Dr. Shenika Hankerson is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at the University of Maryland in College Park. She is a Black Language scholar, and her research centers on the intersections of Black linguistics, applied linguistics, and rhetoric and writing. Her work has helped to inform and shape our understandings of how to uplift and affirm the Black linguistic practices that Black Language users bring to our writing classrooms and communities. She also has research expertise in African languages, literatures, and cultures. Her scholarship has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Second Language Writing, Written Communication, and the International Multilingual Research Journal, as well as in edited collections published by Routledge, Oxford University Press, and Utah State University Press. She is currently working on a forthcoming book situated at the nexus of Black Language and writing studies.
Dr. Hankerson’s research has secured over $1 million in grant funding as Principal Investigator for multiple research initiatives, including research projects on language policies and pedagogical practices in Africa and research mentorship and apprenticeship programs as pathways to the doctorate for Black and other underrepresented racially minoritized undergraduates pursuing language and literacies studies, with major competitive support from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
Dr. Hankerson is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Select Publications:
Hankerson, S., & Obiri-Yeboah, M. A. (2025). What do Ghanaian teachers think about the language-in-education policy in Ghana? Exploring teachers’ attitudes, practices, and perceptions. International Multilingual Research Journal, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2025.2577975
Hankerson, S., Martin, K., Charity Hudley, A., & Mallinson, C. (2024). Critical metalinguistic engagement of Black language users in writing instruction. In R. Jones and C. Proctor (Eds.), Pursuing Language and Metalinguistic Awareness in K-12 Classrooms: A Framework for Critical Engagement (pp. 67-82). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003334804
Hankerson, S., & Obiri-Yeboah, M. A. (2024). Language, ideologies, discrimination, and Afrocentric-focused, critical language awareness writing curricula for African American Language and Akan Language speakers. In C. Shei & J. Schnell (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Language and Mind Engineering (pp. 404-417). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003289746
Charity Hudley, A., Mallinson, C., Clemons, A., Randolph, L., Bucholtz, M., Calhoun, K., Hankerson, S., Peltier, J., Thomas, J., & Seidel, K. (2024). Solidarity and collectivity in decolonizing linguistics: A Black diasporic perspective. In A. Charity Hudley, C. Mallinson, and M. Bucholtz (Eds.), Decolonizing Linguistics (pp. 323-360). Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197755259.001.0001 Open Access Copy: Available Here
Hankerson, S. (2023). “The world has to stop discriminating against African American language” (AAL): Exploring the language ideologies of AAL-speaking students in college writing. Written Communication, 40(2), 587–619. https://doi.org/10.1177/07410883221146484
Hankerson, S., & Williams, O. (2023). Mentoring underrepresented racially minoritized undergraduate students in an education research apprenticeship program: strategies for success. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 12(2), 162-176. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMCE-01-2022-0007
Hankerson, S. (2022). “Why can’t writing courses be taught like this fo real”: Leveraging critical language awareness to promote African American Language speakers’ writing skills. Journal of Second Language Writing, 58, 100919. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2022.100919
Hankerson, S. (2020). “I love my African American language. And yours.”: Toward a raciolinguistic vision in writing studies. In N. Elliot & A. Horning (Eds.), Talking back: Senior scholars deliberate the past, present, and future of writing studies (pp. 321-325). Utah State University Press. https://doi.org/10.7330/9781607329763
Hankerson, S. (2017). Black Voices Matter. Language Arts Journal of Michigan, 32(2), 34-39. https://doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.2160
Select Digital Presentations of Publications:
Mentoring underrepresented racially minoritized undergraduates in an education research apprenticeship program: Strategies for success. AERA i-Presentation Gallery. (2023). https://aera23-aera.ipostersessions.com/mentoringURMUs2023
Select Media Contributions:
"It’s Not an Error, It’s a Language." TERP Magazine. (2021). Online: https://terp.umd.edu/its-not-an-error-its-a-language/#.YL5HfjZKg_W
Select Grants & Projects:
Principal Investigator
2024-2025: UMD Graduate School, Faculty-Student Research Award: Teachers' Attitudes, Practices, and Perceptions Toward the Language-in-Education Policy in Ghana.
2019-2022: US Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences: Project RISE (Research Institute for Scholars in Education).
Research Collaborator
2022-2024: National Science Foundation: Collaborative Research: Linguistic Production, Perception, and Identity in the Career Mobility of Black Faculty in Linguistics and the Language Sciences. Christine Mallinson, UMBC (Principal Investigator) & Anne H. Charity Hudley, Stanford University (Co-Principal Investigator).