Critical pedagogies of hip-hop language: combat, consciousness and the cultural politics of communicationBy: Alim (2007)Alim (2007) explored the problems that educators encounter with linguistically marginalized youth in a fresh and direct way. Alim (2007) used real-life testimonies to prove that the problems of cultural tension and non-existence of critical language pedagogies exist and are prevalent in real schools. This article gives examples of how these problems occur and why they occur. This piece addresses the issue not only from the researcher or teacher's perspective, but also from the students' perspective. Not only does Alim (2007) describe the problems facing education systems, but he offers realistic and valid approaches to help solve these problems. It is common for many schools to have an extremely diverse student body, not only in terms of race. and ethnicity, but also in terms of language and linguistic identities. Students who are multilingual or who speak dialects other than Standard American English (SAE) attempt throughout school to form their linguistic identity. Most students know that it is important to learn this standard English*, but they also don't want to stop speaking their native language. This therefore leads to conflict, internal and external. They are in conflict with themselves because they do not know what decision to make, but they are also in conflict with their teachers because too often, they are asked to abandon the mother tongue and learn only SAE . In this article, he focuses specifically on Hip Hop Nation language. This form of English is often considered erroneous and unintelligible in and outside of school, in the middle of a sheet of paper......interested and enthusiastic about the activity. The idea that some students transcribe conversation in different ways depending on their use of English is fascinating and I believe students will not be aware of this until they do it. I think that after examining how students have transcribed differently, they will begin to develop a clear picture of the different linguistic identities they might hold. Overall, I found this article to be among the most useful and relevant to my teaching this semester so far. Works Cited Alim, HS (2004). National hip hop language. Language in the United States: Themes for the 21st Century, p. 387-409. Cambridge University Press. Alim, HS (2007). Critical pedagogies of hip-hop language: combat, consciousness and cultural politics of communication. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 6(2),p.161-176.