Teachers’ Attitudes About Nonstandard English Speakers

Abstract

African American (Black) students comprise the highest percentage of students in Special Education, and countless numbers are placed by employing diagnostics that are unsuitable for their unique linguistic circumstance (Baugh, 2015).  The result of identifying a child as “special needs” or “disabled” can have long-term repercussions especially for children from diverse backgrounds (Oswald, Coutinho, Best, & Singh, 1999).  This unfair examination and misplacement of Black children often results in life-long issues that include high dropout rates, high unemployment rates, incarceration, health issues and a lower life expectancy (Frazier, 2009; Garibaldi, 1992).  While African American Vernacular is a form of Nonstandard English, many other Americans speak some form of Nonstandard English.  Similar to the issues that Black students face, Hispanic students are facing similar challenges.  This form of discrimination has been defined as linguistic profiling (Baugh, 2003).  The purpose of this mixed method study was to examine teachers’ attitudes and perception about Nonstandard English speakers 20 years after the Ebonics Resolution.  Data was collected via the African American English Teachers Attitude Scale and interviews.  A bivariate analysis via Spearman’s Rank found negative associations between race, age, years of teaching experience, subject taught and attitude scores, and positive associations between degrees held, gender, and attitude scores. As the minority population grows and the achievement gap persists for Nonstandard English speakers understanding teachers’ attitudes is essential to developing concrete policies and strategies for teaching linguistically diverse children.