The major purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a teacher's instructional behavior on black high school students' learning of standard English grammatical features. The study also aimed (a) to identify the subjects' deviations from standard English and to select the most socially stigmatizing items, (b) to prepare and evaluate…

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)

This paper examines the controversy surrounding the use of Ebonics among African American students in schools in the United States, with a twofold purpose: (1) to focus on the primary function of language as a tool of communication that varies in its use according to the social context; and (2) to provide suggestions to teachers of ways to support…

To be effective, teachers of blacks must know black culture and black dialect -- and how to apply this knowledge. (Author)

This article aims to (1) propose a new approach to establishing English-as-a-second-dialect programs in schools isolated from professional English-second-language personnel, (2) to report on the procedures applied at one particular high school, and (3) to discuss linguistic features typical of the Negro students in this school. (Author/FB)

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)

Asserts that speakers of Black English and their behavior evoke strong responses outside and inside their communities. Asserts that members of the black communities are rarely permitted to describe or defend their language or ways of using it. Offers the essays, comments, and class interactions of an African-American/Linguistics class on language…

Undertakes a critical language analysis of the Oakland Unified School District's 1996 resolution on Ebonics, focusing on the form, content, and function of the resolution's explicit text semantics as distinct from the public statements made about it. Discusses how the resolution frames Ebonics as a non-English-related system. (Author/SLD)

Analyzes the discourse styles, including linguistic practices, of African-American students at an urban high school. Concludes that students use Ebonics or Black English as the norm against which students evaluate other speech practices and that students construct standard English as a vernacular, a discourse to be disrespected…

Explains how teachers might go about equitably and fairly teaching standard written English when African American students in the class speak black English. Argues that black English, which has been 400 years in the making, is worthy of tolerance and respect for all its richness. (TB)

A study administered a 12-item questionnaire to 35 (15 males, 20 females) African-American students (recent high school graduates with a mean age of 17.5 years) enrolled in a university summer enrichment program to examine how their language in casual conversation differed from that of adults. The questionnaire was administered after the final…

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…

It is argued in this paper that teachers must develop an awareness of the historical implications of the black dialect. A sample in-class composition written in black dialect is quoted in its entirety and analyzed, and a personal writing approach is described. The first part of the approach deals with structure, and a linguistic method is used for…

The ways speakers of Black English modify features of their spoken dialect in the process of adapting their language to writing are examined in this dissertation, on the basis of a corpus of writing from 41 black students enrolled in a St. Louis community college composition course. Each student is represented by 500 to 1000 words of writing…