Examines debates involving three speech communities in the United States: standard English, Black English, and Spanish. The analysis focuses on languages in which electoral activities take place and in which public school instruction is conducted. The major American ideologies of language are similar in their denial of linguistic inequality.…

Reports on a two-part study of second-grade African American students' uses of various forms of the /-s/ suffix, replicating J. Torrey's 1972 study on the correlation of language and educational achievement. Findings suggest the need to reflect diversity and flexibility in design and implementation of assessment and instruction materials and the…

Since the 1980s, "Rethinking Schools" magazine has been renowned for its commitment to racial equality in education. Now, "Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice" has collected the best Rethinking Schools articles that deal with race and culture. "Rethinking Multicultural…

This report focuses on the teaching of English to Aboriginal children in primary schools in Australia. A definition and analysis of dialectal differences between Aboriginal (Australian) English and Standard (Australian) English is offered that includes the phonological, morpho-syntactic, lexico-semantic, and pragmatic differences of the Aboriginal…

The definition of and distinction between two variations of American English, African American English Vernacular (AAEV) and Gullah, the American creole spoken on the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, are discussed. It is argued that while these and other varieties are defined typically by their basilects, the reality encountered in the field…

The debate about the use of Black English has been raging for many years, with no real solutions and few practical suggestions to help teachers and African-American students handle the situation in the classroom. Tensions are often heightened by misconceptions about Standard English--that it is a White man's language and necessary for success and…

Focusing on black communication skills in the classroom can be rewarding, instructional, and motivational for both black and white students when educators begin to build upon the effectiveness of black language patterns and usages. This packet of curriculum materials was designed for class, group, and individual instruction in the use of black…

Involving students in an active study of dialect differences will enhance their own self awareness and their knowledge and understanding of cultural diversity. (JH)

Presentations on aspects of foreign language instruction include: "A World Without Walls" (Lorraine A. Strasheim); "Practical Aspects of Individualizing Foreign Language Instruction" (Howard B. Altman); "Teaching Foreign Language Through Literature" (Jeanne Varney Pleasants); "Individualization of Foreign Language Instruction" (Howard B. Altman);…

Some errors in adult black students' writing cannot be analyzed merely within the traditional hierarchy of grammatical rules; a look at sociological factors is germane to an evaluation of students' writing ability or inability. Data for an analysis of black adult students' writing at the syntactic level have shown that problems of clarity might be…

A study of the relationship of teacher attitudes toward and comprehension of Black English examined certain characteristics of a group of university graduate students in education in relation to their self-evaluations of Black English comprehension, stated attitudes, and types of interpretation errors. The characteristics of graduate students…

To advocate the work of Gregory Bateson, especially his Double-Bind theory, this paper describes how the theory can be applied to particular instances and to the general experience of black students in a predominantly white, authoritarian college setting. The paper argues that miscues on the part of black students in the classroom and in writing…

The articles in this journal issue explore various aspects of the teaching of composition. Topics include the types of activities and research that rhetoricians will be doing in the future, areas in which composition research is needed, dealing with dialect differences in the composition classroom, and helping students to develop their writing…

The four articles in this publication address the following topics: opportunities for developing a graduate program in international and intercultural communication in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area; the nature of bilingualism and biculturalism in an urban context and their implications for intercultural communication; a typology of…

This document describes a course in the teaching of reading for content-area teachers, which has been offered at Temple University since 1970. It was designed to help English, science, and social studies teachers meet state certification requirements in reading. The theoretical base of the course is psycholinguistic, with a major emphasis upon…