A Influência do Inglês "Negro" nos USA.
Black-English Influences in the Writing of Third- and Sixth-Grade Black Students
by BRUCE CRONNELL
by BRUCE CRONNELL
Introdução
O importante é saber que assim como a língua portuguesa sofre influência interestadual com dialetos e verbetes aparentemente diferentes, a língua inglesa também não esta fora do alvo.
Veja alguns: Inglês-Canadense, Americano, Britânico, Australiano, Jamaicano e outros. Não vou apresentar a você leitor a diferença entre eles, deixa para uma próxima oportunidade.
Sobretudo desejo destacar o Black English que tem provocado dezenas de dores de cabeça nos linguistas norte americanos por vários séculos.
Alguns lingüistas acreditam que o inglês ‘negro’ é uma língua e não uma variedade de dialeto, devido ao fato de, em todas as regiões onde é falado, apresentar a mesma fonética, sintaxe e léxico. Na verdade este é uma análise dos erros encontrados na sala de aula, cuja grafia das crianças negras são influênciadas pela língua materna o Black English.
Prof. Ronaldo Viana
inglesprofissional@uol.com.br
SWRL Educational Research and Development
ABSTRACT
This article presents an analysis of the errors found in a set of writing samples produced by third- and sixth-grade black children attending an inner city school in a low-income neighborhood. The analysis focuses on those errors that may be influenced by Black English oral usage. Hypercorrections are also noted. A few error types (primarily morphological) seem to be most influenced by Black English speech patterns.
Research indicates that oral language forms may have some influence on the written texts of students who do not speak standard English. The influences seem most strong--or at least most obvious--at the level of surface features of written text. Nonstandard pronunciations may affect spelling. Nonstandard grammatical features may also appear in writing, but such effects are harder to identify and are less well documented.
A major non-standard dialect in the United States is Black English--that form of English commonly spoken by low-income blacks. Black English (BE) is characterized by the presence of a number of phonological and grammatical features ( Berdan, 1981; Dillard, 1975; Fasold & Wolfram, 1970; Labov, 1972). The effects of BE on the spelling of elementary school students (as reflected on spelling tests) has been documented ( Carney, 1979; Groff, 1978; Kligman & Cronnell, 1974; O'Neal & Trabasso, 1976; Sullivan, 1971). However, most studies of the writing of BE speakers used older students ( D. G. Briggs, 1969; O. D. Briggs, 1969; Collins, 1971; Goppert, 1975; Weaver, 1974; Wolfram & Whiteman, 1971 ). The present study was undertaken to investigate Black English influences on the writing of elementary school students.
Although BE influences may be found in the writing of black students, this is not to say that any writing problems are due only--or even primarily--to dialect. Instead, this is a study of how dialect features might affect students' writing.
Procedures
The study used a set of writing samples produced by third- and sixth-grade students as part of an end-of-year assessment in a large school district in the metropolitan Los Angeles area. The third-grade students wrote a story about a drawing of a monkey and an elephant on roller skates at a starting line. The sixth-grade students wrote a letter to convince a friend to watch a favorite television program.
The writing samples analyzed were from one school in a low-income, predominantly black, inner city area. Papers from students identified by teachers as black were included for analysis. The papers were from 99 students in five third-grade classes and 68 students in three sixth-grade classes. No data were obtained on students' actual speech. However, the school is in an area where many BE speakers live; moreover, previous studies at the school had found that most students spoke Black English. Thus, when Black English features are found in the writing of these students, it is extremely likely that these same features are found in their speech.
All errors--defined as deviations from standard formal written English--were compiled, with the following exceptions: 1) capitalization and punctuation errors;
This article was prepared under Contract No. 400-80-0108 with the National Institute of Education. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Education or any other agency of the U.S. government. Address correspondence to Bruce Cronnell, SWRL Educational Research and Development, 4665 Lampon Avenue, Los Alamitos, CA 90720.
Prof. Ronaldo Viana
inglesprofissional@uol.com.br
SWRL Educational Research and Development
ABSTRACT
This article presents an analysis of the errors found in a set of writing samples produced by third- and sixth-grade black children attending an inner city school in a low-income neighborhood. The analysis focuses on those errors that may be influenced by Black English oral usage. Hypercorrections are also noted. A few error types (primarily morphological) seem to be most influenced by Black English speech patterns.
Research indicates that oral language forms may have some influence on the written texts of students who do not speak standard English. The influences seem most strong--or at least most obvious--at the level of surface features of written text. Nonstandard pronunciations may affect spelling. Nonstandard grammatical features may also appear in writing, but such effects are harder to identify and are less well documented.
A major non-standard dialect in the United States is Black English--that form of English commonly spoken by low-income blacks. Black English (BE) is characterized by the presence of a number of phonological and grammatical features ( Berdan, 1981; Dillard, 1975; Fasold & Wolfram, 1970; Labov, 1972). The effects of BE on the spelling of elementary school students (as reflected on spelling tests) has been documented ( Carney, 1979; Groff, 1978; Kligman & Cronnell, 1974; O'Neal & Trabasso, 1976; Sullivan, 1971). However, most studies of the writing of BE speakers used older students ( D. G. Briggs, 1969; O. D. Briggs, 1969; Collins, 1971; Goppert, 1975; Weaver, 1974; Wolfram & Whiteman, 1971 ). The present study was undertaken to investigate Black English influences on the writing of elementary school students.
Although BE influences may be found in the writing of black students, this is not to say that any writing problems are due only--or even primarily--to dialect. Instead, this is a study of how dialect features might affect students' writing.
Procedures
The study used a set of writing samples produced by third- and sixth-grade students as part of an end-of-year assessment in a large school district in the metropolitan Los Angeles area. The third-grade students wrote a story about a drawing of a monkey and an elephant on roller skates at a starting line. The sixth-grade students wrote a letter to convince a friend to watch a favorite television program.
The writing samples analyzed were from one school in a low-income, predominantly black, inner city area. Papers from students identified by teachers as black were included for analysis. The papers were from 99 students in five third-grade classes and 68 students in three sixth-grade classes. No data were obtained on students' actual speech. However, the school is in an area where many BE speakers live; moreover, previous studies at the school had found that most students spoke Black English. Thus, when Black English features are found in the writing of these students, it is extremely likely that these same features are found in their speech.
All errors--defined as deviations from standard formal written English--were compiled, with the following exceptions: 1) capitalization and punctuation errors;
This article was prepared under Contract No. 400-80-0108 with the National Institute of Education. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Education or any other agency of the U.S. government. Address correspondence to Bruce Cronnell, SWRL Educational Research and Development, 4665 Lampon Avenue, Los Alamitos, CA 90720.
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