In teaching standard English to non-native students or students with different dialects, teachers must gain the students' trust by demonstrating an egalitarian attitude toward all dialects, and by explaining that the acquisition of a new dialect does not require rejection of the old one. Also, in order to teach written English effectively to…

This paper considers the inclusion of different types of dialect variants in formal language behavior. College-level writing is examined from the points of view of the writer and the teacher, and the determinants and features of vernacular transference are discussed with reference to literary, social, and economic realities. Specific techniques…

The paper examines interpretive aspects of English non-uniformity among fifth and sixth grade Native Americans at Laguna Elementary School, Laguna, New Mexico. Speaker assessments of instances of uninflected "be" are ordered to form an implicational scale. The variability in the students' assessment pattern is compared to previous inter-ethnic…

Designed for the individualized instruction of non-mainstream (non-standard) dialect bearing students from middle school through secondary, this instructional packet attempts to develop flexibility in language whereby the dialect bearer will be able to assimilate the mainstream (standard) forms and phonology into his own idiolect without…

THIS PAPER DISCUSSES THE INTERSECTION OF THE NONSTANDARD ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE URBAN GHETTOS AND STANDARD ENGLISH. THE AUTHORS DRAW ON SOME PRELIMINARY DATA GATHERED IN PERSONAL INTERVIEWS, INCLUDING A RANDOM SAMPLE OF 100 LOWER- AND MIDDLE-INCOME ADULTS IN THREE AREAS OF SOUTH CENTRAL HARLEM. ALTHOUGH NEGRO SPEECH PATTERNS HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED AS…

Noting that language should be a vital area of concern for anyone interested in speech communication, this paper focuses on the concern for language in the classroom as it is discussed in speech communication literature. Selected studies from the more extensive literature on educational practices are also cited. Programs in which language is…

The 36 teacher-participants at the 1967 NDEA Summer Institute in English for speakers of other languages, held at the University of Montana, came from public, private, and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools in eight Western states. Their pupils represented 16 Indian tribes, ranging from Navaho, where many children come to school knowing no English,…

Prison language, primarily the lexicon, at the Women's Correctional Center (WCC) in Columbia, South Carolina is described. This center is considered here as a speech community and a subculture. Inmates have developed speech habits and vocabulary which indicate the social structure of the prison and inmate values. They coin or metaphorically extend…

Research studies have attributed the reading failure of children from low socioeconomic groups to factors such as hunger, poor physical health, substandard living conditions, and the language mismatch that results from the difference between spoken nonstandard dialect and printed standard English. While each of these does influence reading…

The 17 articles in this collection outline the state of linguists' present knowledge about English and suggest ways of dealing with language in the English classroom. Topics include an historical investigation of language attitudes and the implications for bidialectalism in the schools; professional viewpoints on the Back to the Basics movement as…

The 17 articles in this collection outline the state of linguists' present knowledge about English and suggest ways of dealing with language in the English classroom. Topics include an historical investigation of language attitudes and the implications for bidialectalism in the schools; professional viewpoints on the Back to the Basics movement as…

The competence of school-aged, black children in standard English (SE) grammatical forms, specifically, six verb structures that distinguish Black English from SE, is the focus of this study. The subjects were 198 kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade black children who attend four Title I schools in the New York City metropolitan area.…

Linguacentrism, or Language-centeredness in the public schools, works to the disadvantage of all non-standard speakers, but especially Indian children. Compensatory education models direct attention away from the school system itself, and place blame on the assumed "deficits" of the non-standard speaker. An examination of Navajo children's…

A review of the literature on Black English was made to determine what information is available and to assess the credibility of the information. The review covered the years from 1865 through the first half of 1975. More than 75 documents were identified as potentially informative in the area of investigation. The linguistic features of Black…

Linguistics can have useful applications in elementary and secondary language arts instruction, in a number of areas of skill development. The issue of student motivation is involved with the form of language used--standard or nonstandard--and educators may adopt the linguistic view that all forms of language have value and their use depends on…