Language Variation in the Writing of African American Students: Factors Predicting Reading Achievement.

ABSTRACT: Purpose This study aims to examine the predictive relation between measures obtained from African American students' written narrative language samples and reading achievement, as measured by standardized academic assessments. Method Written language samples were elicited from 207 African American students in Grades 1-8. The samples were examined for morphosyntactic variations from standardized written Generalized American English (GAE). These variations were categorized as either (a) specific to African American English (AAE) or (b) neutral across AAE and standardized written GAE (i.e., considered ungrammatical both in AAE and in standardized written GAE). Structural equation modeling was employed to then examine the predictive relation between the density of AAE-specific forms in student

SUBMITTER: Fitton L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9132061 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature