DOCUMENT RESUME ED 043 590 24 AL 002 777 ,AUTHOA1 Shuy, Roger W.; And Others Sociolinguistic Theory, Materials aurTraining Programs: Three Related Studies. Final Report. INSTTTUTION Center .for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D..C. SPOW; AGENCY Office of Education (DREW), Washington, D.C. Bureau of Research. BUREAU NO BR-9-0357 PUB DATE 70 CONTRACT OEc-3-9-180357-0400(010) NOTE 261p.; Part I of this report to be published by Center for Applied Linguistics under the title "Social Dialects: A CroSs-Disciplinar Perspectiveik AVAILABLE FROM Center for Applied Linguistics, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, N.V., Washington, Ds.C. EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC NOt Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *Bibliographies, Child Language, Educational prCgrams, Instructional Materials, Language Program's, *Linguistic Theory, Proqram Evaluation, *Social Dialects, *Sociolinguisties; Teacher Education, ABSTRACT The first section of this report consists of papers given at the two -day conference on social.dialects:at the,Center for Applied Linguistics, October 1969: (1) "Social Dialects and'.-the Field Of Speech" by.F. 'Williams, with response by 0.:Taylor; (2) "Approaches .to Social Dialects in Early Childhood EduCation" by. C. B. CazdelIG with response by R. D. Hess;(3) "Social DialeCts in DevelOpmental Sociolinguistics" b y S. Ervin-Tripp, with response by C.-M. Kernan; (4):"Developmental Studies of Conimunicative Competence" by H. Osser, with response by V. John; and(5) ."Social Dialects from .a. Linguistic Perspective: Assumptions, Current Research,.-and Future Directions" by W. WOlfram, with response by W. Samarin. Part II, "The -Current Status or Oral`. anguage Materials,"'describes the development ofan instrument for the taxonomy of characteristics and the product7ion of .several detailed model, type-descriptions. Part III, "The Current StatuSof Urban Language Training Program PrG.grams,". describeSLa Search Of various departments of universities:in the U.S. in ordertO provide an XnVentory of training possibilities in the field of social dialects. Part IV, "Social Dialects and the Federal Concern," summarizes the major areas of priority for future federal involvement:in social dialects. Appended are a list of materials, evaluatiOn instrument and applicatiOns, and survey questionnaire.; (AMM) FINAL REPORT OEC7379-180357-0400(010) SOCIOLINGUISTIC THEORY, MATERIALS AND TRAINING PROGRAMS: THREE RELATED STUDIES Roger W. Shuy, Irwin Feigenbaum and Allene Grognet U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE The genter for Applied Linguistics OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF Washington, D.C. 20036 VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED OD NOT NECES SARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU- CATION POSITION OR POLICY. 1 1970 The research reported herein was performed pursuant to a grant with the Office of Education, U.SDepartment of Health,'Educa- tion, and Welfare. ContractorS undertaking such projects under. Government spOnsorship are encouraged_to.express freely their professional judgment in the conduct of the project. Points of view or opinions stated do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Office of Education position or policy. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Office of Education Bureau of Research CONTENTS Preface PART I: Social Dialects and InterdisciplinaryPerspectives Social Dialects and the Field of Speech (F.Williams) 1 Response (0. Taylor) 34 Approaches .to Social Dialects in Early,Childhood Education 23 (C.B. Cazden) .' Response (R.D. Hess) Social Dialects in Developmeal Sociolingdistics Ervin-Tripp) 42 ReSponse (C.M. Kernan) ..Developmental Studies-.of Communicative Competence(H. Osser). 80 . 91 Response (V. John) . , . - . Dialectsfrom.a Linguistic Perspective: Assumptions, Current Research, and Future Directions(W. Wolfram) 96 Response (W. J. Samarin) 148 PART II The Current Status of Oral Language Materials 155 PART III The Current Status of Urban Language TrainingPrograms 177 PART IV Social Dialects and the Federal Concern 201 APPENDIX I Inventory of-Materials to Teach StandardEnglish 214 APPENDIX II 222 Evaluation Instrument APPENDIX Applications of the Evaluation Instrument 228 APPENDIX IV Survey:of Programs /Courses inSociolinguistics and Urban Education (.Questionnaire) One of the truly disatthing aspects of the development of,any field of study'ls that as it comes closer and closer to telling the truth, the truth that'it tries to tell becomes harder and harder to understand. The social sciences have recently undergone a kind -of crisis of con - fidence in which increased complexity of the field has -made it difficult for non- social scientists to interpret the findings One'Importapt aspect of this crisis of confidence stems from the predictable public dependence on common sense despite research evidenCe which.giVes entirely different indications. Thus, in an area such as Social dialects, common sense tells.a person that since Standard English is a good thing,it is therefore good to learn it as soon as possible. .Aet-nb. research evidence points to this position and, in fact, there is much to indicate that this common sense approach is:blearly'wrong.. When one studies an area such as social dialects, the variables multiply at a tremendous rate. For one thing, the study is not of language in a pristine vacuum but, rather, do relationship to a number of other things such as Social statuS, cognition audience, intention, context, emotional statei.etc..As' such,..the study_of:social.dialect:s has attracted the recent attention of specialists from a number. of fields such as speech, linguistics, Psychology, education and'the socialsciences. The effective research find- ings of such Specialists:can be characterized as interdisciplinary. As a specialist,mOvesdeeper and deeper into this network of intersecting dis- ciplines he finds. that he mustlearn More'and more about their research .assumptions, theirpublished,literat.ureand their aims. Yet is is not to be .expected that all specialists will come upon this interdisciplinary perspective at.the same time, for the history of the academic world has never evidenced such a predisposition. In an effort to bring enlightenment to researchers, teachers and- administratbrsfrom various fields who have recently seen social dialects as contributing to the complexity of their discipline, a'special, two-day conference was called by the Center for Applied Linguistics in October, 1969. inVited to this,conference were ten scholars, two representing each of the five. fields 'of. speech/communications, psychology, education, sociolinguistics, In each of these five fields onescholar nd linguistics /anthropology. forty-five prepared a paper. which was tobe presented to the others in set-out the.research assumptionsof the minutes.. This paper was to research and to discipline he represented,to'briefly describe. the-major A second repre- indicate the most usefuldirections,of futureresearch: conference.' sentative of each field was to seethis paper in advance of the Time was also, allotted and develop a fifteen tothirty minute response. Participants at this meeting were for discussion amongall participants. the following: . for.Applied LinguiStics Chairman Roger W. Shuyi- Center ,Representing Speech/Communication: FrederiCk Williams,. University of Texas OrlandoTL.Taylor, Center for Applied Linguistics State University Representing Psychology: Harry Osser, San Francisco Vera .John, Yeshiva University Education School Representing Education: Courtney B. Cazden, Harvard 'Robert D. Hess,. StanfordUniversity University of Representing SociolinguistiCs: Susan M. Ervin-Tripp, California Claudia Mitchell Kernan,Harvard University Walter A. Wolfram, Centerfor .RepresentingLinguistics/Anthropology: Applied Linguistics William J. Samarin, Toronto University Others in attendance at part orall of these meetings were:, Albert Storm, United StatesOffice of Education Raymond Rackley; United StatesOffice of Education.. SuSan Gordon, United StatesOffice of Education Joan C. Baratz, EducationStudy Center Irwin Feigenbaum, Center for;Applied Linguistics Alfred S. Hayes, Center. forApplied LinguistiCs at' that conference. Part I of this.report consists.of the presentations made ii t. rf The:national interest in social. dialects has ,reached.a stage in:which there is: considerable clamor for classroom materials to turn nonstandar& English speakers into speakers of an acceptable standard form of the lan- guage. To a certain degree such materials have already been developed and it is partially becaUse of this that it has become necessary'tb evaluate our progress to date,to examine the, theoretical underpinnings. from which action programs have developed, and to assess the problems involved in the developmental processes. which range from preservice and inservice teacher education to the training of the sociolinguists who will provide the basic research underlying all applied programs. As.is often the casewhen there is a -.sudden national awakening to a social.or pedagogical problem, the development of theory, materials and the training of personnel relating to,the'general area Of social dialects.. has been dictated by expediency more than by any careful, well-developed plan. As absurd as it may seem to produce classroom materials before establishing a theoretical .base for their development, that is exactly what is happening in this field today. To complicate matters even more, sensitive