Standardized measurement of syntax for school-age AAE-speaking children.

What is it about?

This study suggests that failure to consider cultural language differences obscures our understanding of African American students' linguistic competence on standardized language assessments. Asa G. Hilliard III (1980) wrote that language, culture, and history are inextricably linked together where people are concerned. Given the distinct culture and historical background of African American children, it is reasonable to anticipate the presence of syntactic variety, as has been documented in different forms of American and European Englishes. Although the nature of variance may vary due to the distinctiveness of AAE compared to other forms of English. The syntactic knowledge found in African American English (AAE) serves various social, practical, and academic functions, similar to those seen in other dialects. Although the phonological and morphosyntactic features of AAE have received much of the attention, syntax has been ignored and there is no evidence to suggest that the syntax produced by African American children are any less variable or impacted by dialect variation. This study demonstrated the challenge of accurately assessing complex syntax in AAE. Children who had a higher density of African American English (AAE) features initially achieved lower scores on a standardized evaluation of oral language skills. However, Washington and Craig discovered that those with a high density of dialect use were also the most proficient syntactic users prior to starting school when syntax was measured in spontaneous language. By third grade, it seems that, according to this standardized assessment, this syntactic advantage disappeared. However, our findings also demonstrate that, when the language variety used by African American speakers is not considered during the development of an assessment, the linguistic distance from GAE can mask the underlying linguistic competence of the test taker, resulting in outcomes that support a deficit model. That is, when we use assessment instruments that are not culturally and linguistically sensitive, we learn more about children's ability to manage unfamiliar code than what they truly know about language.

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Photo by Bailey Torres on Unsplash

Photo by Bailey Torres on Unsplash

Why is it important?

It is not surprising that standardized test scores underestimated the language performance of African American children. This is an issue that has been documented in the extant literature for dialect speakers for more than 30 years (see, e.g., Hilliard, 1983; Washington, & Craig, 2000). Our findings demonstrate that when the language variety used by African American speakers is not considered during assessment, the linguistic distance from GAE can mask the underlying linguistic competence of the test-taker, resulting in outcomes that support a deficit model. That is, when we use assessment instruments that are not culturally and linguistically sensitive, we learn more about children’s ability to manage unfamiliar code than what they truly know about language.