Dialects at School: Educating Linguistically Diverse Students

All chapters include essential information about language variation, language attitudes, and principles of handling dialect differences in schools; classroom-based samples illustrating the application of these principles; and an annotated resources list for further reading. The text is supported by a Companion Website (www.routledge.com/cw/Reaser) providing additional resources including activities, discussion questions, and audio/visual enhancements that illustrate important information and/or pedagogical approaches.

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 and 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. An inventory of dialect features in the Appendix organizes and expands on the structural descriptions presented in the chapters.