The major purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a teacher's instructional behavior on black high school students' learning of standard English grammatical features. The study also aimed (a) to identify the subjects' deviations from standard English and to select the most socially stigmatizing items, (b) to prepare and evaluate…

This article examines the language needs of culturally different clients from a Black perspective, discusses the problems of languages-in-contact, and presents specific ways for teachers to improve the language competencies of Black students. (Author/HMV)

Describes the procedures used in a study designed to examine differences in nonstandard grammatical usage among and between Negro and white working-class informants in the community of Alexandria, Virginia. (Author/FB)

Studied the perceptions of 55 African American undergraduates about Black English. Students identified as not having a committed Black identity evaluated Black English as lower in status than those students with a committed Black identity. Black English was not perceived as reflecting higher social solidarity. (SLD)

Herbert L. Foster has written a new book about teaching black youngsters in the inner city. A Kappan interviewer extracts some of his success secrets, among them the rules for life-or-death contests. (Editor)

A STUDY WAS UNDERTAKEN TO EXAMINE THE NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL CLASS AND COGNITIVE ABILITIES OF NEGRO KINDERGARTEN BOYS. FIFTY MIDDLE CLASS AND 50 LOWER CLASS NEGRO KINDERGARTEN BOYS WERE INDIVIDUALLY ADMINISTERED EXTENSIVE TESTS DESIGNED TO ASSESS SPECIFIC INFORMATION PROCESSING ABILITIES. THE EIGHT INSTRUMENTS USED INCLUDED…

Discusses reasons for Black and Puerto Rican inner-city students' resentment toward learning and using Standard English. (BE)

The recent discussions about the teaching of Black English, known as Ebonics, in the Oakland (California) school district have highlighted concerns about the right way to educate African American children. The authors of essays in this collection offer background history that explores the race and power dynamics surrounding the development of…

This study investigated relationships between residential segregation in a large urban area and selected auditory discrimination and phonics skills among 240 lower and middle class Negro, Puerto Rican, and White fourth graders. Two tests were developed and taped specifically for use with earphones in this study: a 41-item Auditory Discrimination…

Analyzes fourteen conversations generated by five black children, ages six to eleven, from a lower socioeconomic group in Washington, D. C., which were recorded and transcribed in various settings involving adults of different races as interviewers. (JM)

This article presents an analysis of errors found in writing samples produced by Black children in urban schools. Errors influenced by Black-English oral usage, hypercorrections, and morphologic errors influenced by Black-English speech patterns are focused upon. (Author/DF)

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)

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…

In a follow-up to Michaels' research that identified "topic associating," the narrative styles of 48 low-income urban kindergartners were examined. Results, which revealed both topic-associating and topic-centered stories, showed storybook and fairy tale themes/structures in both styles but most clearly in topic-centered narratives and a…

When children (particularly African Americans) have a different orthography, phonemic system, and deep structure from Standard American English (SAE) speakers, they may have difficulty grasping the correct SAE phonemes represented by the symbols and reading in general. Language acquisition is natural learning centered around the interaction of…