The problems encountered in the development of programs for desegregated schools outside of the courts as well as strategies for resolving the difficulties are discussed. The issues are presented within the context of the development of a program that addressed the needs of students who spoke Black Vernacular English in Houston. Problems cited…

Over a 10-year period, the oral language development of 338 pupils was studied from kindergarten through grade 9 to establish the most crucial and frequent oral language difficulties. Recorded samples of oral English from each subject were segmented by oral intonation patterns and syntactic units, and were analyzed yearly in terms of 21 oral…

The ability of primary grade black students to recover deep structure and the degree to which that ability is affected by socioeconomic status, dialect, word recognition, and the child's management of syntactic structures in oral language (oral syntactic control) were investigated in a study involving 125 second grade students. The Deep Structure…

In this study, two hypotheses are examined: (1) There is a positive correlation between the incidence of dialect speech of black second graders and their perception that dialect speech is "bad." (2) Use of dialect speech does not interfere with the speaker's ability to identify words in traditional orthography. The study established language…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects that an instructional program in Black English would have on the acquisition of knowledge of Black English phonology and grammar by teacher participants, and the attitudes of teacher participants toward the speakers of Black English. The sample consisted of two groups from the same basic…

This study focused on the following questions involved in the implementation of the language experience approach: (1) Which tutor will produce the most effective responses? (2) What is the reality of the existence of a Black English vernacular syntax? and (3) Is there evidence of black-white linguistic overlap? Natural, transcribed conversations…

An approach to reading instruction utilizing communicative styles from the black community is suggested by the metatheoretical framework outlined in this essay. The social class constructs, language deficit models, case histories, surrealistic rhetoric and lyrical quality of black discourse can be conceptualized within the context of the following…

Some ways that black literary and rhetorical traditions may be employed for improving instruction in the community college classroom are presented in this paper. As background information, chapter one examines the history of the black American literary, linguistic, and rhetorical heritage with some emphasis placed upon the effect on language of…

The measurement of sociolinguistic behavior requires the formulation of a unit which can take into account continuous, ordered variation within and across discrete linguistic types--the linguistic variable. The linguistic variable, itself an abstraction, is realized in actual speech behavior by variants. The formulation of the linguistic variable…

The seventh in a series of inservice teacher education units is devoted to improving the language skills of disadvantaged students. Part I discusses standard and nonstandard English, and the structural and functional interferences posed by the language systems used by disadvantaged pupils. Part II is devoted to the dialects used by Negro and…

There are two positions on the relationship of the speech of Blacks and whites, and they are quite opposed to one another. One position observes virtually no differences in the speech of Southern whites and Blacks and therefore assumes that the historical development can be traced to a British dialect. The other sees many significant differences…

This study investigated the effect of black dialect upon the comprehension of standard reading material by using 50 third-grade students. A sentence repetition test was administered individually to each subject to select pupils for either the standard or the dialect group. Subjects were tested for oral comprehension and silent reading…

An attempt is made in this book to state some of the features of and dispel some of the myths about nonstandard English, particularly the dialects of English spoken by many black Americans, and to consider alternative policies that might be adopted regarding varied forms of English. The chapters of the book include "What Is the Problem?""Is…

Black English Vernacular (BEV) is spoken in more or less pure form by many, if not most, of the inner-city students attending college under plans like open enrollment. In cities, most blacks, Puerto Ricans, and many other non-native speakers speak or can speak a form of BEV. The prevalence of BEV in elementary and secondary schools of the inner…

Educators and intellectuals with some sense of humanity should comprehend the hidden message inherent in setting up a dichotomy referring to two linguistic/cultural entities: that one set of structures is sufficient; one is not. For the black student, this message of inferiority is communicated both through the teacher in his instruction,…