A study of dialect differences on comprehension of oral directions given to intermediate children

• Main Author: Phillips, Wilma F.
• Other Authors: Hochstetler, Ruth J.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Comprehension.; English language > United States > Dialects.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/179610; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/415327

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference between the accuracy with which a child responds to oral instructions that are given in his native dialect (i.e., the dialect that he acquired when learning to speak) when compared to the accuracy of his responses to oral instructions given in a non-native dialect (i.e., a dialect other than the one he learned when he acquired speech). The two dialects used were standard English and black non-standard English. The dialect of the children was determined by use of the Rystrom Dialect Test. A field study was conducted by this researcher to establish criteria for scoring the Rystrom Dialect Test that would apply to this population.Forty-four intermediate grade black non-standard English speaking children and forty-four intermediate grade standard English speaking children were identified. This sample was drawn from three schools in a central Indiana city of 45,000 population.The paper and pencil type tasks used were the seventeen items on the Test 18, Oral Directions, of the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude. Two tape recordings were made of these directions, i.e., a standard English version and a black non-standard English version. The children in each dialect group were randomly assigned to receive the oral directions in either a native/non-native dialect or a non-native/native dialect order. For the standard English dialect speakers, standard English was their native dialect and black non-standard English was the native dialect of the black non-standard English speakers and standard English was their non-native dialect.A one way analysis of variance procedure was used to analyze the data. The mean of the scores obtained when the children received the directions in their native dialect was compared to the mean of the scores obtained when they received the directions in the non-native dialect.Analysis of the data revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the accuracy with which a child responds to oral instructions that are given in his native dialect when compared to the accuracy of his responses to oral instructions given in a non-native dialect. This was true of both dialect groups.An auxiliary analysis was conducted by grade level in which the responses to the native dialect presentations were compared to the non-native dialect presentations for each dialect group. The results of this analysis indicated that there were no statistically significant differences for either dialect group on any of the grade levels considered, that is, grade four, five or six. The obtained means in all cases were very near the same value and no trend was observed.and black non-standard English was their non-native dialect.From the results of this study and within the limitations of this research, the following conclusions are drawn:1. There is no statistically significant difference in the accuracy of the responses of the native speakers of black non-standard English to directions spoken in black non-standard English and to the directions spoken in standard English.2. There is no statistically significant difference in the accuracy of the responses of the native speakers of standard English to directions spoken in standard English and to directions spoken in black non-standard English.3. The lack of differences mentioned in one and two above are discernable whether the data are considered on a composite intermediate grade level basis or whether they are considered by individual grade levels.The consistency of the results, i.e., no significant difference, is of interest. The findings do not tend to support the theory that dialect differences do interfere with children's performance nor does this study tend to support the theory that a language barrier exists between the middle class teacher and the lower class child. It is important to emphasize that the findings of this study cannot be construed to indicate that educational discrepancies between the two groups do not exist. It can only be said that on the basis of the findings of this study, educational differences do not appear to be the result of dialect differences.