Letter to editors: commentary on tiered vocabulary and raciolinguistic discourses of deficit: from academic scholarship to education policy

Abstract

Acknowledging that instruction is not “race-blind” and that it may be used in ways that are not helpful, and, indeed, may be harmful to students, I take issue with this article’s lack of accuracy, tone, and methodology in describing Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeown’s empirical and applied work on vocabulary instruction. The article refers to this work as “tiered vocabulary” and inaccurately collapses two distinct parts of Beck and McKeown’s work: word tiers and robust vocabulary instruction. Moreover, the article moves beyond analysis of instruction to implications of racist intent. The article’s empirical evidence rests on observations during one school year in one secondary school (presented in an introductory vignette) and without evidence to support conclusions drawn about teachers and students. This response provides clear, cited examples of the instruction’s reliance on students’ own language as pivotal in classroom work and makes an argument for its positive value in education and students’ adult lives.