The spontaneous speech of 12 Black children (18-36 months) was evaluated to identify the existence of distinctive Black English features. (Author/CL)

A review of recent research suggests that evidence is lacking to support the conclusion that black dialect interference is a major contributor to black children's reading problems. (MKM)

Points out that the linguistic rules of one's dialect determine what one hears and that items on tests of auditory discrimination may prove difficult for adults and nearly impossible for children. (JM)

Proposes a method for describing the relationship between writing error and style shifting rates across communicative situations. Finds that errors diminished in proportion to the tendency of students to select grammatical features that are shared by Black American English and Standard American English in formal communicative situations. (RAE)

Raises four objections to a program of oral drills in standard English for children who speak black dialect. (HTH)

At the prekindergarten and kindergarten age, children generally appear to be oblivious to dialect differences and fail to associate these differences in language variety with black speakers. (JH)

Oakland Unified School District may embody the failures of public education, which makes it worth examining for causes of failure and for potential reforms. This district has the second highest parental dissatisfaction in the nation, with two-thirds of graduates not able to meet minimum eligibility requirements of the state's colleges. It is also…

This paper examines the controversy surrounding the use of Ebonics among African American students in schools in the United States, with a twofold purpose: (1) to focus on the primary function of language as a tool of communication that varies in its use according to the social context; and (2) to provide suggestions to teachers of ways to support…

This book relates the story of the 1974 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) resolution on Students' Right to Their Own Language (SRTOL), and sets this up against the story of how Composition Studies developed as a professional field and sets both against the larger history of 1960s movements, the liberal welfare state, and…

Rather than dismiss teaching English usage or embrace it without question, elementary teachers need to make usage instruction meaningful and motivating and present it in a nonthreatening yet systematic manner. The teacher must become familiar with his/her particular language community by listening to students and noting the forms they are using.…

Reports a study of the ability of Black children to hear final consonant blends even though they may not or cannot pronounce them. (TO)

Presents the role of the black psychologist in the area of theorizing on black behavior in terms of the task of criticizing what has heretofore been written about black behavior, and also in terms of what the black psychologist should bring to this area of knowledge to replace past writing with ulterior motivation. (Author/JM)

Part of Lexicography and Dialect Geography, Festgabe for Hans Kurath''. (DD)

A rebuttal to Lawrence M. Davis' Social Dialectology in America,'' Journal of English Linguistics, March 1970, p46-56. Special issue on Black Dialect: Historical and Descriptive Issues'' edited by William A. Stewart. (RS)

Earlier version of this article read at the Conference on Continuities and Discontinuities in Afro-American Societies and Cultures, Mona, Jamaica, April 2-4, 1970. Special issue on Black Dialect: Historical and Descriptive Issues'' edited by William A. Stewart. (RS)