Nonsensical statements about the inferiority of non-standard English should be revealed as nonsense by linguistic analysis--there being no point in marshalling empirical evidence to refute meaningless propositions.

Presents the results of several studies dealing with dialect differences and offers a rationale for using the language experience approach for teaching dialectically different black children. (TO)

Corrects the misconception that there is a standard English dialect. Suggests that a linguistic racial bias victimizes black children. (Author)

This critical analysis of the usage of Black English in the classroom suggests that a change in teacher attitudes toward Black English will increase student ability and desire to learn standard English. (DA)

Reports results of a study in which 72 African-American college students listened to and evaluated a tape-recorded excerpt of a speech in two versions, one in Ebonics and one in Standard English. Finds students rated the speaker who used Standard English as more credible (i.e. , more competent and having a strong character) and more sociable than…

A video tape of a freshman composition student at the University of Arizona shows the difficulty she has faced in writing classes because of her black dialect. Her instructor points out that the student, after some of the readdings in class, recognizes that she has learned code switching on her own to survive in the educational system; this…

Two studies compared the impact of black and white audiences on black students' writing style. In the first study, eight students in an all-black intermediate composition class completed one argumentative draft addressed to black opponents and one addressed to white opponents on two different topics. The essays were examined for stylistic features…

This paper is a critical review of Eleanor Orr's theory that African American students have difficulty with mathematical and scientific concepts because they speak Black English. Orr's data are criticized on many levels. For instance, her facts are derived from a limited subject pool and she has failed to take into account other possible reasons…

Distar (Direct Instructional System for Teaching) was specifically developed to ameliorate the reading problems of inner city children. The program, developed by Bereiter and Englemann, is based on the assumption that disadvantaged children lack certain basic language skills, information and behavioral patterns, which prevent them from mastering…

The results of a study in which eight black kindergarten children responded to a set of structured tasks designed to elicit linguistic constructions which characterize Black English are presented and discussed in this Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) technical note. Some of the children responded with a high rate of nonstandard realizations;…

Black children's language abilities should not be judged by their schoolyard grammar. Use of Standard English "s" endings in spontaneous speech is not as good a predictor of school language achievements as is the use of those endings in reading and school grammatical or comprehension tests. (Author/DWH)

This literature review provides evidence of dialect interference in black children's performance on oral reading, but large gaps exist in knowledge about Black English and the task of reading. The evidence of dialect interference in reading is equivocal at present, and the educational alternatives considered here are seen as premature. (RC)

Catherine Prendergast challenges compositionists to investigate how privileging whiteness perpetuates racism in the classroom. In response to Prendergast's challenge, this paper examines the "white ground" of composition classes by complying with Ian Marshall and Wendy Ryan's suggestion to "look closely at how the "politics of…

Describes the procedures used in a study designed to examine differences in nonstandard grammatical usage among and between Negro and white working-class informants in the community of Alexandria, Virginia. (Author/FB)

A study conducted to examine in detail the oral reading performance and comprehension of five poor readers among college freshmen at Tennessee State University confirms the belief that dialects need not interfere with reading or with learning to read. (AOS)