Joyce L. Harris - Literacy in African American Communities

Literacy in African American Communities

Literacy in African American Communities

Edited by

Joyce L. Harris

University of Memphis

Alan G. Kamhi

University of Oregon

Karen E. Pollock

University of Memphis

First Published by

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers

10 Industrial Avenue

Mahwah, New Jersey 07430

Transferred to Digital Printing 2010 by Routledge

270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Copyright 2001 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Literacy in African American communities / edited by Joyce L. Harris, Alan G. Kamhi, Karen E. Pollock.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8058-3401-X (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 0-8058-3402-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Afro-AmericansEducation. 2. LiteracyUnited States. I. Harris, Joyce L. II. Kamhi, Alan G., 1950- III. Pollock, Karen E.

LC2731.L59 2000

379.2408996073dc21

99-088717

In homage to the scribes who,
with neither pen nor ink,
wrote on historys pages
and on our hearts
the stories of lives well-lived.

JLH

Contents

Shirley Brice Heath

Constance Dean Qualls

Carol Scheffner Hammer

David Bloome, Tempii Champion, Laurie Katz, Mary Beth Morton, and Ramona Muldrow

Jerrie C. Scott and Cheryl D. Marcus

Sherri L. Horner

James Hartley and Joyce L. Harris

Alan G. Kamhi and Sandra P. Laing

Julie A. Washington and Holly K. Craig

Noma R. LeMoine

Beverly J. Moss

Thomas A. Crowe, Marie E. Byrne, and Sue T. Hale

Bonnie J. F. Meyer, Andrew P. Talbot, Leonard W. Poon, and Melissa M. Johnson

Monica M. Huff and Wendy A. Rogers

John Baugh is Professor of Education and Linguistics at Stanford University. His research interests include the educational applications of linguistic science, applied linguistics, and African American language. He is the author of Black Street Speech: Its History, Structure, and Survival and, more recently, the co-author of Out of the Mouths of Slaves: African American Language and Educational Malpractice.

David Bloome is Professor of Education in the Language and Literacy Program at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. His research focuses on reading and writing as social and cultural practices, with special concern for their relationships among classroom, community, and family settings.

Marie E. Byrne is an Assistant Professor in the Speech-Language Pathology Program at the Mississippi University for Women. She has presented and published research on the relationship between oral and written language for participants in adult literacy programs, especially as those skills relate to the attainment and maintenance of employment.

Tempii Champion is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of South Florida, where she conducts a multicultural literacy program and research on language intervention for African American children. She also teaches classes in African American English and language development.

Holly K. Craig is Professor of Education and Director and Senior Research Scientist in the Communicative Disorders Clinic at the University of Michigan. Her research interests focus on the development of language assessment instruments appropriate for African American children, typical and atypical patterns of language acquisition, and developmental pragmatics.

Thomas A. Crowe is Professor and Chair in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Director of the Center for Speech and Hearing Research at the University of Mississippi. He has presented and published research on the oral and written language of participants in adult literacy programs. His research has included an investigation of the importance of appropriate social communication skills to attaining and maintaining employment for adult literacy learners.

Sue T. Hale is an Instructor and Director of the Speech and Hearing Clinic in the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Mississippi. She has presented and published research on the relationship between oral and written language for participants in adult literacy programs. Her research has investigated the relationship of social communication skills to the attainment and maintenance of employment in adult literacy learners.

Carol Scheffner Hammer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at The Pennsylvania State University, where her research focuses on language and literacy development in African American and Hispanic preschool children. In particular, she investigates how caregivers construct the literacy learning environment of young children, with emphasis on capturing the variety of behaviors and styles that occur within cultural groups.

Joyce L. Harris is Interim Director of the Office of Diversity and an Associate Professor in the School of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Memphis. She teaches courses in adult neurogenic language disorders and the sociocultural bases of communication. Her print scholarship includes a chapter in Communication Development and Disorders in African American Children: Research, Assessment and Treatment, which she co-edited with Alan Kamhi and Karen Pollock. She is also an associate project director of a 4-year Department of Education grant to prepare leadership personnel for communication and literacy in African American children and youth.

James Hartley is Research Professor of Psychology at the University of Keele, Staffordshire, England. His main research interests are in written communication, with special reference to typography and layout. His textbook Designing Instructional Text (Kogan Page) is now in its third edition. He is also well known for his research in teaching and learning in the context of higher education, and his latest book in this area, Learning and Studying: A Research Perspective (Routledge), has just been published.

Sherri L. Horner is an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Memphis. She received her PhD from City University of New York, Graduate School and University Center. She has taught at Medgar Evers College, Queens College, and LaGuardia Community College. She did her fieldwork at the Medgar Evers Head Start in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Her research interests include emergent literacy issues and the sociocultural aspects of literacy development.

Monica M. Huff is a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, where her research interest in computer literacy centers on design improvements and appropriate training. Currently, she is investigating older adults use of the World Wide Web and developing a bridge between basic cognitive theory and computer interface designs.

Melissa Mapstone Johnson is an Associate Director of a nursing home in Athens, Georgia. She received her training in Life Span Developmental Psychology at the University of Georgia.