The unjustified assumption that black children have limited verbal or articulation skills stems from the fact that blacks use figurative, nonliteral, and nonstandard language in the classroom. The language that most disadvantaged blacks learn at home and bring to the classroom is a restricted form born out of poverty and limited exposure to good…

This issue of "TESL Reporter" presents the following articles: "Language Acquisition and Dialectalism" by Patricia G. Adkins, "Supplementation of Opposites in Simple Predicate Expansion" by Yao Shen, and "Form Class Baseball: A TESL Game" by Alice C. Pack. The meaning today of dialectal speech, or "bidialectal speech," is addressed by Patricia…

This study examines the effect of classrooms where standard English is spoken on the speech of Black English speaking children. The research analyzed samples of language used by 22 Black English speaking children in seven kindergarten classrooms in three Madison, Wisconsin public schools during one academic year, 1977-78. The following questions…

Much of the language and many constructs used in testing and assessment must be redefined in order for testing instruments to be valid for use with children of African-American descent. These children are products of unique linguistic environments. Current educational assessment tools are insensitive to the cultural-linguistic diversity of the…

THIS HANDBOOK OF MODERN LINGUISTICS HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR THE ADULT LAYMAN OR TEACHER WHO NEEDS A GENERAL BACKGROUND IN LINGUISTICS AS WELL AS AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE "LINGUISTIC APPROACH" AS IT IS BEING INTRODUCED IN ENGLISH TEACHING TODAY. THE AUTHORS HAVE TAKEN THE STAND THAT LINGUISTICS IS HERE TO STAY--ALONG WITH THE "NEW…

This paper focuses on the roles and functions that English based vernaculars play in contemporary society and reviews literature pertinent to that topic. Areas considered include (1) societal behavior toward language, (2) language as a group marker, and (3) the contextual parameters of language use. In the discussion of societal behavior toward…

This is a selection of papers that have appeared in the journal "Sign Language Studies" between 1972 and 1979. The aim is to provide the reader with some knowledge of the world as signers see it. The book is for academic decision-makers, teachers and parents of deaf students, as well as the intellectually curious. Following an introductory essay,…

This publication deals with practical areas of early reading in instruction that may be of immediate use to practitioners. The first chapter offers a perspective on current theories of reading instruction, and subsequent chapters deal with topics that are often considered controversial among those who teach reading. Discussed are the learning…

The purpose of this paper is to present systematically some facts regarding interdialectal constant and varying features of the semantics of English kinship terminology. The data present some problems for current views of grammar and of linguistic variation. Regarding the former, it is not clear what sort of "rule," what place in…

A description is given of a study to determine whether the attitudes of white middle class student teachers toward children speaking Black dialect could be changed positively and their listening comprehension improved. In a special program conducted by a teacher center a group of student teachers were exposed to brief intensive training in…

The staff of the Program on Teaching and Linguistic Pluralism at the Center for Educational Research at Stanford University has been involved in a number of research efforts related to the teaching of reading and other language arts skills to Black Vernacular English speaking pupils. These efforts have culminated in the development of a number of…

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A STANDARD NORM IN THE BASHKIR NATIONAL LANGUAGE BEGAN, ESSENTIALLY, AS LATE AS THE 1930'S AFTER THE FORMATION OF THE BASHKIR A.S.R. BEFORE THIS, THE BASHKIR LANGUAGE DID NOT HAVE A STANDARD LITERARY FORM. PROGRESSIVE BASHKIR EDUCATORS OF THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES FOUGHT FOR THE LIBERATION OF THE…

The processes involved in "borrowing" words and structures between languages and among dialects are discussed and illustrated. Interlingual borrowings between Chinese and other languages have taken place in several different ways. Sometimes the sounds of the foreign word are imitated using the sounds of the borrowing language ("leidar" for 'radar'…

This issue collects three articles concerning reading-teacher training. "Language, Failure, and Panda Bears" by Patricia M. Cunningham calls attention to dialect difficulties in the classroom and provides ideas for teacher training programs and for public schools to solve this problem. William H. Rupley, in "Improving Teacher Effectiveness in…

Traditional research on the written language of hearing-impaired persons has tended to support a position of deviant language processing in such individuals. The major reason for such findings has been directly related to the lack of appropriate control groups. Recent studies which have emphasized the comparison of the language of hearing-impaired…