Discusses reasons why standard English instruction should be delayed. (DS)

Normative data for 198 urban children (four to eight years old) who speak Black American English (BAE) were obtained on the Test of Language Development. Results revealed speakers of BAE differed significantly in performance from children on whom test was standardized. Difference in performance was reflected in overall test scores and in…

Shows that proper usage and understanding of Black English vernacular among teachers helps to create positive self-image in Black students and aids these students in learning to read. (DA)

Describes instruction that has proven effective in teaching Black children to read. (MKM)

"Ebonics II" is the position that there is no significant gap between black and standard English but that teaching standard English as a foreign language would alleviate the stigma attached to black English. Acknowledging black English and promoting Afrocentric curricula while teaching standard English would overcome the resistance many children…

Examines the concept of linguistic legitimacy (and illegitimacy) using three specific cases--Black English, American Sign Language, and Esperanto. The paper argues that legitimacy is grounded more on personal, political, and ideological biases than on linguistic criteria. (SM)

Presents an extended review of Eleanor Wilson Orr's "Twice as Less: Black English and the Performance of Black Students in Mathematics and Science." Argues that the work sustains the fantasy of intellectuals that the basic injustices of society are subject to relatively simple technical correction. (RS)

This study examined the complex syntax production of 45 pre-school-aged African American boys and girls from urban, low income homes. Results provide quantitative descriptions of amounts of complex syntax and suggest a potential positive relationship between amounts of complex syntax and amounts of nonstandard English form usage in the children's…

Presents initial findings in a study of language use by preadolescent African-American male participants in a neighborhood sponsored Youth Basketball Association. Using data collected over a 30-month period in Chicago (Illinois), the study takes an ethnographic approach for exploring communicative competencies in oral and written language. (JB)

This study compared the responses of 28 Detroit (Michigan) low income African-American preschoolers who were speakers of Black English (BE) on the Arizona Articulation Proficiency Scale, using a standard English and a BE scoring procedure. Findings indicated that this test does not require a BE scoring adjustment for northern BE speakers.…

An African American teacher of English discusses her own experience with black English as a barrier to academic success, her efforts to assure that her own students speak standard English and to understand why many teachers do not stress this and the need to understand why many African American students do not use standard English despite its…

Shares information about how four African American vernacular English speakers have successfully used their language abilities--the language of their everyday lives--within the context of their expository writing. Discusses principles that have guided one teacher in her work with language diverse students. (TB)

Discusses South Africa's adoption of nine indigenous languages to join Afrikaans and English as official languages and the expanding role of English at the expense of these languages. Analyzes studies on South African Englishes, examining the way expanded use and domains for Black South African English (BSAE) speakers will have a significant…

This investigation reports average length of communication units (C-units) in words and in morphemes for 95 African-American boys and girls (ages 4-6) from lower-income, urban homes. Mean C-units increased across the age span and syntactic complexity of the children's language samples correlated positively with increases in C-unit length.…

Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin's "Dialogic Imagination" and Henry Louis Gates'"Signifying Monkey," an analysis of an African American student's essay reveals codes that are distinct to African Americans. Bakhtin's theory alerts scholars to the extent to which language is a social phenomenon. Ambiguous and heteroglossic, it reflects…