Abstract

Current work in linguistics is not well represented in the school curriculum in the USA, partly because of a mismatch with traditional foci in the K-12 (kindergarten through twelfth grade) standard course of studies and because there are very few materials for teaching about the nature of language and language variation. This article sketches the process of developing curricular materials to accompany the 3-hour video documentary, Do You Speak American? and suggests some of the decisions that must be made in developing materials for educational settings concerning scientific knowledge about language.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00011.x