Malik Goes to School: Examining the Language Skills of African American Students From Preschool-5th Grade
Craig and Washington apply a reliable set of procedures for conducting sociolinguistic research in culturally diverse communities. The book can be read as an application of sociolinguistic knowledge to enhance the educational programs with African American children....this work makes a concrete contribution in the design of prevention programs that focus on dialect shifts and language skills.—PsycCRITIQUESThe authors provide a framework for implementing appropriate services for African American children in schools. This is a excellent resource for all professionals working with African American students in an educational or clinical setting.—Doody's NotesThe sophistication of these authors in linguistics, language acquisition, and language disorders means that their characterization of AAE is both rich and original. They provide an excellent overview of the importance of approaching AAE on its own terms, rather than treating SAEas the reference standard and then simply cataloging the ways in which AAE differs from it. They provide a persuasive rationale for using the term 'AAE' rather than other terms that have been applied to the language variations produced by African American students, and they emphasize that the term 'dialect' as applied to AAE must be understood to encompass a comprehensive set of language variations resulting from creolization processes rather than a limited set of regionalisms or a reduced version of SAE.—Chris DollaghanUniversity of Pittsburgh