Table 5 shows that the AAE speakers and SAE speakers used nine of the complex syntax types in a similar manner. That is, all children, regardless of dialect, used simple infinitives with same subject, gerunds and participles, and the conjunctions and and because. The same number of children in each group used the let(s)/lemme and infinitive and wh-infinitive clause sentence types, but none of the children used tag questions or the conjunction since.

The similarity in performance of the two groups remained constant irrespective of the measurement unit. Thus, regardless of whether samples were analyzed by number of words per T-unit, number of clauses per T-unit, or number of words per clause, the performances of the groups were not statistically significantly different.

This study supports the findings of Craig and Washington (1994), who reported that children who spoke AAE used more complex sentence structures than children who spoke SAE.

In order to confirm this finding, further research with a larger sample needs to be done to determine if a group effect might exist for the words per T-unit and words per clause measures.

These results do not support Owen's (1995) finding that tasks that require a participant to give information will increase the words and clauses used per T-unit.

During the introductory questions phase, the children were asked six questions to which they responded based on their experiences and interests.

Table 1 presents mean raw scores and standard deviations for the performance of each participant group on the three speaking tasks.

Six samples were randomly selected and rescored by a certified speech--language pathologist using the complex syntax definitions outlined in Craig and Washingto

A Poisson regression was performed to determine if the AAE speakers and SAE speakers differed significantly in their production of specific complex sentence types.

There was no significant difference in the frequency of usage of the conjunction but (p = .0346) and the unmarked infinitive (p = .0994).

To determine whether a child spoke SAE or AAE, we employed the criteria used by Terrell and Terrell

To be included in the study, the Anglo American children had to speak SAE and the African American children had to use AAE as their native dialects

Specifically, this study attempted to answer several questions:

One such factor is the type of conversational task that is used to elicit the language sample.

using criterion-referenced tests with no psychometric norms.

suggested that standardized tests should not be used to assess the language and cognitive skills of nonmainstream English speakers.

"the groups were remarkably similar"

Johnson's hypothesis was found to be partially correct.

he stated that "Advantaged children will have higher scores on test measures of language than disadvantaged children, but there will be no differences between these groups on the spontaneous speech measures"

sed the T-unit to compare the language samples of 40 African American and Anglo American Head Start students age 4 years

(Quisenberry, 1975), achievement levels (Calvert, 1971), and grade levels (Klecan-Aker & Lopez, 1985). The results of these studies have shown that language samples collected from children of higher socioeconomic levels, higher achievement levels, and higher grade levels contained longer T-units.

compared the number of T-units used by children of different socioeconomic levels

defined the T-unit as a grammatical sentence containing one main clause and any attached or embedded clause or nonclausal structure.

family members and familiar peers can be enlisted to help obtain the sample, and the sample can be collected in an environment that is comfortable and familiar to the speaker of a nonstandard English dialect.

culturally appropriate materials and topics can be incorporated into the sampling procedure

indicated that language samples are valuable.

problem with language samples is that they are not always reliable.

collecting language samples in naturalistic settings

researchers have suggested two possible solutions: that existing tests be renormed on different ethnic minority groups or that test scores be adjusted for dialect-sensitive items

biased against nonmainstream English speakers

in order for children to qualify for federally funded special education services, they must take standardized, norm-referenced tests.

The process of assessing the speech and language skills of children who are culturally and linguistically different from the mainstream population,

Using Standard English isimportant because, if for nothing else, it makesmore sense [than other forms}. It is something thatwe all can understand."

Students who have significant experiencestudying a foreign language or who grew up speak46 March 2011John W. Whiteing a language other than English tend to graspthe concept even more fully;

ing a language other than English tend to graspthe concept even more fully;

Students who are native English speakersand who tend to hold a static view of English cansee—and more importantly experience—how English is an ever-changing language and they can feel,albeit in a nonthreatening way, linguistic alienationwithin the English classroom.

istance," "Sociolinguistic").To emphasize the ever-changing nature ofEnglish, my students engage in an activity in whichthey read, interpret, and then answer questionsabout two canonical pieces of English literature:

A language withby far the largest number of words of any language,English is constantly changing and adapting to theneeds of our society.

RecitingBeowulf aloud and with accuracy (to Old Englishnorms) is almost impossible.

we could value these uniquediscursive forms, use them for code-switchingpurposes, and thus better induce students to addStandard English "to their existing [language] repertoire"

oal had been to get the studentsto see that though we should teach the conventionsof Standard English, we should also acknowledgeand even celebrate the unique and highly effectiveforms of discourse that students bring with theminto the classroom.

My lesson on making use of thedynamic nature of English and the many forms ittakes across and within cultures certainly wasn'tgoing as planned

In my classes, I'mgoing to require that students speakand use proper English. Period."

of what counts as appropriate language practices in the classroom. T

However, few students tend to see theidea of "lost in translation" as it occurs within alanguage. They generally fail to see the dynamic nature of dialects and discourses within modernAmerican English and how such dialects areuniquely positioned to express ideas and feelings

the original, non-Standard English passage inevitably holds far more emotional and rhetorical power regardless of audience.

working on this passage, either ingroups or as a whole class, spend inordinateamounts of time trying to decode it to come upwith a meaning that makes sense to them. A

Students working on this passage, either ingroups or as a whole class, spend inordinateamounts of time trying to decode it to come upwith a meaning that makes sense to them.