Eighty disadvantaged black third grade students were administered both reading achievement and oral language tests to determine whether the phonology, morphology, and grammar of Black English dialect have more effect on the below-average readers of the group than on those students making satisfactory reading progress. Student scores on the…

During the past fifteen years, a variety of linguistic analyses of the tense and aspect systems of dialects of English has been conducted. These analyses were bounded by several analytic dimensions. This paper treats three of these dimensions and discusses their interrelationships and implications in relation to two dialects--Black English and…

This study demonstrated that black first grade children from disadvantaged backgrounds understood a Black English version of a story better than an equivalent Standard English version. The testing was done in South Georgia. The story was "peer-prepared," that is, it was a story told by a black child about his own experiences and in his own words.…

At present, there is virtually no empirical evidence of the success of educational techniques designed to minimize the interference of black English on the acquisition of reading skills. The 180 black, inner-city third and fifth graders who participated in this study were selected in order to determine whether the discrepancy between performance…

Investigates the relationship between the oral and written language of one college-level basic writing student who is a speaker of vernacular Black English (VBE). Reports that neither VBE patterns in the student's oral language nor other features of orality that previous research has identified account for his writing problems. (HOD)

This study examined students' and teachers' attitudes toward using black dialect (BD) in a community college writing program. White educators completed a Language Aptitude Survey and followup interviews. African American students completed interviews. Teachers held Standard English (SE) in high regard and did not agree with using Ebonics in…

Describes the attitudes of Black and White, male and female, middle- and lower-class adolescents and preadolescents in response to tape-recorded samples of standard English and Black English. (HOD)

Findings from a study of Black third grade children in Washington, D.C., show that the production of certain Black English and standard English features in a school setting were minimally associated with the oral reading, silent reading, and listening comprehension levels of these students. (Author/EB)

A study investigated phonological skills of 8 African American English (AAE)-speaking 2-year-olds. They acquired and used the same phonemes and phonological processes as described in the literature for both AAE-speaking toddlers and toddlers speaking Standard American English. Results could not distinguish typical phonological development from…

The prepositional phrases used in free play discourse by 45 African American preschoolers from low-income homes were analyzed. A statistically significant positive relationship was found between amounts of African American English (AAE) form use and relational semantic complexity. No significant relationships were found between simpler…

Presents the results of three experiments using dialect readers in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to improve the reading comprehension of African American elementary and secondary school students. It is concluded that dialect readers represent a viable alternative for teaching AAVE speakers to read. (61 references) (MDM)

An analysis of letters written by 19th-century African Americans shows constraints on verbal "-s" marking that parallel those found in the writing of Scotch-Irish immigrants in the same time period and region, specifically a subject type constraint and a proximity to subject constraint. (MDM)

Studied the perceptions of 55 African American undergraduates about Black English. Students identified as not having a committed Black identity evaluated Black English as lower in status than those students with a committed Black identity. Black English was not perceived as reflecting higher social solidarity. (SLD)

This study investigated the dialectal sensitivity of the T-unit as a nonbiased alternative for assessing the oral grammatical skills of school-age, nonstandard English speakers. Analysis of language samples from 28 9-year-old children (half African-American) revealed no significant differences between groups, suggesting that the T-unit may be a…

The second phase of a three-part research and development plan, this study investigated the relationship between teacher performance on the Black English Tests for Teachers (TTBE) and specified sets of teacher behaviors and pupil achievement as measured by curriculum-specific tests in language arts. The study involved 27 teachers from two schools…