The Rhetoric, Writing, and Linguistics Speaker Series in the English Department is welcoming Professor Asao Inoue of Arizona State University for a keynote talk on Friday, November 5, 2021, from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm.

Keynote Talk: “The Possibilities of Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies” 

In this keynote talk, Inoue discusses ways to engage in antiracist writing assessment practices in college courses. He offers a framework that can be used to redesign reading, responding, evaluating, and grading practices while still providing institutions of higher learning the things they demand of faculty, such as addressing learning outcomes and providing course grades. Inoue poses problems about dominant standards of the English language in schools and universities and the Habits of White Language (HOWL) that are paradoxically meaningful and harmful to locally diverse students when used to evaluate their language performances and produce grades. When used as a singular standard for communication in courses, HOWL participates in White Language Supremacy (WLS), but as Inoue explains, WLS can be dismantled with students if the course’s assessment ecology is designed appropriately.