Sociolinguistics and the African‐American community: Implications for literacy

“Do You Want to Be in My Story?”: Collaborative Writing in an Urban Elementary Classroom

“…At the same time, in recognition of the value of teamwork, teachers have recently introduced cooperative learning activities in which students work together to produce a single product (e.g., Cohen, 1986;Johnson & Johnson, 1987;Slavin, 1991). In her argument for "culturally relevant" teaching for African-American children, Ladson-Billings (1994) has recently stressed the importance of cooperative learning and community building (see also Foster, 1992;Robinson & Ward, 1991). These two modes of teaching and learning -the privileging of individual work and the promotion of collective work -are frequently posed as polar opposites.…”

Between School and Work: The Literacies of Urban Adolescent Females

“…Numerous studies have examined the relevance of cultural and social reproduction theories as explanations for the actions and often the failure of youth in these schools (Everhart 1983;Willis 1977). Studies have focused on class, gender, and more recently race and ethnicity as significant factors in both the description and explanation of school life (Foster 1992;Jacob and Jordan 1993;Ogbu 1993). These studies have featured both macro-and microanalyses of school culture and classroom activities.…”

Animating Talk and Texts

“…Based on the research literature related to language socialization and its relationship to student learning, investigations of culturally relevant teaching must attend to classroom interactions. Most descriptions of culturally relevant teaching, however, have stayed at the level of broad principles (Au & Raphael, 2000;Delpit, 1995;Foster, 1992;Ladson-Billings, 1995) rather than procedures (Jiménez & Gersten, 1999). "Despite a move toward viewing culture as an asset, very little research has investigated exactly how culture can be positively used in the classroom" (Foster, Lewis, & Onafowora, 2003, p. 265).…”