At present, there is virtually no empirical evidence of the success of educational techniques designed to minimize the interference of black English on the acquisition of reading skills. The 180 black, inner-city third and fifth graders who participated in this study were selected in order to determine whether the discrepancy between performance…

Measures of abstract reasoning ability, degree of bidialectism, and reading performance were administered to Black, inner-city third and fifth graders. Abstract reasoning ability significantly affected reading performance while expressive proficiency in Standard English and Black English did not significantly affect scores. The importance of…

Equivalent forms of listening comprehension, oral reading, and oral reading comprehension tasks in (1) standard English, (2) black English, standard orthography, and (3) black English, nonstandard orthography were administered to black, inner-city children. Subjects scored highest on black English, standard orthography and lowest on black English,…

This study focused on one of the suggested causes of the poor academic performance evident among many black, lower socioeconomic status children, namely teachers' attitudes toward Black English. There is considerable empirical evidence to suggest that speakers of Black English are evaluated as inferior to speakers of Standard English by their…

Characteristics which should be considered in reviewing any standardized reading test include validity, reliability, standardization sample, areas assessed by the test, type of response required by the child, individual versus group administration, time needed for administration, availability of equivalent forms, scoring options available,…