This paper seeks to understand the role of culturally-specific styles of discourse in the classroom. The paper uses and expands upon three categories of classroom language use (control, curriculum, and critique) to present data on how a Puerto Rican American teacher uses repetition and discourse styles that have African and African American…

A study tested the hypothesis that spoken language has a strong direct influence on the encoding process, and that speakers of nonstandard dialects have a different set of problems with the written language and make identifiably different errors than do speakers of standard dialect. The subjects, 13 standard and 13 nonstandard dialect speakers…

The research and theoretical rationale for differences between (urban) black and white students, particularly in achievement in language development, are discussed along with implications for the classroom. Theories about language acquisition and capacity that have developed to account for the poor school performance of urban black students…

THIS PAPER WAS SUBMITTED TO THE BUREAU OF CURRICULUM RESEARCH OF THE NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR THEIR USE IN PREPARING A MANUAL FOR LANGUAGE ARTS SKILLS IN GRADES 5 TO 12. THE SUGGESTIONS HERE GREW OUT OF THE AUTHORS' ATTEMPTS "TO ISOLATE THE STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE VERNACULAR USED IN URBAN GHETTOS AND THE…

Some differences between Standard English (SE) and "Black English" (BE) have important consequences in communication of messages. The authors cite as an example the "habitual" function of the finite verb "be" which has no equivalent in SE. They point out that "simplification" of the English of the Bible may result in a "translation" which is…

This collection of five papers from the Anglo-American Seminar on the Teaching of English deals with language standards, common attitudes toward language, the relationship between linguistics and the teaching of English, and the linguistic component of the preparation of the English teacher. Albert H. Marckwardt surveys the history of language…

The author describes three current approaches to the problems of nonstandard English and examines the motivations behind their recommendations. The traditional negative correction to standard he calls "eradication," based on ethnocentric prescription. "Biloquialism" offers the student the option of adjusting phonology, grammar,…

The purposes of this study were to determine which dialect features associated with particular classes and ethnic groups are unacceptable by the dominant culture in an urban community (Fort Wayne, Indiana) and to suggest implications of the findings for teaching of English language arts and skills. Phonological and inflectional features in the…

For the beginning or general student, dialectology and the history of the English language can both be taught with a common frame of reference provided by certain principles of linguistic change. Related in obvious ways with the history of language but often overlooked in dialectology, these principles are (1) that any living language is certain…

To maintain within a national unity the richness of cultural diversity that has made America great, school curriculums should develop in the child a knowledge of the country's varying cultures. Teachers should initiate for children meaningful experiences with other cultures to help them appreciate the differences and similarities among people. One…

A consensus has prevailed among educators that Americans of verying ethnic, social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds who must communicate with each other in social, academic, and occupational situations might achieve a greater degree of rapport if the dialect of the English mutually spoken and the speech mannerisms used were standardized.…

The language proficiency of four groups of children, Negro and white, in one southern community, Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, is examined. The goals of this study were threefold: (1) to study the development of language patterns in first grade children from these socioeconomic groups; (2) to determine the effectiveness of the Gloria and David…

This paper seeks to underline the importance of at least acknowledging the existence of a complex set of rules in a grammar of social interaction--and the further reality that while there may be a grammar of social interaction, there are also grammars of social interaction for different groups. It should be possible to find that apparently…

American education must develop a system for promoting understanding among and with minority cultures. Curriculums should be designed which add relevancy to the education of minority groups and abandon the traditional ideas of Americanization which call for, among other things, the foreigner to become a good speaker of English.…

This study reports on teachers' attitudes towards their students' speech varieties of English. A sample of 172 primary, district high and secondary teachers in Western Australian was surveyed on their attitudes towards language variation and towards their students' use of specific English variants. The teachers were found to have generally…