Many black students speak a nonprestige dialect called black English, which places them at a disadvantage academically and socially. This monograph describes the features of black English, defines its use, discusses several theories of its origin, and offers some methods for teaching black students standard spoken usage as another style of speech. Stressing that the features of black English are not universal throughout the United States, the monograph presents a general description of it according to the pronunciation of consonants and grammatical features that include loss of endings, verb forms, negatives, construction of indefinite articles, and several miscellaneous features. The theories discussed hold that black English developed as a result of one of the following influences: the colonial British dialect of the overseer; pidgin, a simplified language developed to carry out business affairs; or from creole, a complicated, transmitted version of pidgin. The monograph concludes with several drills for teaching standard English. (MAI)