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ERIC Number: ED155724
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1978
Pages: 17
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Effects of Instruction upon Children's Attitudes toward Regional Dialects.
Keipe, Ashtoreth
A study was undertaken to determine if attitudes toward various regional dialects could be improved by teaching about the range of American English. The subjects were 47 sixth grade students. The experimental group of 21 subjects studied lessons on regional dialects for 55 minutes each day, while the control group of 26 subjects studied literature, spelling, and morphology for that period. At the end of the 15 day period both groups were tested. It was determined that (1) there were significant differences between the two groups in the subjects' responses in terms of both speaker's voice factor and the total characteristics of the dialect speaker; (2) there was no significant difference between the subjects' responses in terms of the kind of person factor; and (3) there were significant differences between the experimental subjects' responses to their own dialect and their responses to one of the other dialects. It is concluded that learning about the range of dialects in American English can help to reduce language prejudice, and that learning about regional differences can cause students to become more accepting of dialects other than their own, even to the point of considering another dialect more positively than their own. (JF)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: Research prepared at the University of Wisconsin-Madison