Linguistic structures and cultural conflicts are the reasons why African-American students fare poorly in literacy instructions in classrooms. Some ideas for creating an accessible, research-based approach to language arts in dialectally diverse classrooms are presented.

In this article, the author reflects on his daughter's experiences at home and at school as she moves into a new culture and language. This article reflects on how he and his wife and the teachers helped their daughter, Yisha with her English acquisition. Within the year, Yisha became fluent in English and finished all her courses with straight…

In this article, the author examines the inquiry talk of a small group of bilingual children discussing the text "Oliver Button Is a Sissy". The children raised many questions about the story and about issues of gender. The major focus of this article is on the participants' inquiry talk and the context that mediated their talk. The author uses…