Recent literature on African Americans students at the community college level represents an eclectic body of material. Broadly speaking, this literature has focused on questions concerning African American learning styles, cultural determinants to success, retention issues, and comparative achievement with other minority groups. While the…

Grounded in integrated and excerpt style (Emerson, et al., 1995), this article chronicles Mr. Lehrer, an English teacher who provides his students access to standard and nonstandard writing conventions. Student writing samples and discursive practices illustrate enhanced awareness of distinctions between nonstandard language (African American…

Purpose: This study examined whether child speakers of Southern African American English (SAAE) and Southern White English (SWE) who were also perceived by some listeners to present a Cajun/Creole English (CE) influence within their dialects produced elevated rates of 6 phonological and 5 morphological patterns of vernacular relative to other…

This digest discusses the different dialects children bring to the school environment and how U.S. schools deal with these differences. Reference is made to the Ann Arbor (Michigan) case in which a group of African-American parents sued the local school system on behalf of their children, claiming the school was denying their children equal…

Discusses nonstandard dialects, particularly Black English, in the classroom. (RM)

The educational practices and theories of linguists and educators concerning speakers of Black dialect are discussed in terms of three varying perspectives: (1) eradication; (2) bidialectalism; and, (3) appreciation of dialect differences. An arguement for the latter view is made and a list of suggestions relative to language instruction is…

Explains misconceptions and re-assesses old attitudes about teaching dialects in an effort to affirm the student's right to his own language. (RB)

This is an autobiographical account of a teacher's first day in an inner city high school; it contains a discussion of the importance of understanding the subculture of one's students. The teacher's dress and comprehension of slang are noticed by the students. Incidents are related that illustrate the effects of ethnocentrism (the belief in the…

Analyzes errors made by 65 innercity third and fourth graders on the "Gray Oral Reading Test." (RB)

A description and analysis of the various functions of black language as an integral part of the collective experience and identity of American blacks. (EH)

School integration, according to this ninth chapter in a book on school law, will take new forms for a variety of reasons. First, the U.S. Supreme Court has recently made basic changes that may have slowed down further school integration. The Court has stiffened its requirements for the right to sue, narrowed its interpretation of rules limiting…

To make teachers more aware of certain linguistic skills possessed by black children, why they are important, and how they might be capitalized upon in the classroom, this report examines the manipulation of figurative devices within the black community. The discussion focuses on seven forms of communicative devices prevalent in black language:…

This report describes a program that uses annotations in the teacher's editions of existing reading programs to indicate the characteristics of black English that may interfere with the reading process of black children. The first part of the report provides a rationale for the annotation approach, explaining that the discrepancy between written…