linguistic justice rabbit hole. I knew it mattered and wanted to do my part, but I had no idea where to begin, especially as a graduate student instructor (GSI). As a fellow GSI, or potentially a WPA or instructor of GSIs, I know you can relate to the challenge of navigating these complex topics. I sought people’s opinions, watched YouTube videos, read academic articles and chapters, and even resorted to exploring TikTok, trying to see every angle and option. I needed answers, and hallelujah, I found them.
It didn’t take long to discover that linguistic justice has become a central topic in composition pedagogy, and has been for a long time. While conversations about diversity in education existed as far back as the era of slavery, the momentum of the Civil Rights Movement in the 50s and 60s and the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling that forced desegregation of schools forced educators to face the diversity of language head-on. Over the course of decades, influential bodies like the NCTE have published landmark statements advocating for students’ right to their own language, prompting leaders in the field, such as Suresh Canagarajah, Bruce Horner, April Baker-Bell, and Vershawn Ashanti Young, to name a few, to speak out and advocate for options like code-switching, code-meshing, and translingualism as solutions to language diversity in writing classrooms. However, what is lacking from these key conversations is an accessibility point for new teachers, especially graduate student instructors (GSIs), who don’t have time to do the deep research necessary to understand the nuanced topic, let alone figure out how to decide the best option for them. I have prepared a guide for GSIs on linguistic justice in response to that need. The guide begins with a historical overview of language in academia, specifically tracing the evolution of linguistic justice and antiracist pedagogy in composition studies. Key approaches follow, including code-switching, code-meshing, and translingualism, highlighting their benefits and downfalls and potential actionable steps to take in your classroom. The final section offers practical steps for GSIs, guiding them to align their teaching practices with their values, university goals, and the needs of the students.