Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
African American children--Language; Speech therapy;
Abstract
The present study investigated the variable of Black Dialect as it affected performance of a black population on a standardized speech-sound discrimination test. Forty-four black preschool children ranging in age from four years, one month through five years, one month served as subjects. Test tapes used for presentation of the test were the Standard English test tape included in the speech-sound discrimination test pack and a Black Dialect test tape recorded by a lay talker. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups: Group I subjects received the speech-sound discrimination test in Standard English on Trial 1 and in Black Dialect on Trial 2. For Group II subjects this procedure was reversed. The structure of the experiment was a Lindquist Type II design. The questions investigated were: (1) Is there a difference in the performance of black children on a speech-sound discrimination test when test presentation is in Standard English as compared to test presentation in Black Dialect? (2) Is there a difference in the I performance of black children on test items specifically related to Black Dialect when the speech-sound discrimination test is presented in Black Dialect as compared to Standard English? (3) Is there a difference in the performance of black children on the first and second presentations of the speech-sound discrimination test? Results of this study were as follows:
1. There was no interaction between dialects and trials. When the error scores were averaged over the two trials, subjects scored fewer errors during the Standard English test presentation than during the Black Dialect test presentation. When considering only the Trial l performance of subjects, there was no difference in the performance of subjects on the two test presentation forms.
2. Test items which required discrimination of final consonant sounds were considered specifically related to Black Dialect. Subjects scored fewer errors on these items when test presentation was in Black Dialect than when test presentation was in Standard English.
3. Subjects scored fewer errors on the second trial than on the first trial, thus indicating a practice effect.
Year of Submission
1972
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology
First Advisor
Roy Eblen
Second Advisor
Judith Harrington
Third Advisor
William Bogartz
Date Original
1972
Object Description
1 PDF file (50 leaves)
Copyright
©1972 Adeline Cheryl Alderson
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Alderson, Adeline Cheryl, "A Study of the Variable of Black Dialect as It Affects the Performance of Black Children on a Speech-Sound Discrimination Test" (1972). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 1901.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/1901
Comments
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