A Sociolinguistic Perspective on Reading and Black Children

• Published in: Language arts 1977-02, Vol.54 (2), p.150-167
• Main Author: Nichols, Patricia C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African Americans; Black people; Black/Blacks; Child/Children/Childhood; Children; Creoles; Dialects; Education/Educational/Educator/ Educators/ Educationally; Linguistic/Linguistics; Reading; Reading materials; Regional dialects; Social dialects; Socio; Standard languages; Teachers; Theme: Reading
• ISSN: 0360-9170; 1943-2402

Reviewed & summarized are existing research & opinion regarding the effect of the use of nonstandard English by black students on reading mastery. While the debate continues over whether or not black students may be taught to read from standard English texts differing from their verbal dialect, evidence is presented to indicate that reading & lang development are two processes, & that black students tend to associate reading with the use of standard English. In the present study, fourth through sixth-graders in a Ru, predominately black school in SC were recorded while telling a study of one's choice to a small group of peers. The recorded stories were transcribed & given back to the students to read. All students, good & poor students alike, were observed changing the structure of their own dialect into a more standard English form while reading the typed transcript of their own stories. These findings show that black children have mastery over a fairly large lang continuum between creole to standard English & are adept in the task of making appropriate associations between dialects. Teachers of black students need to be aware of the lang patterns of the black student in order to properly distinguish between translations in dialect & actual reading difficulties. Also discussed is the phenomenon of a high % of nonreaders among black Ms. It is suggested that the youths are not motivated to learn to read because: (1) they lack adult M role models who value reading as a skill, & (2) reading is, in practice, not associated with the type of employment typical to black Ms. P. Hoye.