African American Linguists

Promoting World Languages in the African American Community

All information on this website can be reproduced without permission requested if it is properly credited to the Organization of African-American Linguists along with the website address given www.weboaal.com.

 

Let's Meet in Boston, MA!

2009 ACTFL Convention in San Diego, CA. Former ACTFL AAS SIG Chair, Theresa Austin, seated, with AAL members and ACTFL AAS SIG officers.

NEW WEB ADDRESS FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN LINGUISTS: www.weboaal.com

AAL OFFICERS

Welcome to AAL

We are so excited about the establishment of this organization! African-American Linguists (AAL) offers a network for those who work or study in the field of world languages. AAL allows us to coalesce, share our successes, learn from our challenges and pave the road for those who will come behind us. African-American linguists have the challenge of promoting world languages while being underrepresented in our field. 

 

The founders, Tamari Jenkins & Krishauna Hines-Gaither, envision AAL to be an organization of excellence that provides advocacy and resources to aid African-American linguists. Membership to AAL is open to educators, professionals, missionaries, clergy, public service workers, students, and all others {of any ethnicity} who share our vision. AAL encourages its members to be advocates within their communities in order to share their gifts with the masses. We hope to be able to count on the support of all AAL members and we are open to any ideas and suggestions. You are AAL!

Vision of AAL

The vision of AAL is to promote a bilingual society within the African-American community in order to prepare marketable citizens for a global economy. 

Mission of AAL

To accomplish the vision of AAL, our mission is to provide the following:

  • Networking between world language professionals
  • Mentoring for students of world languages
  • Scholarships for students of world languages
  • World language resources and education for the parents of our communities
  • World language resources and education for the youth of our communities

Rationale

What is the Rationale behind the Organization of African-American Linguists?

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics:

 

Total FL degrees (2005-06): 24,023

  • White (non-Hispanic): 15,337
  • Black (non-Hispanic): 838
  • Hispanic: 3,569 
  • Asian or PI: 1,173
  • Am. Indian/Alaskan Native: 87
  • Race/Ethnicity Unknown: 1,492
  • Non Resident Alien: 1,527
  • Click here for causes of low African-American enrollment; see 2nd paragraph
As stated by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL): "Discover Languages, Discover the World," the need for an ambitious effort to promote the value of language learning is clear.  Such learning offers social, cultural, academic and workplace benefits that will serve students all their lives.  Americans live and compete in a world of diverse cultures and races, a world where competence in more than one language is an essential part of communication and understanding.  Our ability to understand and be understood by other nationalities can only enhance our own national security.  We do business with many countries and we rely on their citizens as consumers of U.S.-produced goods and services.  Just as important, our country welcomes new citizens from diverse cultures from many nations.  We live, work and play with such 'new Americans' and our ability to understand their diverse cultural and social backgrounds is key to our expanded role as citizens of the international community.  We must be able to communicate with and learn from all people for whom English is not a native language.  Finally, the disciplines learned during the study of languages and literature endow language learners with cognitive, analytical and communication skills that carry over into many other areas of their academic studies and future success.  That success, in fact, will deliver valuable dividends to the businesses and organizations for which they work.

Insight from AAL Members

We would love to hear your comments on the organization. Please sign the AAL  guestbook. 

  • "People of African descent speak all major dominant European languages due to slavery & colonization. It is to the advantage of African-Americans not to see themselves as predominant speakers of English. Black people all over the world speak English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, German and any other language of the colonizers. Besides, look at the variety of languages alone spoken in Africa. People there are multilingual!" Frances Mecartty-Dunlap, NJ
  • "African-Americans have an advantage. From antiquity our culture has been one that has emphasized keen listening as well as skillful imitation. For this reason, hearing & imitating the sounds of other languages has been accomplished with relative ease." Camellia Cuthrell, NC
  • "Being an African American woman who is also Native-American and Caucasian, I am so excited that there is an organization that is addressing the specific needs of African Americans." Faith Chiwawana, OH
  • After reading the description of your organization, I realize that I believe in so much of what you are doing., Erin Jones, WA

Headquarters

  • Founders: Tamari Jenkins jenkins@weboaal.com  & Krishauna Hines-Gaither hines-gaither@weboaal.com (also webmaster)
  • Mailing Address:
  • Attn: Tamari Jenkins/African American Linguists (or AAL); Chaffey College; Language Arts 107; 5885 Haven Ave.; Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737
  • Information on this site can be reproduced if the data is properly cited to give credit to the Organization of African-American Linguists AND cite the website address www.weboaal.com.
  • Last Updated: 07/27/10

You are visitor #  since October 2004