Programs for improving the standard English writing competencies of Black dialect speakers must employ the same methods and attitudes used in teaching Whites if such programs are intended to prepare students to be linguistically competent in society. (Author/MJL)

This digest discusses the different dialects children bring to the school environment and how U.S. schools deal with these differences. Reference is made to the Ann Arbor (Michigan) case in which a group of African-American parents sued the local school system on behalf of their children, claiming the school was denying their children equal…

Educational institutions at all levels must respect the dialects of Negro students and initiate programs of instruction in these dialects. Only in this way can discrimination in fact against this minority group in our culture be stopped. (CK)

Recounts how a teacher used herself as a model to motivate black students to speak standard English. (JL)

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…

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)

Compares the oral reading performance of nonstandard-English speaking Black third grade students, bidialectal students, and standard-English speaking students. Results showed that the oral reading patterns of the nonstandard-English speakers did not affect their comprehension of the material read. (FL)

This paper is divided into two sections related to an experimental program in English for black Americans. The first section is a report describing the program. In 1969, approximately 150 black students from urban ghettos in the North and rural communities in the South were admitted to the University of Wisconsin under a special scholarship…

Shows that proper usage and understanding of Black English vernacular among teachers helps to create positive self-image in Black students and aids these students in learning to read. (DA)

This study focused on one of the suggested causes of the poor academic performance evident among many black, lower socioeconomic status children, namely teachers' attitudes toward Black English. There is considerable empirical evidence to suggest that speakers of Black English are evaluated as inferior to speakers of Standard English by their…

Materials concerning dialects and language variation are presented here as background information for a workshop on English dialect differences in elementary and secondary schools. Articles and essays include: "Grammatical, Phonological and Language Use Differences across Cultures" (Walt Wolfram); "A Linguistic Description of Social Dialects"…

A study explored the relationship between oral and written patterns produced by a group of black college freshmen enrolled in remedial writing classes. Forty students were asked to produce, in formal language style, both oral and written summaries of a reading selection. The data were analyzed to determine (1) the extent to which patterns,…

When 130 African American college students were asked to rate the likability and desirability as a committee work partner of black-English-speaking, code-switching, or standard-English-speaking voices, they tended to prefer the speaker of standard English. Implications are discussed. (SLD)