Welcome

The materials and lessons on this website are designed to complement the reading experience. Because dialect variation is best understood when heard, we include numerous links to audio and video enhancements. Each chapter is further supported by a number of activities and exercises. The exercises are presented in the format of lesson outlines for teachers. Some lessons may be successful with high school students while others are more appropriate for college students. We envision the lessons being useful in two ways: either as a plan to enact with students or as the basis for a topic of conversation or analysis. That is, teachers may choose to teach the lessons or use the lesson plans as a topic of critical conversation. Many of the lesson outlines were created and developed by Nicolette Filson. We acknowledge and admire her creative pedagogy and her dedication to promoting language awareness in educational contexts.

Comprehensive and authoritative, Dialects at School reflects both the relevant research bases in linguistics and education and educational practices concerning language variation. The problems and examples included are authentic, coming from the authors’ own research, observations and interactions in public school classrooms, and feedback in workshops. Highlights include chapters on oral language, reading and writing in dialectally diverse classrooms, as well as a chapter on language awareness for students, offering a clear and compelling overview of how teachers can inspire students to learn more about language variation, including their own community language patterns.

Like its predecessor, Dialects in Schools and Communities, this book illuminates major language-related issues that educational practitioners confront, such as responding to dialect related features in students’ speech and writing, teaching Standard English, teaching students about dialects, and distinguishing dialect difference from language disorders. It approaches these issues from a practical perspective rooted in sociolinguistic research, with a focus on the research base for accommodating dialect differences in schools.

Jeffrey Reaser is an Associate Professor, North Carolina State University, USA.

Carolyn Temple Adger is a Senior Fellow, Center for Applied Linguistics, USA.

Walt Wolfram is William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor, North Carolina State University, USA.

Donna Christian is a Senior Fellow and former President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for Applied Linguistics, USA.