LSLT: Zach Maher (NACS)

How a dialect-shifting curriculum shapes K-1 teachers’ attitudes toward language variation: A mixed-methods study

Abstract: Many studies have found that students who speak African American Language (AAL) tend to score lower on measures of literacy than students whose language more closely aligns with the "standard" dialect, Dominant American English (DAE). One potential reason for this is teachers’ language ideologies, which favor DAE. In this study, we use both quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data to explore teachers’ evolving language attitudes as they teach a dialect-shifting curriculum.