Julie A. Washington

Performances of At-Risk, African American Preschoolers on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III

This study examined the performance of 59 at-risk, African American preschoolers on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-III, Dunn & Dunn, 1997). The subjects were considered at-risk based on low-income status and/or social status variables such as family density and teenage parents. A mean standard score of 91 and a standard deviation of 11 were achieved by these children. Although these scores are below those reported for the PPVT-III standardization sample, the performance spread resulted in a normal distribution of scores. Differences in performance based on gender and income were not apparent, but level of education of the primary caregiver significantly influenced performance. The findings indicate that unlike the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R, Dunn & Dunn, 1981) the PPVT-III is a culturally fair instrument that is appropriate for use with this population.

Early Literacy Skills in African-American Children: Research Considerations.

The poor reading achievement of African-American children in urban schools is well established. African-American children from low-income homes may be at particular risk for reading difficulties, although middle-income children often fare poorly as well. Intervention efforts have focused on children in kindergarten through fifth grade. This article suggests that prevention efforts must begin prior to kindergarten entry. Several key variables that may influence young childrens performance, including poverty, general oral language skills, dialectal variations, home literacy practices, standardized testing bias, and teacher expectations, are explored. Future directions for research addressing emergent literacy in African-American children are discussed throughout.

The Complex Syntax Skills of Poor, Urban, African-American Preschoolers at School Entry

The present study examines complex syntax production by a sample of 45 preschool-age African-American boys and girls (chronological age [CA] 4:0 to 5:6, years:months) from urban, low-income homes. ...

Performances of Low-Income, African American Preschool and Kindergarten Children on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised

This study examined test performances of 105 low-income, urban, African American preschool and kindergarten boys and girls on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R). Most children performed more than one standard deviation below the mean, and a scoring adjustment to the test failed to change this distribution substantially. The findings indicate that the PPVT-R is not appropriate for use with this population.

Morphosyntactic forms of African American English used by young children and their caregivers

The study of African American English (AAE) has been historically focused on the dialectal variations of adolescent and adult speakers. More recent investigations of dialect used by very young AAE speakers were undertaken with the goal of describing the language produced by early elementary and preschool-aged children. One important outcome of these studies is increased attention to the importance of considering the impact of developmental influences in our characterizations of dialect use. In this study we explore the differences between primary caregivers and their young children in dialect use across generations by directly examining the dialectal variations apparent during play interactions between primary caregivers and their young children. We conclude that there is indeed evidence in these interactions of differences between the child and caregiver in the structure and use of individual AAE features. Another conclusion is that there are many similarities in the distribution of AAE between these older and younger interactants, highlighting not only their kinship ties but also their membership in the same linguistic community.

Articulation Test Performances of Low-Income, African-American Preschoolers With Communication Impairments

Culturally valid speech and language testing measures for use with African-American children who are speakers of Black English (BE) are limited. An alternative to developing new tests for use with this population is to adapt currently available tests designed for use with standard English speakers. The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of 28 low-income, urban African-American preschoolers from Metropolitan Detroit who were speakers of BE on the Arizona Articulation Proficiency Scale, using a standard English and a BE scoring procedure. The findings indicated that this test does not require a BE scoring adjustment for northern children who are speakers of BE.

African-American English and Linguistic Complexity in Preschool Discourse: A Second Look

This study is a follow-up to that of Craig and Washington (1994) and probes further their finding of a potential positive relationship between amounts of African-American English (AAE) and linguistic complexity in the discourse of young, poor, urban African-American boys and girls. The present study used the earlier outcomes to predict a statistically significant positive relationship between AAE form use and relational semantic complexity, and nonsignificant correlations for simpler semantic relations. Findings confirmed these predictions and are interpreted as support for the continuity hypothesis proposed by Terrell and Terrell (1993).

Children's turn-taking behaviors Social-linguistic interactions

Abstract Current conceptualizations of the turn exchange system for conversation were examined by describing the turn-taking characteristics of three-party interactions among normally developing Black English speaking children. Subjects were six four-year-old girls and boys from middle-class families. Videotaped language samples were transcribed and scored. The data revealed that most utterances were produced nonsimultaneously, were other-directed, and involved successful changes across speakers. These turn exchanges were regulated more by the speaker than the listeners. Turn allocation cues were primarily nonverbal with proximity and gaze being most important. These turn exchange characteristics are consistent with those described in previous literature.