The reading act and the teaching of black children should not be treated as incidental by either white or black educators. The role of teacher-training institutions should be to instruct future teachers in the reading processes, reading readiness stages, basal reading programs, formal and informal reading tests, black dialects, reading approaches,…

If and when Black English ceases to exist as a language separate from Standard English, it will be because Blacks no longer feel alienated and excluded from mainstream America. (Author/AM)

This essay notes that the book under review is primarily a popular translation of research in the area of vernacular black English (VBE) that presents a relatively non-technical discussion of the linguistic characteristics of VBE and their educational implications. (Author/AM)

Literacy education in Jamaica lacks an officially accepted policy and methodology for teaching creole speakers. This has led to a low literacy level across the population. The distinctive features of Jamaican Creole are highlighted in this article in order to give theoretical and pedagogical insights to literacy teachers. (VM)

Analyzes 10 theoretical approaches to Black language studies. Divides these into two categories: those that deny the existence of a separate Black language and those that recognize a distinct form of communication. Examines the relationship between language and politics and Black scholars' self-determination as cultural factors influencing…

Describes a study of the intelligibility of three dialects--standard English, New Yorkese, and Black English--for working-class adult English learners. Results showed that comprehension was significantly affected by dialect and that learner judgments of the speakers in terms of job status, friendliness, and appearance paralleled the…

Black children's language abilities should not be judged by their schoolyard grammar. Use of Standard English "s" endings in spontaneous speech is not as good a predictor of school language achievements as is the use of those endings in reading and school grammatical or comprehension tests. (Author/DWH)

This literature review provides evidence of dialect interference in black children's performance on oral reading, but large gaps exist in knowledge about Black English and the task of reading. The evidence of dialect interference in reading is equivocal at present, and the educational alternatives considered here are seen as premature. (RC)

The proposition that education affects dialect to a significant degree is examined. The findings leave doubt whether an educational differential is adequate to explain the maintenance of dialect differences between ethnic groups. (Author/RM)

Catherine Prendergast challenges compositionists to investigate how privileging whiteness perpetuates racism in the classroom. In response to Prendergast's challenge, this paper examines the "white ground" of composition classes by complying with Ian Marshall and Wendy Ryan's suggestion to "look closely at how the "politics of…

A study analyzed the use of six nonstandard linguistic variables by eight adolescent and eight adult African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), each group equally divided into males and females, from Muncie, Indiana. The study was designed to investigate whether occupation, a social variable, also determines AAVE speakers' use of nonstandard…

Since the 1996 Oakland School Board decision regarding the use of Ebonics as a tool of instruction, opinions have clashed over whether Ebonics is a separate language or merely a dialect of English. Called Black Vernacular English (BVE) in the 1960s and 70s, African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in the 1980s and 90s, (called…

An Historical Analysis of black speeches which indicates the failure of rhetorical appeals to values to effectively persuade an audience. (DD)

A guide to a college course on black rhetoric, containing objectives, a subject outline, learning activities, evaluation methods, student reading materials and audio-visual aids, and a 24 item bibliography. (DD)