The views of proponents and opponents of the language deficit theory--the theory that nonstandard dialect is a deficient form of language--are presented in this paper. Following a description of the work of Basil Bernstein, a British educator who is considered the key figure among proponents of the theory, the paper presents an overview of the…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS EXPERIMENT WAS TO COMPARE THE LANGUAGE BEHAVIOR OF STANDARD AND NONSTANDARD ENGLISH SPEAKERS WHEN ASKED TO REPEAT STANDARD AND NONSTANDARD SENTENCES. THE SUBJECTS (47 THIRD AND FIFTH GRADERS AT A NEGRO SCHOOL IN WASHINGTON, D.C., AND 30 OF THEIR WHITE COUNTERPARTS AT A SUBURBAN MARYLAND SCHOOL) WERE ASKED TO REPEAT 30 TAPED…

In order to test whether certain structures characteristic of West African languages are also present in the Negro English dialect of Natchitoches Parich, Louisiana, 355 short autobiographical papers written by Negro high school students were analyzed. Another 355 papers written by white high school students were used as controls. The papers were…

The dilemma of accountability and "back to basics" that has brought harsh criticism on the two-year college teacher stems from conflict between two different philosophies of education. A conservative view, based on behavioral psychology, stresses the vocational aspects of education where people are trained in skills so that they can be…

Several focal points for southwestern American Indian English research are proposed. This variation is used on reservations or in urban Indian enclaves when the "Indianness" of the discussion or participants needs formal linguistic marking. One research goal is to demonstrate that tribal varieties of Indian English actually exist.…

The influence of the socioeconomic background and sex of the child and the race of the clinician on the frequency of implementation of nonstandard phonological and grammatical structures was examined in 72 black 4-and 5-year-olds. In order to generalize findings to typical clinical settings, language samples were elicited by 3 black and 3 white…

This study measured pupil and teacher attitudes toward language variation in a bilingual Spanish/English environment; attempted to determine whether teacher attitudes could be changed in workshops dealing with sociolinguistic concepts of speech variation; and attempted to determine whether teacher and pupil attitudes have a relation to pupil…

In language instruction, a dependable informational base of fact, experience, or judgment is essential if students are to develop a functional literacy. Yet the language information base in use today--the set of concepts about what language is, how it works, and how individual languages are maintained--has proven inadequate and unreliable. Reform,…

This collection of articles by experts in reading and in language arts contains nine sections: "Educational Change: New Trends and Directions" discusses humanizing teacher education, accountability and the school volunteer; "Instructional Implications from the Disciplines" discusses the reading process, Piaget and reading instruction, and the…

This article, primarily a critical review of Wayne O'Neil's study "The Politics of Bidialectalism," defines and examines sociological and pedagogical implications of the concepts of bidialectalism and biloquilism. It is argued that any definition of bidialectalism which refers to linguistic differentiation on the basis of social class is…

The major aim of this book is to teach present or prospective teachers how to recognize the linguistic and cultural differences of their students. The essays selected for the anthology attempt to show how to make education more meaningful for the student by upgrading teachers' attitudes about minority cultures, developing a sensitivity to…

The teaching of dialect modification has been justified by the barrier postulate which says that lower class speech prevents upward social mobility. When translated into a testable hypothesis, the barrier assumption has not been confirmed. The movement called dialect modification did not arise from empirical research in social cognition, but…

The ways in which current studies in sociolinguistics relate to the field of speech pathology are discussed, with particular focus on the role of sociolinguistics in standardized testing. The content validity and criterion-related validity of standardized tests is considered. Disproportionate distribution of scores for particular cultural groups…

In order to test whether ghetto children would respond to a set of instructional materials that incorporate the language, the customs, and the general background of the disadvantaged student, a six week long course of study for seventh-grade general mathematics is developed. This course of study is then used in an experiment that employs…

Compares the impact of two types of early field experiences on prospective teachers' attitudes, beliefs, and dialect-speaking elementary school children. Assesses student teachers' perceived helpfulness of field-based experiences, theoretical orientation for reading instruction, and attitudes toward dialect speakers. Advocates an immersion-type…