EBONICS AND LITERACY
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Dialects in the United States are spread throughout the country. Not all members of a group speak the same dialect, and dialects among groups differ. The most controversial dialect in American English is Ebonics. In order to advance socially and economically, individuals must have access to the culture of power, and therefore, dialect use is often discouraged by teachers in favor of Standard English use. But, does sufficient reason exist to discard or devalue vernacular dialects in pursuit of literacy in Standard English? There is "scarcely a country in the world today that could claim to be monolingual in any real senseāFurthermore, historical linguistic conflicts reemerge as minorities assert their identity" ("Literacy", no date, p. 1). In 1990, over 30% of the public school students were either African American or Hispanic. It is estimated that in the year 2000 approximately 43% of the population of the United States will be from a racial or ethnic minority group, presumably, with their own languages or dialects. This figure is projected to increase to more than 50% of the population by the year 2075 (Locke, as cited in Wittmer, 1992, p. 1). Unquestionably, linguistic diversity is here to stay. Once we accept that Ebonics (or African American Vernacular English) is a language or a dialect, then we must accept that children who speak Ebonics should be taught like all other second language students: Teachers must "realize that students' home language practices
. . .
acular children read significantly faster and better than the control subjects. It seems as if particularly the less bright children were the ones to benefit from this kind of teaching. They made superior progress during the year compared with the poor readers in the control group" (Bull, as quoted in Rickford, 1997, "Letter").
These studies support teaching non-standard speakers in
their own dialects, but what about AAVE speakers who, presumably, have more in common linguistically with standard English than do dialect speakers from other regions or countries? Ann McCormick Piestrup addresses this question in her 1973 study of 208 African American first graders in Oakland, CA. Her study, Black dialect interference and accommodation of reading instruction in first grade, concluded the following:
Children who used more of the features of AAVE had lower reading scores;
The relationship between the teacher's teaching style, and the way s/he responded to their pupil's language, had a distinct correlation between the student's success and
failure in reading (Piestrup, as cited in Rickford, 1997, "Letter").
Teaching techniques may be the route to success in helping AAVE speakers to use Standard English effectively. The leas
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Standard English, English Rickford, Letter Literacy, AAVE SE, Tove Bull, Swedish Osterberg, Ima Labovitz, Oakland CA, American Hispanic, English Vernacular, standard english, rickford 1997 letter, 1997 letter, rickford 1997, african american, quoted rickford 1997, quoted rickford, rickford john, washington dc, eric clearinghouse, dialect speakers, bilingual education george, george washington university, pp 1-2, national clearinghouse bilingual,
Approximate Word count = 1961
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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