Though diversity serves as a valuable source for rhetorical inquiry, expressivist instructors who privilege diversity writing may also overemphasize the essential authenticity of their students' vernaculars. This romantic and salvationist impulse reveals the troubling implications of eighteenth-century Natural Language Theory and may,…

Prator (1968) argued strongly for promoting a single standard of English, maintaining that schools have an obligation to teach a native standard of English. The assumption that the educational structure is a productive forum for directing language use is questioned. The report begins with a discussion of the controversy surrounding United States…

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…

Black-oriented radio stations are a valuable resource for the white teacher needing familiarity with Black idioms. (JH)

Schools should provide opportunities for students, especially Black students, to become knowledgeable about their language system and culture. (JH)

A pilot project was undertaken to more clearly determine teacher attitudes toward Black English. A Teacher Attitude Scale (TAS) was constructed, based upon the literature and interviews with teachers and administrators, and administered to 15 teachers. Items significant at the .05 level were retained, forming the final edition of the TAS.…

A discussion and clarification of various forms and levels of Black English is provided together with a conjugation of the verb "to be" outlining the levels of meanings as used by most divergent black speakers. (EH)

The hypotheses that black subjects comprehend nonstandard English materials better than those in standard English and that white subjects comprehend standard English materials better than those in nonstandard English were not supported. (Author)

In an attempt to measure the effect that dialect of presentation has on Black-English-speaking children's oral reading performance, this study measured the percentage of unknown words attempted by third and fifth grade subjects on equivalent forms of an oral reading task presented in Standard English, Black English standard orthography, and Black…

The author criticizes the way educators brand students who have learning problems, group them under one label, and treat them as though their problems were homogeneous. The author illustrates his argument by a brief introduction to black English and how it relates to this problem. (Author/BP)

Published originally in "The Bulletin of the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies, Fall 1968.

A LINGUISTIC FIELD SURVEY OF THE ENGLISH SPOKEN IN THE CULTURAL-GEOGRAPHICAL AREA OF APPALACHIA SHOWS THAT THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO MAJOR NONSTANDARD DIALECTS IN CURRENT USE. THE DIALECT FAMILY MOST COMMONLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE APPALACHIAN REGION IS MOUNTAIN SPEECH. ALTHOUGH WELL STRUCTURED AND EXPRESSIVE IN ITS OWN RIGHT, IT HAS COME TO BE…

A CONFERENCE WAS HELD ON AUGUST 3-5, 1964 TO BRING TOGETHER SCHOLARS IN DIALECTOLOGY AND RELATED FIELDS. THE ENTIRE CONFERENCE WAS TAPE RECORDED AND A TYPESCRIPT MADE. THE CONTENTS OF THE REPORT ENCOMPASS BOTH THE PANEL PAPERS PRESENTED AND DISCUSSIONS ON (1) SOCIAL DIALECTOLOGY, (2) FIELD PROJECTS, (3) SCHOOL AND COLLEGE TEACHING PROGRAMS, (4)…

THIS REPORT WAS DESIGNED (1) TO PROVIDE A MORE DETAILED AND SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SOCIAL DIFFERENCES IN ORAL COMMUNICATION AND (2) TO ASCERTAIN THE ACCURACY WITH WHICH SUBJECTS COULD IDENTIFY THE RACE AND EDUCATION OF SPEAKERS WHOM THEY COULD NOT SEE. TO DETERMINE REACTIONS TO PRONUNCIATIONS, THE INVESTIGATORS DEVISED AN INSTRUMENT…

A corpus of Black English (BEV) data is re-examined with exclusive attention to the "is" form of the copula. This analysis differs from previous examinations in that more constraints have been introduced, and the Cedergren/Sankoff computer program for multivariant analysis has been employed. The analytic techniques that are used allow for a finer…