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Overview
Can Black English stand between black students and success in math and science? In this groundbreaking study, Eleanor Wilson Orr argues that the performance of black students in math and science is crippled not by lack of intelligence or diligence but by linguistic interference. Using student work from an experimental program she helped establish in the District of Columbia, Orr traces specific ways that nonstandard English usage can lead to misunderstanding and misrepresentation in the classroom. This controversial book challenges classroom teachers, school administrators, and citizens in general to rethink their views on how to improve the performance of minority youth in American schools. In a new introduction for this 1997 edition, Orr takes on the latest widespread debate over "Ebonics" and the role Ebonics-based programs might play in American education.Synopsis
Can Black English stand between black students and success in math and science? In this groundbreaking study, Eleanor Wilson Orr argues that the performance of black students in math and science is crippled not by lack of intelligence or diligence but by linguistic interference. Using student work from an experimental program she helped establish in the District of Columbia, Orr traces specific ways that nonstandard English usage can lead to misunderstanding and misrepresentation in the classroom. This controversial book challenges classroom teachers, school administrators, and citizens in general to rethink their views on how to improve the performance of minority youth in American schools. In a new introduction for this 1997 edition, Orr takes on the latest widespread debate over "Ebonics" and the role Ebonics-based programs might play in American education.
Publishers Weekly
A veteran high school teacher of science and mathematics offers an unusual approach to the problem of underachievement among minority students. Founder with her husband of the Hawthorne School in the District of Columbia, Orr here describes the results of the school's experimental linguistic program from which her theory is developed: ``Differences between black English vernacular (BEV) and standard English can affect a BEV speaker's concept of certain quantitative relations.'' Observing the functional role of prepositions, conjunctions and relative pronouns in the identification of quantitative ideas, Orr pinpoints misunderstandings that beset students whose first language is nonstandard English. Her belief that BEV is rule-governed and not merely ``bad'' English is supported by data from her students who, for example, confuse ``twice'' and ``half'' or combine ``as'' and ``than'' in their partitive comparisons. The inquiry and explanations are complex, but Orr is generous with illustrations and invites compelling speculation on how the Hawthorne experiment might be replicated by educators seeking to unleash the scientific potential of disadvantaged black students. (August 19)