scholarly journals Does Speaker Race Affect the Assessment of Children's Speech Accuracy? A Comparison of Speech-Language Pathologists and Clinically Untrained Listeners

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 906-921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen E. Evans ◽  
Benjamin Munson ◽  
Jan Edwards
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American English ◽  
European American ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
Knowledge And Beliefs ◽  
Multiple Groups ◽  
Speech Accuracy ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Children's Speech

PurposeSome pronunciation patterns that are normal in 1 dialect might represent an error in another dialect (i.e., [koʊl] forcold,which is typical in African American English [AAE] but an error in many other dialects of English). This study examined whether trained speech-language pathologists and untrained listeners accommodate for presumed speaker dialect when rating children's productions of words. This study also explored whether effects of presumed race on perceived speech accuracy are mediated by individuals' knowledge and beliefs about AAE and their implicit attitudes about race.MethodMultiple groups of listeners rated the accuracy of a set of children's productions of words that have a distinct pronunciation in AAE. These were presented in 1 of 3 conditions: paired with no visual stimulus (to assess baseline accuracy) or paired with either African American children's faces (to suggest that the speaker uses AAE) or European American children's faces (to suggest that the speaker does not use AAE). Listeners also completed a set of measures of knowledge and attitudes about AAE and race, taken from previous studies.ResultsIndividuals in both groups rated children's productions more accurately when they were presented with African American children's faces than when paired with European American faces. The magnitude of this effect was generally similar across the 2 groups and was generally strongest for words that had been judged in the baseline condition to contain an error. None of the individual-differences measures predicted ratings.ConclusionsAssumptions about speaker attributes affect individuals' assessment of children's production accuracy. These effects are robust across trained and untrained listeners and cannot be predicted by existing measures of knowledge and attitudes about AAE and race.

scholarly journals Indirectness in the Age of Globalization: A Social Network Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 930-949
Author(s):  
Marina Terkourafi
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American English ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
British English ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

Indirectness has traditionally been viewed as commensurate with politeness and attributed to the speaker’s wish to avoid imposition and/or otherwise strategically manipulate the addressee. Despite these theoretical predictions, a number of studies have documented the solidarity-building and identity-constituting functions of indirectness. Bringing these studies together, Terkourafi 2014 proposed an expanded view of the functions of indirect speech, which crucially emphasizes the role of the addressee and the importance of network ties. This article focuses on what happens when such network ties become loosened, as a result of processes of urbanization and globalization. Drawing on examples from African American English and Chinese, it is argued that these processes produce a need for increased explicitness, which drives speakers (and listeners) away from indirectness. This claim is further supported diachronically, by changes in British English politeness that coincide with the rise of the individual Self. These empirical findings have implications for im/politeness theorizing and theory-building more generally, calling attention to how the socio-historical context of our research necessarily influences the theories we end up building.

The Hidden Role of Teachers: Child and Classroom Predictors of Change in Interracial Friendships

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 1093-1124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elise Cappella ◽  
Diane L. Hughes ◽  
Meghan P. McCormick
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Externalizing Behavior ◽  
European American ◽  
Older Children ◽  
School Year ◽  
American Students ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Predictors Of Change

Children in late elementary and middle school tend to form friendships with same-race peers. Yet, given the potential benefits of cross-race friendships, it is important to understand the individual and contextual factors that increase the likelihood of cross-race friendship over time. Guided by contact hypothesis and systems theory, we examine the student and classroom predictors of change in same-race friendships over 1 school year using a sample of 553 African American and European American students in 53 classrooms. Results suggest that same-race friendships increase over time, with greater increases among European American and older children. Youth externalizing behavior predicted a greater increase in same-race friendships; classroom support predicted less of an increase in same-race friendships from fall to spring. Lastly, African American students in classrooms with greater differential teacher treatment were more likely to engage in cross-race friendships over time. Findings are discussed in light of psychological and educational theories and prior research.

Students' Production of Narrative and AAE Features During an Emergent Literacy Task

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Schachter ◽  
Holly K. Craig
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Emergent Literacy ◽  
American English ◽  
Oral Narrative ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Narrative Development ◽  
Story Grammar ◽  
Narrative Functions ◽  
The Individual

Purpose This study examined child production of narrative features and of African American English (AAE) during a wordless storybook oral narrative task. Method Participants were 30 AAE-speaking African American kindergarten and 1st grade students from low- and mid-socioeconomic status homes. Story grammar (SG), story literary technique (SLT), and AAE features were examined. Results Young AAE-speaking students used a variety of SG narrative features to develop the plot in their oral stories. Students also used multiple SLT elaborative features, though some techniques were used more frequently than others. The total SLT score positively predicted the total SG score, and the individual SLTs of adverbs or adjectives, references to the main theme, and character interactions were positively correlated with the total SG score. AAE-feature production rates did not predict the total SG score. However, several individual AAE features served specific narrative functions, with the preterite had, zero past tense, zero preposition, fitna/sposeta/bouta, and double marking features often being used to relay complicating actions within the narratives. Conclusion Young children used both AAE and elaborative features in their narratives. Particular AAE features facilitated plot development, and the use of more elaborative features positively predicted higher narrative development scores.

A Sociolinguistic Investigation of the Speech of African American Preschoolers

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken M. Bleile ◽  
Hillary Wallach
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Head Start ◽  
Inner City ◽  
Preschool Teachers ◽  
Head Start Program ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Head Start Teachers ◽  
Speech Patterns ◽  
Children's Speech ◽  
Start Program

In this study we attempted to investigate aspects of the sociolinguistic environment of African American preschoolers. Specifically, preschool teachers were asked to identify African American preschoolers who "have trouble speaking." Subsequently, speech-language pathologists analyzed samples of the children’s speech to isolate the speech patterns that may have corresponded to the teacher’s judgments. Subjects included 27 children who were enrolled in an inner city Head Start program. Head Start teachers belonging to the same race and community as the children acted as judges. The analysis yielded a number of speech patterns that distinguished the children judged to have trouble speaking from children judged to have no difficulties in speaking.

Addressing African American English in Early Literacy Assessment and Instruction

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Patton Terry
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Early Literacy ◽  
American English ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
African American English ◽  
Literacy Assessment ◽  
Learning To Read ◽  
Speech Language Pathologist ◽  
Early Literacy Assessment

Abstract Determining how best to address young children's African American English use in formal literacy assessment and instruction is a challenge. Evidence is not yet available to discern which theory best accounts for the relation between AAE use and literacy skills or to delineate which dialect-informed educational practices are most effective for children in preschool and the primary grades. Nonetheless, consistent observations of an educationally significant relation between AAE use and various early literacy skills suggest that dialect variation should be considered in assessment and instruction practices involving children who are learning to read and write. The speech-language pathologist can play a critical role in instituting such practices in schools.

Zero Marking of Past Tense in Child African American English

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 173-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Lee ◽  
Janna B. Oetting
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American English ◽  
African American English ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Grammatical Function

Zero marking of the simple past is often listed as a common feature of child African American English (AAE). In the current paper, we review the literature and present new data to help clinicians better understand zero marking of the simple past in child AAE. Specifically, we provide information to support the following statements: (a) By six years of age, the simple past is infrequently zero marked by typically developing AAE-speaking children; (b) There are important differences between the simple past and participle morphemes that affect AAE-speaking children's marking options; and (c) In addition to a verb's grammatical function, its phonetic properties help determine whether an AAE-speaking child will produce a zero marked form.

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