Illustrates the difficulty encountered when disadvantaged black children are taught reading by conventional methods--by identifying some conflict points between nonstandard Negro dialect and Standard English. These cause no problem if they are simply disregarded in the teaching of reading. (JM)

Presents research findings that demonstrate that Black English does not interfere with Black children's reading performance in standard English. Outlines the limitations of studies reviewed and raises questions for further research. (MJL)

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)

Suggests that languages (non-standard vs. standard English), as well as "riving, jiving, and playing the dozens", derive from socioeconomic conditions and social settings and not from black faces. (Author)

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…

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…

Cultural and dialect differences affect the writing style of black college students in several different ways. Some stylistic features, such as hypercorrection that involves confused word choice, grammatical deviation, or incorrect word order, are undesirable in spite of the fact that they indicate a knowledge of the formality of writing and a…

The hypothesis of this study was that stories created by a dialectical subgroup of third grade Negro children might be more comprehensible to other members of that group than the usual instructional materials. A random sample of third graders was asked to tell stories in response to four pictures. The stories were tape recorded and then…

Links between language and identity are so strong that attempts to correct nonstandard speech are likely to be interpreted by West Indian children as criticism or rejection. A far more constructive approach would be to acknowledge and accept Creole in the classroom. (Author)

Black students that were grouped for English ability by their standardized test scores translated a standard English text into black dialect. Analytical data show group differences in dialect facility that correlate to standard English ability, suggesting that language development affects both dialect performance and standard English learning. (RL)

Article investigated the hypothesis that Caucasian subjects supply significantly more standard English, and Negro subjects supply significantly more predictable nonstandard English endings to present, plural, possessive, and time extension words, and that differences are obtained regardless of the standard or nonstandard English mode of…