Synopses & Reviews
This book describes dialect differences in American English and their impact on education and everyday life. It explores some of the major issues that confront educational practitioners and suggests what practitioners can do to recognize students’ language abilities, support their language development, and expand their knowledge about dialects. Topics addressed include:
*popular concerns about the nature of language variation;
*characteristic structures of different dialects;
*various interactive patterns characteristic of social groups;
*the school impacts of dialect differences in speaking, writing, and reading, including questions about teaching Standard English; and
*the value of dialect education in schools to enable students to understand dialects as natural and normal language phenomena.
Changes in the Second Edition: In this edition the authors reconsider and expand their discussion of many of the issues addressed in the first edition and in other of their earlier works, taking into account especially the research on dialects and publications for audiences beyond linguistics that have appeared since the first edition. This edition is offered as an updated, still-interim report on the state of language variation and education in the United States.
Dialects in Schools and Communities is rooted in questions that have arisen in workshops, surveys, classes, discussion groups, and conversations with practitioners and teacher educators. It is thus intended to address important needs in a range of educational and related service fields. As an overview of current empirical research, it synthesizes current understandings and provides key references—in this sense it is a kind of translation and interpretation in which the authors’ goal is to bring together the practical concerns of educators and the vantage point of sociolinguistics. No background in linguistics or sociolinguistics is assumed on the part of the reader.
This volume is intended for teacher interns and practicing teachers in elementary and secondary schools; early childhood specialists; specialists in reading and writing; speech/language pathologists; special education teachers; and students in various language specialties.
Synopsis
This book describes dialect differences in American English and their impact on education and everyday life. It explores some of the major issues that confront educational practitioners and suggests what practitioners can do to recognize students' language abilities, support their language development, and expand their knowledge about dialects. In this edition the authors reconsider and expand their discussion of many of the issues addressed in the first edition and in other of their earlier works, taking into account especially the research on dialects and publications for audiences beyond linguistics that have appeared since the first edition. This edition is offered as an updated report on the state of language variation and education in the United States. Dialects in Schools and Communities is rooted in questions that have arisen in workshops, surveys, classes, discussion groups, and conversations with practitioners and teacher educators. It is thus intended to address important needs in a range of educational and related service fields. As an overview of current empirical research, it synthesizes current understandings and provides key references. In this sense it is a kind of translation and interpretation in which the authors' goal is to bring together the practical concerns of educators and the vantage point of sociolinguistics. No background in linguistics or sociolinguistics is assumed on the part of the reader.
Synopsis
Wolfram's name appears first on first edition.
About the Author
Carolyn Temple Adger is director of the Language in Society Division at the Center for Applied Linguistics, a national non-profit organization devoted to improving communication through better understanding of language and culture. For many years, she has worked with teachers in culturally diverse schools, leading professional development and conducting research on aspects of language in education. Dr. Adger’s research on children’s language use has been reported in a number of articles and chapters. Her books include Kids Talk: Strategic Language Use in Later Childhood (co-edited), Making the Connection: Language and Academic Achievement Among African American Students (co-edited), and What Teachers Need to Know About Language (co-edited), as well as Dialects in Schools and Communities (co-authored). She holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in sociolinguistics from Georgetown University and a master's degree in English language arts education from the University of Maryland.
Table of Contents
Contents: Language Variation in America. Exploring Dialects. Communicative Interaction. Language Difference Does Not Mean Language Deficit. Oral Language Instruction. Dialects and Written Language. Language Variation and Reading. Dialect Awareness for Students. Appendix: A Selective Inventory of Vernacular Structures.