1 (based on research with Julia Snell, University of Leeds)To what extent does a regional dialect and accent impact on the development of reading and writing skills? Richard Andrews (based on research with Julia Snell, University of Leeds)
2 Structure Introduction The results of the research projectMethodological approach and methods Creoles and minority dialects African American Vernacular English Conclusions References
3 The project Commissioned research by the BBCHull, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Liverpool and Bristol Its significance is in relation to power groups and social-political hierarchies, and how a regional dialect/accent can be seen as provincial The difference between dialect and accent Spoken Standard English and Written Standard English British Library Sounds archive
4 Results 1 Spoken English varies more than written English and more than most people realize There is no straightforward relationship between spoken and written English All children and young people (regardless of dialect and accent) will encounter difficulties in understanding the differences between spoken and written modes, and in handling the complexities of written structure, especially as they become more ambitious in their writing
5 Results 2 There are few UK-based studies that have investigated the topic, but pockets of research conducted in the 1980s and 1990s suggest that the current emphasis on limiting regional variation in dialect and accent in school may be misplaced Children and young people can style-shift between standard and non- standard forms in their speech and writing where appropriate; and are strategic in their language use For a small minority of pupils, difficulties in understanding the relationship between standard and non-standard forms can persist throughout school and into adult educational settings, and may inhibit the development of writing
6 Results 3 Correcting non-standard dialect forms in pupils’ writing without giving adequate explanation can lead to hypercorrection, confusion and anxiety Negative attitudes towards regional dialects and accents and inappropriate responses to non-standard voices in the classroom can have a detrimental effect on children’s educational achievement The reasons why some groups of children and young people tend to underperform in education is complex and requires further research Language, socio-economic status, aspiration, attitudes towards learning, health issues, attentiveness (spans of concentration), traumas, self-esteem, quality of teachers, poor leadership in schools
7 Methodological approachSystematic research review: scoping study Research question formulated with the BBC Research protocol: identification of key search terms Accent, dialect, dialect interference, literacy, reading, writing, grammar Research published 1960 to present, in English in UK, USA, Canada Format: reports, books, chapters, journal articles and other online sources 10 journals in the field were searched Age groups: 5-11, 11-16, 16-25 All types of research Every abstract double-screened for relevance Articles read in full Map of field created
8 Creoles and minority dialectsWinch and Gringell (1994: 165) raise the possibility that ‘some commentators have confused the general problem of spoken language interference with the specific problem of creole interference, simply because the spoken language, in this case, happens to be creole’. They advise teachers that: [i]t will be a more profitable strategy…to give children a practical understanding of the most important of these differences [between speech and writing] and an ability to take account of them in their own writing from the earliest stages of schooling. This would be more helpful than seeking to correct errors wrongly attributed to dialect interference. (p174) Second, difficulties in coping with some aspects of the writing system increased as children became more ambitious with their writing, and thus some errors were related to developmental factors: Children find it difficult to handle complex constructions in writing and consequently make more errors of this kind when they attempt to express complex thoughts in complex and compound sentences. These errors are, however, due not so much to incompetence as to the development of competence. (p175)
9 Creoles and minority dialectsSiegel (1999) concluded that promoting creoles and minority dialects was a positive in the acquisition of standard written English The ‘interference’ argument does not hold up to evidence Dictionary of Caribbean English; Jamaican Standard English, Jamaican creole/patois, Jamaican National Language Works of Derek Walcott “…where is your Renaissance?/Sir, it is locked in them sea sands” “Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.”
10 African American Vernacular English (AAVE)Much research in the 1960s and 1970s The deficit model was pervasive, and generated a number of ‘solutions’, e.g. dialect readers, teaching standard dialect, phonetics-based approaches etc. We can see the period as one in which the deficit model (‘Negro dialect’) was challenged A key paper was Labov (1969) ‘The logic of non-standard English’ The nub of the problem was class, not race or ethnicity – and teachers’ attitudes. Little change in the reading score differential between ‘mainstream’ and ‘minority’ between and 2000 Kirkland and Jackson (2009) study of black masculine literacies in year olds: an “anti-language to promote solidarity” (p288) Emergence of ‘voice’ in various manifestations, often with associations with local and regional communities; the combining of decoding with the reading of narratives; competence in style-shifting
11 Conclusion Ultimately, the issue in the USA and England is one of class differentiation and mobility rather than of minority dialect/accent or race/ethnicity access to standard literacy It’s a social, economic and political issue rather than a linguistic or sociolinguistic one Research into attitudes towards dialect, accent and literacy development is needed Employers and those in positions of power need to understand the relationship between dialects, accents and spoken standard English, and to ensure that equity is applied in social advancement
12 Some references Andrews, R. and Snell, J To What Extent Does a Regional Dialect and Accent Impact on the Development of Reading and Writing Skills? Report for the BBC, London: Institute of Education and subsequently as Snell, J. and Andrews, R. (2016) Cambridge Journal of Education Kirkland, D. E. and Jackson, A ‘We real cool’: toward a theory of Black masculine literacies. Reading Research Quarterly. 44, 3: Labov, W The logic of non-standard English. Georgetown Monograph on Languages and Linguistics 22: 1-44. Siegel, J Creoles and minority dialects in education: an overview. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 20, 6: Winch, C. and Gingell, J Dialect interference and difficulties with writing: an investigation in St. Lucian primary schools. Language and Education 8, 3: