Translanguaging has been suggested as a pedagogical practice for bilingual students in which they use two languages alternately in the classroom (Williams, 1996) and it contributes to students' language learning with the use of two languages to make meaning (Baker, 2011). The main goal of this study is to investigate preparatory class students'…

African-American students continue to lag behind White peers in nationwide test scores, in part due to deficits in literacy skills which may be connected to use of African American English (AAE) in the school setting. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between exposure to varying levels of mainstream American English (MAE)…

From the beginning of the school year, the author observed an interesting phenomenon in Ms. James' 3rd grade class: Students would eagerly volunteer to share their ideas by raising their hands or calling out to the teacher, but when they began to share, they would quickly abandon their talk and announce, "I forgot." As the author heard…

The complexity of language use can be illustrated by the storytelling of three different language users. The first is a college freshman, retelling a story in three different situations. In a test-like situation, her language is short and choppy, whereas in more natural settings involving family and friends, her language is more spontaneous. In…

To dispel the myths of linguistic deficiency among nonstandard English dialect speakers, evidence that repudiates these myths should be examined. These myths include suggestions that nonstandard dialects are ungrammatical and cannot be used to form concepts, and that speakers of such dialects receive little verbal stimulation as children. The…

Renewed interest in the connection between black English and reading difficulty warrants a summary of the groundwork laid in the 1960s and 1970s. Linguists have established the fact that black English is a legitimate language, that its speakers are not language deficient, and that the basic difference in black and standard English pertains to…

The handbook, intended to assist California school personnel in understanding the Portuguese language minority group, is designed for use by bilingual education specialists, administrators, and other teachers. An introductory section presents several vignettes of language situations in the schools. Two subsequent chapters outline general…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 22 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) black English and reading; (2) academic achievement, self-concept, and attitudes toward reading of students in bilingual and traditional programs; (3) cultural…