Non-Standard Speech and the Teaching of English. Language Information Series, 2.

This document brings together three papers dealing with the teaching of standard English to speakers of substandard varieties of the language, as well as of English-based pidgins or creoles. The first two papers are by linguists. The essay "Foreign Language Teaching Methods in Quasi-Foreign Language Situations" by William A. Stewart is intended to serve as a general introduction to the problem. "Non-Standard Negro Speech in Chicago" by Lee A. Pederson is a summary of a partial study in depth of the Chicago situation and supplies a more detailed illustration of one specific case. The last paper, "Some Approaches to Teaching English as a Second Language," is by an English teacher, Charlotte K. Brooks. Her practical concern with the teacher's attitudes toward non-standard speech and its users becomes especially meaningful once the linguistic aspects of the situation are understood. What is especially noteworthy, however, is that all three papers express the same basic conclusion as to what should be done. Number 1 of the Language Information Series, "Second Language Learning as a Factor in National Development in Asia, Africa, and Latin America," dates from 1961 and is available from the Publications Section of the Center for Applied Linguistics, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, D. C. 20036, for $0.50. (Editor/DO)