ABSTRACT

Malik Goes to School: Examining the Language Skills of African American Students From Preschool-5th Grade synthesizes a decade of research by the authors, Holly Craig and Julie Washington, on the oral language and literacy skills of African American children from preschool to fifth grade. Their research has characterized significant influences on the child's use of AAE and the relationship between AAE and aspects of literacy acquisition. The research has also led to the characterization of other nondialectal aspects of language development. The outcome has been a culture-fair, child-centered language evaluation protocol.

This very readable volume will be important to students, clinicians, and teachers, learning about and working with, African American children. The book has direct relevance to academic planning, clinical decision-making, curriculum development, and educational policymaking.

chapter Chapter 1|7 pages

Who is Malik? 1

chapter Chapter 2|7 pages

An Overview of Research on Child AAE

chapter Chapter 3|11 pages

Our School-Based Participants and Sampling Procedures

chapter Chapter 4|14 pages

Features of Child AAE

chapter Chapter 5|12 pages

Distributional Properties of AAE in the Early Grades

chapter Chapter 6|11 pages

Nondialectal Expressive and Receptive Language Skills

chapter Chapter 7|18 pages

Evaluating Language at School Entry

chapter Chapter 8|14 pages

African American Children in Academic Distress

chapter Chapter 10|5 pages

Summary and Final Thoughts