The Workshop on the Role of Language in School Learning: Implications for Closing the Achievement Gap was held to explore three questions: What is known about the conditions that affect language development? What are the effects of early language development on school achievement? What instructional approaches help students meet school demands for…

This paper reports on an investigation of writing in Spanish in the lives of U.S. Latinos. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with informants recruited from among students and former students of high school and college Spanish courses. The interviews were transcribed and coded for concepts and emergent themes (Rubin & Rubin,…

This paper discusses the dialects of the Chinese people who have settled in various countries of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Laos, North and South Vietnam, and the Khmer Republic. Data are first given regarding the area in general. The data are then broken down according to individual…

This collection of articles discusses social dialects, the problems that dialects cause the disadvantaged, and how these problems can be overcome in curriculum planning and classroom practice. Articles are (1) "English: New Dimensions and New Demands" by Muriel Crosby, (2) "A Checklist of Significant Features for Discriminating Social Dialects" by…

Paper based on PhD dissertation submitted to the University of Michigan. Research supported by OEC-3-6-061784-0508.

THE RESEARCH DESCRIBED HERE IS BEING CARRIED OUT BY THE URBAN LANGUAGE STUDY OF THE CENTER FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS. THE PRINCIPLE TASK OF THE PROJECT IS TO STUDY THE SPEECH OF NEGRO CHILDREN IN A LOW SOCIO-ECONOMIC AREA IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. SPECIAL MATERIALS FOR TEACHING STANDARD ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF NONSTANDARD NEGRO DIALECTS ARE BEING…

DESPITE EFFORTS TO SUBSTITUTE "DIALECT" FOR "USAGE" IN THE GRAMMARIAN'S VOCABULARY, THERE IS STILL A PLACE FOR THE LATTER TERM, FOR WITHIN ANY DIALECT THERE ARE MANY CHOICES OF FORM, WORD, AND CONSTRUCTION. THE TEACHING OF USAGE CAN BE FOUNDED ON TWO SIMPLE PRINCIPLES--(1) THE EXTENT OF SOCIAL PENALTY FOR USING THE ITEM AND (2) THE FREQUENCY OF…

Three studies of the relationship of Black English (BE) pronunciation to spelling performance are reported in this document. The first study explored a large number of BE pronunciation features. The second included control features that do not have differing pronunciations in BE and standard English (SE). The third examined final consonant…

The relativistic viewpoint of the sociolinguist emphasizes the fully systematic but different nature of nonstandard dialects. In this paper, the author takes issue with various views that currently enjoy popularity in a number of disciplines but which violate basic linguistic and sociolinguistic premises about the nature of language. These views…

This study traces the syntactic interference of the dialect of 176 black children (grades 1-6) living in south-central Los Angeles when they attempt to speak standard English in the school and correlates the amount of interference with certain socioeconomic variables. Syntactical interference items investigated include verb agreement, tense,…

An investigation was conducted to test the assumption that Black English (BE) dialect interferes with reading. Data from 45 lower standard English (SE) speakers were collected and analyzed to measure racial group differences on auditory discrimination, oral reading, BE phonology usage, and silent reading comprehension. Dialect differences analyzed…

Current research in linguistic typology shows some syntactic processes, such as rightward dislocation of modifiers, to be characteristic of certain types of languages, and that a language of that type without such processes is "unnatural" and likely to develop them. For instance, almost all languages with order Verb-Object (VO) have dislocation…

Critical rejoinder to Lawrence M. Davis' Social Dialectology in America,'' Journal of English Linguistics, March 1970, p46-56. Special issue on Black Dialect: Historical and Descriptive Issues'' edited by William A. Stewart. (RS)

Advocates the recognition of a "consensus dialect of American English, which could be used for educational purposes throughout the United States. Appears in "The Florida FL Reporter special anthology issue, "Linguistic-Cultural Differences and American Education. (FWB)