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…

Examines attitudes in the Black community towards the topic of Black English and specifically the controversy about the relationship of the speech of Blacks to that of Whites, the distinctive features in the speaking and writing of Black college students, and the attitudes of Black educators. Available from South Atlantic Modern Language…

This guide provides the teacher of multiethnic students with information and lesson plans for teaching about black Americans. The guide contains seven sections, the first of which outlines African history and the history of blacks in the United States, specifically Michigan. Section two examines the African oral tradition and discusses African…

The unjustified assumption that black children have limited verbal or articulation skills stems from the fact that blacks use figurative, nonliteral, and nonstandard language in the classroom. The language that most disadvantaged blacks learn at home and bring to the classroom is a restricted form born out of poverty and limited exposure to good…

This study examines the effect of classrooms where standard English is spoken on the speech of Black English speaking children. The research analyzed samples of language used by 22 Black English speaking children in seven kindergarten classrooms in three Madison, Wisconsin public schools during one academic year, 1977-78. The following questions…

Much of the language and many constructs used in testing and assessment must be redefined in order for testing instruments to be valid for use with children of African-American descent. These children are products of unique linguistic environments. Current educational assessment tools are insensitive to the cultural-linguistic diversity of the…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE INFLUENCE OF PHONETIC, SYNTACTIC, AND SEMANTIC DIALECT DIFFERENCES ON COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PERSONS FROM DIFFERENT DIALECT COMMUNITIES. THE THREE HYPOTHESES UPON WHICH THE STUDY WAS BASED STATED THAT PHONETIC, SYNTACTIC, AND SEMANTIC FEATURES OF DIALECT DIFFERENCES WOULD EACH CONTRIBUTE TO…

A description is given of a study to determine whether the attitudes of white middle class student teachers toward children speaking Black dialect could be changed positively and their listening comprehension improved. In a special program conducted by a teacher center a group of student teachers were exposed to brief intensive training in…

The staff of the Program on Teaching and Linguistic Pluralism at the Center for Educational Research at Stanford University has been involved in a number of research efforts related to the teaching of reading and other language arts skills to Black Vernacular English speaking pupils. These efforts have culminated in the development of a number of…

This book examines dialect variations in the United States. Chapter topics include an introduction to dialect study, colonial English, eastern settlement, eastern words, eastern pronunciation, eastern grammar, the westward movement, sectional atlas studies (the Great Lakes, the Upper Middle West, Texas, Colorado and other Rocky Mountain areas,…

The use of "have,""got,""have got," and alternate forms was investigated in the speech of Anglo and black grade-school children from lower and middle income neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Techniques were devised to elicit multiple occurrences of the construction, including questions and negatives. One technique used was a convergent communication…

Teaching Black English as a foreign language can improve communication between individuals and enrich the language patterns of Standard English. Essential areas of study in such a course (vocabulary, grammar, translation, and to some extent, environmental exposure) can be programmed on a computer. In fact, a computer supplies the perfect tool for…

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…

The relationships between Southern Negro dialect exposure, age, reading ability, and auditory discrimination were studied. The subjects were 112 students randomly selected from grades 2 and 4 from two elementary schools in Richmond and Martinez, California. The predominant speech pattern at one school was Southern Negro dialect; at the other…