Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T08:22:38.280Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Terrence G. Wiley, Literacy and language diversity in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2007

Jeffrey Reaser
Affiliation:
English, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA, jlreaser@ncsu.edu

Extract

Terrence G. Wiley, Literacy and language diversity in the United States. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics, 2005. Pp. x, 267. Pb $19.95.

Literacy and language diversity in the United States (henceforth, Literacy) combines perspectives from diverse linguistic disciplines, primarily studies of English as a second/foreign language (EFL) and English dialectology. Literacy investigates challenges faced by “language minorities” (people who speak as a first or only language a language other than English, and those who speak vernacular English dialects) in schools and communities, and the pedagogical and societal implications of these challenges. The primary focus is summarized in the introductory chapter: Literacy “explores the major issues that scholars and educators face concerning fair and effective educational policies and practices for language minority learners” (p. 4). Chap. 1 surveys several of these issues, including defining and measuring literacy; ideological beliefs about and attitudes toward literacy; and the political, social, and educational implications of such ideologies.

Type
BOOK REVIEWS
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

College Composition, and Communication Conference/National Council of Teachers of English (1974). Students' right to their own language. Urbana, IL: NCTE Publications.
Green, Lisa J. (2002). African American English: A linguistic introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Poplack, Shana (ed.) (2000). The English history of African American English. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Rickford, John R. (1998). The creole origins of African American Vernacular English: Evidence from copula absence. In Salikoko S. Mufwene et al. (eds.), African American English: Structure, history, and use, 154200. London: Routledge.
Roy, J. D. (1987). The linguistic and sociolinguistic position of Black English and the issue of bidialectism in education. In Peter Homel et al. (eds.), Childhood bilingualism: Aspects of linguistic, cognitive, and social development, 23142. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Schieffelin, Bambi B., & Cochran-Smith, Marilyn (1984). Learning to read culturally: Literacy before schooling. In Hillel Goelman et al. (eds.), Awakening to literacy, 323. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Weinstein-Shr, Gail (1993). Literacy and social process: A community in transition. In Brian V. Street (ed.), Cross-cultural approaches to literacy, 27293. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Winford, Donald (1997). On the origins of African American Vernacular English – A creolist perspective, part I: Sociohistorical background. Diachronica 14:30544.Google Scholar
Winford, Donald (1998). On the origins of African American Vernacular English – A creolist perspective, part II: The features. Diachronica 15:99154.Google Scholar
Wolfram, Walt, & Schilling-Estes, Natalie (2006). American English: Dialects and variation. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Wolfram, Walt, & Thomas, Erik R. (2002). The development of African American English. Malden, MA: Blackwell.