Black ninth graders did better on a black-dialect reading test than on the standard English form of the same test. (MM)

A review of recent research suggests that evidence is lacking to support the conclusion that black dialect interference is a major contributor to black children's reading problems. (MKM)

A study investigated African-American children, Section 1703(f) of the Equal Education Opportunity Act of 1974 and the attention paid to teaching these children to read in current reading method textbooks. The main aspects of Black English were identified and recognized as significant barriers to reading achievement. The contents of 14 of the most…

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…

It is suggested that questions which have been asked in research addressed to efforts to improve black children's reading have been unsatisfactory. The literature on reading problems in black children is examined for theoretical and ethnic relevance. (Author/GC)

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)

A study investigated whether fluency in oral reading, as indicated by proper intonation, could be used as a measure of college students' reading comprehension. The study was designed to look at the three features of intonation--pitch, stress, and juncture--separately and in combination to determine whether any one or a combination of all the…

Interrelationships between productive oral proficiency in black dialect and in standard English and reading comprehension of passages differing in dialect and content were investigated in a sample of 98 sixth-grade black students. Results indicated that students were better readers as their oral patterns of speech were more representative of…

Two experiments investigated the relationship between cultural schemata and reading comprehension. Subjects for the first experiment were 186 eighth grade students who attended one of five schools--two predominately black inner-city schools, two predominately white working class area schools, and a predominately white agricultural area school.…

A study was undertaken to determine if the removal of black English dialect as oral reading errors would influence the scores obtained on three oral reading diagnostic tests: the Gray Oral Reading Test, the Gilmore Oral Reading Test, and the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scales. In addition, the study investigated whether there were differences in the…

This study addressed the following three questions: Among the grammatical patterns that first graders are expected to be able to read, are there any which are particularly easy or particularly difficult to interpret? Can these grammatical patterns be mastered with equal ease by students of varying reading ability? Do these grammatical patterns…

A major problem that continues to plague United States education is the fact that large numbers of disadvantaged black students are not learning to read well enough to function in society. This paper discusses three reasons for the problem of teaching reading to these students. First, there exist no comprehensive developmental reading theories, no…

Representative research studies of the interference of Vernacular Black English (VBE) on beginning reading of VBE speakers at the phonological, grammatical, and lexical and content levels are examined. The following conclusions emerge: (1) phonological interference in learning to read has not been established; (2) VBE does not clearly interfere…