Administrating Language: The Language Ideological Voices of Urban School Administrators in Urban Education

Urban schools are becoming increasingly linguistically diverse. However, principals are not adequately prepared to address linguistic variation, and in particular, issues related to African American Language (AAL). This study explores the language ideological voices of urban school administrators. Focus group sessions were conducted with 15 administrators of predominantly African American schools about the function of AAL in their students’ lives. Participants demonstrated variation in views toward AAL and struggled to name the language. These discussions were mediated by multiple, even competing, language ideologies, as they attempted to converse about the use of AAL in schools.