Communication Sciences & Disorders Department, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
School of Communication Science & Disorders, Florida State University, Tallahassee.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2021 Nov 4;30(6):2653-2667. doi: 10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00263. Epub 2021 Nov 1.
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 students' writing and their performance on standardized assessments of literacy and reading vocabulary. This relation was examined while accounting for the density of dialect-neutral morphosyntactic forms, reported family income, age, and written sample length. Results The written samples were highly variable in terms of morphosyntax. Younger students and those from lower income homes tended to use AAE-specific forms at higher rates. However, the density of AAE-specific forms did not significantly predict standardized literacy scores or reading vocabulary after accounting for dialect-neutral variations, income, and sample length. Conclusions These results support the ongoing need to better understand the language, literacy, and overall academic development of students from all backgrounds. It may be essential to focus on dialect-neutral language forms (i.e., morphosyntactic forms that are consistent across both AAE and standardized written GAE) in written samples to maximize assessment validity across students who speak varying dialects of English. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16879558.
目的 本研究旨在探讨从非洲裔美国学生的书面叙事语言样本中获得的测量结果与阅读成绩之间的预测关系，阅读成绩通过标准化学术评估来衡量。
方法 从 1 至 8 年级的 207 名非洲裔美国学生中提取书面语言样本。检查这些样本在形态句法上与标准化的通用美国英语（GAE）的差异。这些差异分为以下两种类型：（a）仅出现在非裔美国英语（AAE）中的形式，或（b）在 AAE 和标准化书面 GAE 中均为中性的形式（即，在 AAE 和标准化书面 GAE 中均被认为是不合语法的）。然后，结构方程模型被用来检验学生写作中 AAE 特有形式的密度与他们在标准化读写词汇评估中的表现之间的预测关系。在考虑到中性形态句法形式的密度、家庭收入、年龄和书面样本长度的情况下，对这一关系进行了检验。
结果 书面样本在形态句法上具有高度的可变性。年幼的学生和来自低收入家庭的学生往往会以更高的频率使用 AAE 特有形式。然而，在考虑到中性形态句法差异、收入和样本长度后，AAE 特有形式的密度并不能显著预测标准化读写成绩或阅读词汇量。
结论 这些结果支持了持续需要更好地理解来自不同背景的学生的语言、读写能力和整体学业发展。在书面样本中关注中性形态句法形式（即既出现在 AAE 中又出现在标准化书面 GAE 中的形态句法形式），对于最大限度地提高讲各种英语方言的学生的评估有效性可能至关重要。
