This 65-item bibliography presents newspaper articles, books, magazine articles, articles from scholarly journals, and documents available online that deal with Black English (Ebonics). Materials in the bibliography were published between 1973 and 1997, with many items published in 1996 or 1997. (RS)

The paper considers difficulties facing black gifted children and examines the importance of language variability, classroom management, and learning to think. The nature of Black English is explored with various viewpoints of its origins, and suggestions are made for dealing with the special needs of students who have inadequate mastery of…

A wide-ranging discussion with William Labov, a sociolinguist interested in the study of nonstandard dialects, especially Black English dialect. (DD)

Reviews research on instructional techniques recognizing the different learning styles, languages, dialects, or cultures of minority students. Concludes that special educational programs for students of other cultures may have both positive and negative outcomes. (JM)

Compares controversies surrounding actions by school boards in Hawaii and Oakland, California, to promote student fluency in standard English. Public reactions to these actions demonstrated general lack of understanding about languages and nonstandard dialects. Myths and characterizations about Hawaiian Creole English and African American…

Presents first a short article, "Response to the Issue of Ebonics," written by a Pennsylvania high school student. Follows this with an article, "Building Bridges to the 'Language of Wider Communication'" which reflects on ways of using the language children bring to the classroom as a means of building bridges to wider…

This paper deals with the claims concerning the presumed language deprivation of lower-class blacks, and the findings of sociolinguists that refute these claims. The author asserts that the perceived deficiencies of non-Standard English were largely the product of middle-class intuitive assumptions concerning lower-class speech, and that recent…

Examines the reasons and myths surrounding the Ebonics controversy, which concerns the use of the English dialect spoken by many African-American children in Oakland, California, schools as a strategy for teaching Standard American English. Implications for diagnosing and educating special-education students whose primary dialect is Ebonics are…

The value of teaching Standard English as the language of school and mainstream middle class culture is undisputed, yet Black English, as a non-standard English dialect, has great potential as an instructional tool in the composition classroom. The use of the black dialect can help expand black students' intellectual potential by de-stigmatizing…

This paper examines the importance of teaching about non-standard dialect awareness in English departments, focusing on African American Vernacular English (AAVE). The paper asserts that it is the job of teachers to present students with appropriate knowledge about language and to raise awareness of nonstandard dialects, rather than perpetuate…

An effort to lay the foundation for the preparation of reading programs which will match the social and linguistic background of lower-class children, in particular children of the nation's black ghettos, is made in this paper. The paper consists of five sections. The first section discusses the interconnection of social, geographic, and stylistic…

This book is a collection of conference proceedings, papers, comments, and other documents that was compiled as a response to the national controversy that erupted in the aftermath of the resolution on Ebonics by the Oakland Unified School District in late 1996. That resolution affirmed the need to incorporate an explicit focus on Ebonics in…

The Martin Luther King case established a legal mandate requiring school systems to identify, assess, and remedy educational problems associated with the use of nonstandard English dialects, casual or otherwise, by minority group children. (Author/MLF)

Clarifies misconceptions about the Ann Arbor, Michigan court decision on the teaching of students with Black dialects. Explores the impact of teacher attitudes toward substandard English on teaching students with Black dialects and lists ERIC sources for increasing knowledge and sensitivity to differing dialects. (HTH)

This article examines differences between language deficits and language differences, with emphasis on African American students from lower socioeconomic levels, and considers intervention with this population in terms of why it should occur, when it should occur, and how it should be structured. An appendix summarizes dialectical features of…