When Ebony and Malik share stories in school: White teachers’ perceptions of children's use of African American English during oral storytelling

Abstract

Many teachers view African American English (AAE) as unacceptable for classroom discourse, yet few studies have investigated teachers’ perceptions of children's use of AAE within the context of oral storytelling nor the effect of children's gender and narrative quality. The current study addressed this gap in the literature by using mixed methods to examine the extent to which White teachers’ judgments about African American children's stories varied as a function of a hypothetical child's use of AAE, the hypothetical child's gender, and the objective quality of the story. We randomly assigned 238 White teachers in the U.S. to evaluate two stories of higher- and lower quality, using either stereotypical African American girl or boy names and containing either AAE or Standardized American English (SAE). Results revealed that teachers judged the stories containing AAE more harshly than stories told using SAE, and reported a greater likelihood of providing AAE storytellers with remediation and referrals for services, regardless of the quality of the story. Gender differences emerged as teachers critiqued AAE stories told using a boy's name more unfavorably than stories using a girl's name. Teachers perceived deficits in the AAE-speaking children's vocabulary and grammar skills, but rarely mentioned the use of dialect. Given that oral storytelling skills are foundational for children's early literacy development, understanding teachers’ perceptions about the use of AAE during storytelling is critical for informing efforts to capitalize upon these early skills for learning and development.