Teaching Standard English to Urban Primary Children
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REPORTRESUMES ED 020 155 56 TE GOO 256 TEACHING STANDARD ENGLISH TO URBAN PRIMARYCHILDREN. FINAL REPORT. BY- GOLDEN, RUTHI. MARTELLOCK, HELEN A. DETROIT PUBLICSCHOOLS, MICH. REPORT NUMBER PROJ-NO-1373 PUB DATE AUG 67 REPORT NUMBERBR-5-0360 GRANT OEG -7 -32 -10168 -278 EDRS PRICE MF-$1.25 HC-$12.60 313P. DESCRIPTORS- *AUDIOVISUAL AIDS, *ENGLISH INSTRUCTION,*PRIMARY GRADES, *STANDARD SPOKEN USAGE, *TEACHINGMETHODS, SOCIAL DIALECTS, ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, NONSTANDARDDIALECTS, AUDIOLINGUAL METHODS, LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION,LANGUAGE, DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS,MICHIGAN, THE PURPOSE OF THISSTUDY WAS TO TEST OF A PROGRAM THE EFFECTIVENESS UTILIZING TAPERECORDED'RESPONSIVE LESSONS TO HELP URBAN PRIMARY CHILDREN DEVELOP ASTANDARD ENGLISH DIALECT. AN EXPERIMENTAL GROUP OF 36 CHILDRENHEARD AND RECITED 8- TO 10-MINUTE TAPES OF POEMS, SONGS,AND SPEECH GAMES, WHILE 36CHILDREN IN A CONTROLGROUP WERE INSTRUCTED IN STANDARD ENGLISH BY MORE TRADITIONALHETI-IUDS. EACH CHILD . WAS GIVEN A TAPED ORAL INTERVIEW ATTHE BEGINNING AND ENDOF THE EXPERIMENTAL SCHOOL YEAR. DEVIATIONSFROM THE STANDARD DIALECT WERE COUNTED AND TABULATED BYIMPARTIAL SPEECH CORRECTIONISTS, AND THESESCORES WERE SUBMITTEDTO THE TEST OF ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE-COVARIANCE. RESULTSINDICATE THAT THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP'SIMPROVEMENT IN THE USEOF STANDARD ENGLISH SOUNDS AND PATTERNS OVER THAT OFTHE CONTROL GROUP WAS SIGNIFICANTAT THE .05 LEVEL, AND THAT THIS DIFFERENCE . COULD NOT BE ASCRIBED TO SEX, THE EDUCATIONALLEVEL OF THE PARENTS, THE DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURESOF THE THREE PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS,OR THE MENTAL ABILITIESOF THE INDIVIDUAL CHILDREN. (ANAPPENDIX CONTAINS THESCRIPTS OF THE 36 TAPE RECORDINGS USED IN THE PROGRAM.) (DL) Cr FINALREPORT Project No. 1373 Grant*No.0E-7-32-10168-278 TEACHING STANDARDENGLISH TO URBAN PRIMARYCHILDREN August 1967 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Office of Education Bureau of Research U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. FINAL REPORT Pwoject No. 1373 Grant No. OE.732.10168-278 TEACHING STANDARDENGLISH TO URBAN PRIMARYCHILDREN Os- August 1967 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, ANDWELFARE Office of Education Bureau of Research p TEACHING STANDARD ENGLISH TOURBAN PRIMARY CHILDREN Project No. 1373 Grant No. OE-7-32.10168.278 Ruth I. Golden, Ed.D. Helen A. Martellock, M.Ed. August1967 The research reported herein wasperformed pursuantto a grant with the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health,Education, and Welfare. Contractors undertaking suchprojects under Government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely theirprofessional judgment in the conduct of the project. Points of viewor opinions stated do not, therefore, necessarily represent officialOffice of Education positionor policy. Detroit Public Schools Detroit, Michigan "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BYMs,4t4 z. TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS OPERATING UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE U.S. OFFICE OF EDUCATION. FURTHER REPRODUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM REQUIRES PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER." Copyright ® 1967 by Ruth Golden Allrights reserved. PREFACE Large numbers of migrants, children andgrand-children of migrants, who havecome to the cities mainly from areas wherethey have not had full participation with the main-streamof society, havere- tained a language of their own,a variety of English whichhas its own vocabulary, pronunciation, syntax, pitch andstress. Through the years this variety hasnot kept up with the slow-moving changes ofthe target language but retainsmany antiquated expressions. With the additionof coined words andthe growing consistency of deviations, thisway of speaking has become a social-class dialectthat sets theusers apart on an island of speech and limits their abilityto function inmany voca- tions for which they might otherwisebe qualified. While this variety of the English languagemight servean Individual well in theepresent structure of hisneighborhood, he needs to become bi-dialectal. He needs to gain facility in switchingto the target language, the so-called standardEnglish which isused to conduct the major affairsof the nation. He needs to besocially mobile inhis use of language. Astudy completed bythe senior author in 1962 at highschool level, and the workof several other researchers, indicatedthat the best method for helpinghim to acquire other ways of speakingis a simulation of the method bywhich he firstlearned to speak: through gainingauditory discrimination, throughlistening to patterns given byfriendly, uncritical and untiringmodels, and through practice in imitatingthem. iii The best time seemed to beas early as possible butyet after the child's attentionspan is such that listening and consciously imitating can be effective. Primary level seemedideal for thesecon. siderations and for reaching the greatest number ofchildren during their earliest schoolexperience. The opportunity to developand test a series oflessons geared to the interests and ability levels of primary childrenwas provided through a grant from the United States Office ofEducation, _Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and theDetroit Public. Schools. A series of twelvetapes, each containingthree eight to ten minute lessons, was developed using two voiceswhich represent friendly personalities who involve the children in needed.repeating practice in speech games,songs, poems and talks. Before- recording, the scripts I were carefully reviewed by a team of teachers and thensent to a group of consultants consisting of linguists andeducators from variousparts of the country. Eight classes in threeDetroit elementaryschools, Lillibridge, Tendler and Scripps Annex, were involved ina controlled experiment in the fall of 1966. Pre and post tapedinterviews anda personality inventory were administered in all eight classes. The interviewswere evaluated by two impartial speech correctionistswho based scoreson the number of deviations from standard, andthe data were machinecomputed at the Wayne State University ComputationCenter. The Analysis of Variance. Covariance techniquewas used to determine the interrelationships ofthe factors of Group,Sex, Building, Education of Parents, andMental Abilities. The pre- and post personality ratingswere analyzed to determineif the lessons causedany undue anxiety to affect thepersonalities of the Children.The parents of the children inthe experimentalclasses were invited toparticipate in all phases of theprogram, and a few came once a week to hear the tapedlessons. It was found thatthe Experimental Group improvedsignifi- cantly over theControl Group, taught by traditionalmethods, in their acquisition of standardpatterns of speech. Certain recognizeddialect features showeda decrease of from 25% to 66%. Of the five factors tested, Group alonehad a significant effect on thespeech scores which reduced considerablyin the number of deviationscounted in thepost tests over the numberin thepre-tests. The Group Effectshooed sig- nificance at the .05level of confidence. The personalityrating indicated no harmfuleffects on the personalities ofthe childrenas they increasedtheir facility in using standardpatterns. The resultsindicated that this is a promisingnew technique to be used atprimary leyel, and that thisseries of tapesis a contribu- tion to education,particularly to the education of thelanguage handi- capped. The authors wishto express appreciation tothe staffs ofthe Detroit PublicSchools and tothe Office of Education for makingthis study possible. Besides the individuals listedin AppendixBwho served as research assistantsand consultants, the participatingteachers, the "voices"and technicians, special appreciationis extendedto the following: Dr. SamuelM. Brownell Former Supt.of Schools Mr. NormanDrachler Detroit PublicSchools Superintendentof Schools Detroit, Michigan Detroit PublicSchools Detroit, Michigan Dr. Joseph E. Hill Dr. Robert S.Lankton Asst. Dean, Office of Graduate Studies Director, Research and Wayne State University Development Detroit, Michigan Detroit Public Schools Detroit, Michigan .0i.Clarence Wachner Director of Language 41 Education Dr. Louis D. Monacel Detroit Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Detroit, Michigan Detroit Public Schools Detroit, Michigan Mr. Quinton Terry Hughes Director, ProgramDevelopment Detroit Public Schools Detroit, Michigan R. I. G. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE . 6 a iii LIST OF TABLES xlv LIST OF FIGURES . , .. xiv Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ,, 10 1 Background of Study The Language Eroblem 2 Statement of the Problem 4 Determination of Icchnique 4 Specific Purpose of the Study 7 Significance of the Study a 7 Social Significance 7 National Interest 8 Teacher Time 8 Success in Language.Related School Activities 9 Enculturation 4, 9 Research Hypothesis 6 9 Operational Hypotheses 4, 10 Treatment of Hypotheses 12 Assumptions 12 Definitions 13 II. RELATED LITERATURE 17 Dialects and Their Function in Society 18 Shuy e 18 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Chapter Page Stewart 18 Pederson 20 Labov0 21 McDavid 22 Loban 6 23 Speech Acquisition andLanguage Learning 24 Bernstein 24 Loretan and Umans 25 Riessman and Alberts 0 26 Sexton 27 Fischer 28 Thomas 28 Golden . 28 Teaching Startdard English 29 Ecroyd 29 Golden 30 Lin 31 Cline 31 Gordon 32 Hurst 32 National Council of Teachers of English 33 Summary 33 III. DESIGN OF STUDY 35