LANGUAGE AND AUTHORITY: SHIFTING THE PRIVILEGE

<p>Although most basic writing faculty select varied and representative reading and writing topics that draw on the richness of their students' linguistic diversity, they usually conduct classes in which collaboration moves but one way. Most class texts merely nod pleasantly at linguistic diversity rather than embrace it, tolerating rather than engaging difference. The authors describe an assignment that uses Spanish, Chinese, and French texts in addition to the customary English texts, which allows class members to share students' languages, embrace diversity, and shift privilege. They propose that this move foregrounds oppositional discourse for both students and faculty, creating classrooms in which ''right thinking is not the possession of one and merely the aspiration of others."</p>