These 14 papers on literacy from International Reading Association conventions provide practical strategies and insights into factors which must be considered in programs for illiterates. Each section begins with focus questions to aid the reader in acquiring the basic intent of the articles. The three papers in section 1 deal with the issues of…

Certain teaching performances needed to elicit and reinforce specific linguistic performances from the students fall under the categories of speaking a variety of standard English, reading, spelling, vocabulary, and grammatical structures and writing. As a model of linguistic usage, the teacher must speak a standard variety of English, build on…

Conformity to Standard English, ethnic background, socioeconomic status (SES), and modes of presentation were investigated to determine the influence of these four factors on reading comprehension among fifth graders. Homogeneous groups within four experimental categories were formulated: middle SES white students, low SES white students, middle…

This book seeks to raise some of the critical theoretical issues involved in the study of American negro folklore in all its major forms. Along with the presentation of texts, the concern here is for the meaning and significance of the folklore and its interpretations as expressed by a variety of authors. The selections are divided into eight…

The essays in this collection cover a wide variety of topics related to linguistics and speech. Many essays cover topics concerned with phonology: phonological units, developmental phonology, phonetic reality, rhythmic prose, sound syntax, and meaning, interconsonantal differences, and Japanese and English consonant phonemes. Other topics in the…

This speech is based on a theory earlier proposed by the author that orthographic presentation of English is much like the abstract base of language which an individual uses in forming strategies for reading. Thus, his ability to read depends upon his facility with his language. An important implication for schools is that, given this theory, all…

This bibliography, like two previous editions in 1941 and 1948, lists those books for children and young people which present Negroes as human beings and not as stereotypes. The introduction assesses the progress which has been made in this area since the first edition in 1941 and articulates the guidelines for selection. The books cited are…

Thirty essays on language and communication in their contemporary social contexts are brought together in this volume which differs significantly from other language readers in that it (1) treats only those aspects of the subjects that have demonstrated their appeal to a wide range of students, (2) emphasizes their social and cultural…

The purpose of this research was to begin to refute the deficit approach to the verbal abilities of poor children. The contention was that data collected on poor children's verbal abilities had been done in incorrect social situations. Prior research had indicated that language development is innate and that disadvantaged children will be…

The sociolinguistic variation of speech among Detroit Negroes is described. The analysis is based on the speech of 48 Negro informants, evenly distributed in four social classes. In addition, 12 upper-middle class whites are included. The social variables investigated in relation to speech differences are class, style, sex, age, and racial…

This paper is divided into the following five sections, each of which considers an aspect of teaching grammar: the importance of teaching English grammar, teaching the patterns of words and sentences, the functions of words, making sentences, and a curriculum proposal for teaching standard English in the elementary grades through high school. (LL)

Teachers' lack of understanding and knowledge about language and dialects has resulted in unfavorable attitudes and poor instruction in the community college composition classroom. Students' attitudes about the relationship between language and cultural background have been neglected and many Non-Standard English users have developed negative…

Methodological and theoretical options confronting second-language textbook authors are outlined. Analytic and synthetic methodological approaches, linguistic options, geographic variability, registers of language, spoken versus written language, cultural materials, and learners' level are discussed. (SW)

Supports a greater use of repeated recordings and elicited intuitions by sociolinguists in assessing the linguistic competence of individuals or groups. A replication of an earlier implicational analysis of pronominal variation in the Guyanese creole continuum shows that, with repeated sampling and the inclusion of elicited intuitions, the…

An analysis of the forms of French spoken in one area of France and two regions of Canada, focusing on the "ne" of negative forms and the occurrence of the /l/ in clitic pronouns and definite articles, is presented and possible historical explanations are discussed. (MSE)